Best 1500W+ PSU

Why don't you want an EVGA PSU? And why do you need a 1500+ watt PSU in the first place?

The EVGA 1600 G2 is highly rated by JonnyGuru. Doesn't get much better than that.
Lepa G1600 is also considered one of the best values at the high wattage range.
The Maxrevo 1500w was well reviewed by [H]OCP, though it's not quite as good as the 1600 G2, and for the same price, the 1600 G2 is better.
AX1500i is overpriced IMO, and Corsair is overrated. Sure, it's the only 80+ Titanium while the others are 80+ Gold, but is that worth the $120 over the 1600 G2 and Maxrevo 1500, and $160 over the G1600?
 
The Lepa = no. It's 1600W spