Best PSU for BFG 6800GT?

D

Dolph

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Messages
264
Im going to get a BFG 6800 GT OC and im stuck on a PSU to get, anyone have ideas??
 
As long as its a trusted brand and not a gerneric you will most likely not have any problems no matter which you pick. Antec, OCZ, Enermax, PCP&C, Vantec, Fortron, Sparkle, Thermaltake, and TTGI are all good brands.
 
Dolph said:
ok, well, im getting a fidd GFX card now, im going to get the BFG 6800Ultra OC :D, should i go all out and get a 600 Watt PSU? somthing like this?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=32343&Sku=TC3Y-6001http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=32343&Sku=TC3Y-6001

Even tho its not a brand name is this good?
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Not really, my cheaper brand name (TAGAN) PSU has as much rated power on the 12V rail.

For that money, I would get a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 470. It will provide more, more stable, power, and you can trust it.
 
hmm interesting ;), im really new to this, what do you look for when looking for a PSU? and like 12v rails n stuff, thanks alot. :D
 
Well you definitely dont need a 600w PSU for starters lol. A 400-480w PSU is more then enough for most any high-end machine.
 
burningrave101 said:
As long as its a trusted brand and not a gerneric you will most likely not have any problems no matter which you pick. Antec, OCZ, Enermax, PCP&C, Vantec, Fortron, Sparkle, Thermaltake, and TTGI are all good brands.
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Agreed, there are some new Super Flower TTGI 550W on Ebay right now. They are on the AMD approved list.

burningrave101 said:
Well you definitely dont need a 600w PSU for starters lol. A 400-480w PSU is more then enough for most any high-end machine.
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I'd have to disagree here. 400W is now like a low end to me now. Especially if you load your computer with new gadgets and and the latest greatest video cards. Don't want to start a flame war, just my opinion.
 
SureFire said:
I'd have to disagree here. 400W is now like a low end to me now. Especially if you load your computer with new gadgets and and the latest greatest video cards. Don't want to start a flame war, just my opinion.
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Well, 400w is pretty far from low-end but i agree the wattage requirements for components is increasing all the time. If you actually measure how much wattage your entire PC Is pulling though you will probably be shocked at how its alot lower then you figured. If you go to adding up all the wattage requirements for the components in your PC then you will probably come up with 400-500w on a high-end machine but the deal is your machine is NEVER going to have everything running at peak pull all at once. It just doesn't happen.

The 12v rail is the most important and as long as it has plenty of amps there your in good shape.
 
Dolph said:
Im going to get a BFG 6800 GT OC and im stuck on a PSU to get, anyone have ideas??
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I run an fx-53 on ASUS A8V MB with 1 gig corsair ram. have a basic 120 gig HD and standard sony opticals. I have run both the 6800GT and now a 6800 ULTRA OC with no problems. My only suggestion is if you plan to upgrade to PCI Express/SATA you may want to consider the NeoPower from Antec. It has all the stuff to power the new breed. I did not do that because my MB will not support the new PCIX stuff. Just my humble 2 cent worth. Have a nice day. :D
 
Thanks for the info, this is a list of what im getting mabey a better idea for people to help me.
A8V Deluxe s939
AMD3400+ s939
BFG 6800GT OC 256mb
52x32x52 LG
52x DVD
OCZ Dual Channel PC3200-EL Platinum 2x512
5 case fans (3x80 1x92)
160BG SATA HDD ($130 CAD!!!!)
 
Im a big n00b for PSU's and i dont have the stuff yet so... i cant really present those values.
 
its not that hard to play around with that calculator
and it will give you a general idea where you need to be
first lets assume your going to have a modern CPU
which will be powered off the +12V rail
add in some of the obvious components, like fans, mouse keyboard, some opticals ect
before you know it youll have the majority of the numbers youll need to finish

if your simply budgeting
figure between $75 to $130 for your PSU
 
http://takaman.jp/D/index.html?english > Drives > Pick something close

and its amps not voltage
you need to know how many amps for each rail
though most optical drives dont employ the +3.3Volt rail

Ampere a measurement of the flow of electrical current. One amp is equal to the electric force of one volt acting across the resistance of one ohm.

the objective of this exercise is to come up with a total amps for all each of the main rails +3.3V +5V & +12V then to compare them to the amps available for a given PSU
there is still some deadreckoning to do but thats the basics
 
I have a Antec TruePower 550 and I payed $140.00 for it. I would have saved the $40.00 but I wanted it now. I am too impatient to buy from the internet sometimes. Plus you cant trade with NewEgg LOL.
 
Here this NEW setup with an Antec TruePower550 powersource without a hiccup.

$lipKnots monster gaming rig version 2.0

Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
P4 3.4c Northwood OC'd to 3.8
Coolermaster Jet 4 Cpu Cooler
BFG 6800 Gt OC'd to 405/1120
Audigy 2ZS Soundcard
2 80 gig Seagate Barracuda's
1 200 gig Western Digital Caviar Se
LiteOn 8x DVD+RW
Generic CompUsa 52x Cd Burner Dvd-Rom Combo drive
2 Vantec hard drive coolers
2 Antec blue led fans
1 60mm antec fan
1 Vantec 2xfan Blue led fan card blowing on my 6800Gt
1 gig or Geil Ultra platinum pc3200 DDr
2 blue cathode lights

and my NEW Antec True 550 thermally controlled dual fan PSU.

12,656 3dmark03
68K Aquamark03
steady 60fps in Doom3 at 1600x1200 with all the goodies turned up.

I figured computerpro was right. I had a CORVETTE body and frame with an old Chevette motor. Now I got a ZR1 V-8 powering my bad ass lil machine.

So I jumped on the band wagon and bought an Antec. Expensive but household name. I went for the "safety" and it got me another 200mhz in a stable overclock.

BUT I STILL HAD A RAIDMAX LAST 3 YEARS WITHOUT IT BLOWING UP!

ROFLMAO
 
Get the Fortron FSP530. This thing is a quality psu with 530 watts, only about 70 bux too. Nice stable rails, and if you search you can find a website forum (xtremesomething) thatll tell you which pots will increase the voltage on the 12, 3.3, and 5 rails if you open it up.
 
>WP< $lipKnot said:
Here this setup with this powersource without a hiccup.

Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
P4 3.4c Northwood OC'd to 3.6
Coolermaster Jet 4 Cpu Cooler
BFG 6800 Gt OC'd to 400/1100
Audigy 2ZS Soundcard
2 80 gig seagate barracuda's
LiteOn 8x DVD+RW
Generic CompUsa 52x Cd Burner Dvd-Rom Combo drive
2 Vantec hard drive coolers
2 Antec blue led fans
1 60mm antec fan
1 Vantec 2xfan Blue led fan card blowing on my 6800Gt
1 gig or Geil Ultra platinum DDr
2 blue cathode lights

and of course my chrome windowed XG Vigor 500 watt with 2 blue led fans 1x120mm and 1x80mm

64k+ aquamark03
steady 60fps in Doom3

I couldnt ask for better bang for the buck.
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And if you keep using it, you're probably going to get quite a BANG for your buck, and dead mobo/vidcard/hd to boot. Heh, how many bad puns were in that sentence?


You spent tons of money on your system, I would really reccomend that you spring for a well known, quality psu. One that isnt likely to blow up your system.


Guys, read the sticky at the top of the forum. That's all you need to know for which brands to stay away from, which brands to buy from, and which psu's are in your price range that will get the job done.
 
I bought an Antec TrueBlue 480w PSU about a week after I got my BFG 6800GT OC and I couldnt be happier. Rock solid and looks good to, well if your like me and dont like an exessive amount of "bling bling" in your case anyways.

This power supply can be had for a pretty good price if you shop around.


Sejin
 
Your right you jerk computer pro.

I still had a raidmax last me 3 yrs without blowing up. LMFAO!!!!
 
computerpro3 said:
And if you keep using it, you're probably going to get quite a BANG for your buck, and dead mobo/vidcard/hd to boot. Heh, how many bad puns were in that sentence?


You spent tons of money on your system, I would really reccomend that you spring for a well known, quality psu. One that isnt likely to blow up your system.


Guys, read the sticky at the top of the forum. That's all you need to know for which brands to stay away from, which brands to buy from, and which psu's are in your price range that will get the job done.
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So since you claim to be the Pro. What powersource would you buy for this machine? Don't be vague either. What would you buy? I want to talk to my techie friends about it and see what they think of your opinion.
 
>WP< $lipKnot said:
So since you claim to be the Pro. What powersource would you buy for this machine? Don't be vague either. What would you buy? I want to talk to my techie friends about it and see what they think of your opinion.
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pc power and cooling 510 deluxe, or an antec neopower 480, or a zippy/emacs 500w. Infinitley better than your beloved raidmax or mge. BTW you are the only person on the entire internet that likes raidmax.

And if your techie friends pointed you to that mge or the raidmax, then they dont deserve their "techie" status one little bit.
 
>WP< $lipKnot said:
I will take my chances I like this PSU and this whole hoopla about the sticky thread your talking about is a bunch of bull ****. I had a raidmax that came with my case for about 3 years and it never died or blew up my machine.

Also I replaced a cheapie Manhattan plain grey 500watt psu with this XG Vigor 500 watt psu. I know a couple techie junkie computer types like me except they work at a very resepected local computer store that is for people wanting them to mod or build a modded machine, it is also a store for the mod/techie do it yourself types. They both have 60 dollar manhattan plain grey cheapie 500 watt psu's in their personal machines. They were the ones that told me about my Xg Vigor and showed it to me on the net.

They have seen many high end Antec's ruin machines, they have seen many Enermax's ruin machines, as well as high end thermaltakes and several other "expensive" high end psu's fry machines.

They have the machine from hell in the middle of thier shop. LianLi case, a 3.6 prescott oc'd to 4.2 with water cooling, a Geforce 6800Ultra with a waterblock, an Audigy 2 platinum, 4 gigs of ddr2 ram, a cd burner/dvd rom combo drive, a 16x dvd burner, 4 sata 300 gig 16mb cache hard drives, 6 blue led fans and 6 blue led cathode lights. All except the water cooling powered by a manhattan cheapie 60 dollar 500watt PSU. This machine is always on when they are open.

This machine is for sale for $8000.00 dollars.

Like I said I had a cheapie Raidmax 350 watt for 3 yrs and it never ruined my machine.
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antec isn't that high end, enermax isn't that high end, and TT sux. And that store is only respected by people like you if they r selling that system for $8000. IT also doensn't mean shit if the pc is on, its not gaming or crunching during that time. A 200w fortron could keep the thing on :rolleyes: And that machine isn't even that great, and reflects a very poor choice in componet mixing.
 
computerpro3 said:
antec isn't that high end, enermax isn't that high end, and TT sux. And that store is only respected by people like you if they r selling that system for $8000. IT also doensn't mean shit if the pc is on, its not gaming or crunching during that time. A 200w fortron could keep the thing on :rolleyes: And that machine isn't even that great, and reflects a very poor choice in componet mixing.
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Antec, Enermax, and Thermtaltake (Enlight) are three of the top PSU manufacturers. Very few people use Fortron or PC Power and Cooling PSU's compared to the thousands that use Antec, Enermax, and Thermaltake PSU's and very few have power issues.

The new Thermaltake PSU's have been in alot of reviews on high-end machines and have run them just fine. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one. But with any PSU you have to first look at the specs and see if it will hold up to the rig your trying to stick in it. The 12V rail is always the most concern.

The ugly Fortrons and the overpriced PC Power and Cooling PSU's aren't the only PSU's in the world worth buying.
 
>WP< $lipKnot said:
blah blah blah
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Anecdotal evidence is not worth shit. Additionally, telling us that you have stupid friends does not make us more sympathetic to the consequences of your stupid actions. Have fun.
 
burningrave101 said:
. Very few people use Fortron
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I wouldnt necessarilly say that :p
Considering how wide spread the housebranding\rebranding of FSP supplies is
(as you well know)
and SPI (Sparkle part of FSP) has a very long history with overclockers and gamers
alot longer than the Thermaltake brand has been around

computerpro3 said:
you better put on your flame suit. I got a feeling people are going to think that it is pretty funny
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then they had better employ a sense of humor
as we enforce the flaming rules rather strictly
the forums are all about expressing ones opinion
however that one does run counter to the preponderence of evidence

I think its a good time to point out the various shades of grey that often get polarized in here
what gets a PSU tossed into the board killer camp?

generally, it a supply that is made of a cheap components with only the most basic compliance to the spec, value engineered to be as cheap as possible so as not to jackup the price of the case it is sold with, what we affectionately call doorstops or generics

even these supplies when run at less than their rated load and on stable power can and will do the basic job they where designed for, the problem comes when they are run near their full rated load or over it, or when they have to deal with a surge or brownout
their component selection for overvoltage protection is typically less than robust, and often rather than safely shuting down and protecting components like the higher quality PSUs they allow an overshoot through

the other reason these supplies are so commonly badmouthed is that invariably n00bs order a shopping list of components and then purchase a case with a supply that cant reliably run half of the draw

this has been aggravated by the change to the +12V rail to primarilly power the mobos VRMs (Voltage Regulation Moduals) which subsequently powers all the onboard components including CPU, RAM and any cards including fully or partially powering the AGP (depending if it has an auxillary connector), older mobos employed the +5V rail for that, and many Generic PSUs are still bundled in cases that are geared towards the +5V rail.

Even now when claiming compliance with P4 specs, they are still often behind the curve on the +12V (ATX12V v1.3), and since they are cheap PSUs they are far more prone to inflated ratings on those specs

while techinally they can run at their full load, its only for a very brief period of time
and that rating was made with a temperature of 25C, something they will not see in the typical case outside of Siberia, whereas a higher quality PSU is also rated at 25C, its able to reliably function at near its full rated load for considerable periods of time

there are three basic categories for PSUs in my mind

generic doorstops, that given inexperience on the part of the builder (overloading the supply), and just bad luck in terms of AC stability will more than likely damage components unable to properly shutdown safely
(and I would include RAIDmax in that category, having just performed a post mortem on my brother in laws gaming rig, serves him right for not consulting me :p it was massively overloaded, and preconfigured by some "techs")

the average power supply, able to deal with the bad luck above and safely shutdown (often taking a bullet itself) meets basic spec compliance

the superior power supply, basically one that offers you a wider range of safe operation in the face of adverse conditions, be it the load on the supply or the source power, in addition these typically are far better than spec in one or more regards, at the top end being super clean (DM PARD) and stable, something of considerable benefit in say overclocking

any power supply that has a draw placed on it that is too high will shutdown
but then it might not actually hit that point all that often, components draw power as needed, so its a dynamic load and until some combination of multitasking combines to reach that point (along with a given operating temperature as a variable) its fine
which is why power supply problems are notorious for being intermittent
thus the question really is how safely, and how broad a range of operation it has

few if any claim that the RAIDmax is in the superior group
few claim its even in the average

this isnt rocket science, and actually putting the supply to the test would easily determine the validity of your assertion, but then Ive never seen a RAIDmax in a real PSU shootout, in fact few are even able to do a real review, Mike Chin and Lee Garbutt are the 2 reviewers I trust the most, as they actually have the equipment to do it justice, I recently turned down an offer to do a review, simply because I know I cant do a good job with just the tools I have (an oscilloscope, rudimentary multimeter without logging capability, amp and watt meter and a monster config) it simply takes more than that, even though my tool list would still be greater than 99% of the reviewers out there
(often simply employing a basic config and MBM) :p

we debate incessantly as to which shade of grey a particular PSU might be
largely because of the many unaddressed variables that a "typical" user hasnt addressed
it was much the same in The Overclocking and Cooling Forum till a few members started to get very scientfic about measuring performance for a given water block, pump, circuit ect. (you can still find most my old OC&C forum mates over at procooling or working for various manufacturers, or in business for themselves)
this wasnt new, engineers had done this for a few hundred years, and any OEM that needed that level of information could easily contract for it, but it was new in our cottage market, what we have in this arena is a lack of competent enthusiast testing (with a few exceptions)
and no testing to destruction (at least on purpose), the PSU is simply a link in the chain, the other ends are the mobos VRM and the source power, you use a power conditioning scheme to address one, get as good a PSU as you can for the middle, and look for stable mobos (overclocking reviews) since Ive never seen VRM enthusiast testing

to really test a PSU you need to map its operating range, under adverse conditions
most reviewers Ive seen dont even understand that by placing a higher load on the supply they are evening out the dynamic load, not a real test of the regulation
many arent even clear on the spec. (sorry for the rant)
 
burningrave101 said:
Antec, Enermax, and Thermtaltake (Enlight) are three of the top PSU manufacturers. Very few people use Fortron or PC Power and Cooling PSU's compared to the thousands that use Antec, Enermax, and Thermaltake PSU's and very few have power issues.

The new Thermaltake PSU's have been in alot of reviews on high-end machines and have run them just fine. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one. But with any PSU you have to first look at the specs and see if it will hold up to the rig your trying to stick in it. The 12V rail is always the most concern.

The ugly Fortrons and the overpriced PC Power and Cooling PSU's aren't the only PSU's in the world worth buying.
Click to expand...


sigh... I didn't say they were bad or anything, they are all great psu's imho except for TT, for which I still stand by my statement (yes I know there are some enlight models but you can't be sure who manufactures what).

Buit they aren't THAT high end, it's true. Its like a BMW, ya, they are wicked nice, but not THAT high end.

This guy seems to think they're all that.

and your comment about few people using fortron...ummmmmm HAHA :rolleyes: I'd be willing to bet that more people use psu's with fortron innards then Antec's. Do you know how many companies the FSP group produces for?
 
computerpro3 said:
and your comment about few people using fortron...ummmmmm HAHA :rolleyes: I'd be willing to bet that more people use psu's with fortron innards then Antec's. Do you know how many companies the FSP group produces for?
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Well i'm not talking about all the rebranded models. I'm just talking about the end users that ither buy a Fortron or Antec branded PSU. If you went out to random forums and simply asked which PSU to buy i think you'd find that Antec will be one of the more recommended brands because most havn't even heard of Fortron and Antec is a name brand that is well known and trusted. Antec is also the name you see in all the ads in computer mags and Antec PSU's get reviewed far more then Fortron PSU's do.
 
$lipKnots monster gaming rig version 2.0

Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
P4 3.4c Northwood OC'd to 3.8
Coolermaster Jet 4 Cpu Cooler
BFG 6800 Gt OC'd to 405/1120
Audigy 2ZS Soundcard
2 80 gig Seagate Barracuda's
1 200 gig Western Digital Caviar Se
LiteOn 8x DVD+RW
Generic CompUsa 52x Cd Burner Dvd-Rom Combo drive
2 Vantec hard drive coolers
2 Antec blue led fans
1 60mm antec fan
1 Vantec 2xfan Blue led fan card blowing on my 6800Gt
1 gig or Geil Ultra platinum pc3200 DDr
2 blue cathode lights

and my new Antec True 550 thermally controlled dual fan PSU.

12,656 3dmark03
68K Aquamark03
steady 60fps in Doom3

You were right computerpro. My hat is off to you (giving you the middle finger for being right while takes off hat). I traded the Mge XG Vigor 500 and some other stuff for this Antec truepower550 and I have already noticed a huge difference in performance. I was able to overclock another 200 mhz and it is stable. My Bfg6800Gt Performs even better, my hard drives respond faster. Thanks for being a jerk computer pro and making me see the light. I wanted a pc power and cooling but I dont have the money for it. This will do fine im sure.

I still had a 350 watt raidmax last 3 years without exploding LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
computerpro3 said:
BTW you are the only person on the entire internet that likes raidmax.

And if your techie friends pointed you to that mge or the raidmax, then they dont deserve their "techie" status one little bit.
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I happen to love my raid max case. It looks damn cool. I am usually the star of the lan party. WIth my flashy lil mid size case that performs like a beast.

Yeah so thier powersupplies suck. Their cases are still cool.

MY techie friends agreed with you. They thought the mge looked cool until they did some poking around after I mentioned it to them and showed it to them upon thinking about trading for the Antec.

Shit man you got me paranoid I just upgraded this machine I am not trying to fry it out. thanks again you jerk. =)
 
glad to see that I helped you :p

let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks that a generic psu makes no difference....200mhz is one big ass difference.

And for the raidmax case; ya some of them do look pretty nice. But again, there is a reason they cost $30 on newegg when there are cases out there that cost $250. Having used both, guess which one I stuck with ;)

Good1.jpg


Good2.jpg


Good5.jpg


or maybe this is more your style (this one isn't mine tho)

MACH+2+SIDE.jpg


it's like a good psu, once you use it you never go back. Of course, the raidmax case isn't going to kill your pc like their psu's will, so if you like it, keep it.
 
computerpro3 said:
glad to see that I helped you :p

let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks that a generic psu makes no difference....200mhz is one big ass difference.

And for the raidmax case; ya some of them do look pretty nice. But again, there is a reason they cost $30 on newegg when there are cases out there that cost $250.

it's like a good psu, once you use it you never go back. Of course, the raidmax case isn't going to kill your pc like their psu's will, so if you like it, keep it.
Click to expand...

What I really want is this LianLi PC-65 I am going to try to talk somebody into getting it for me for my birthday. This case is an awesome piece of work.
 
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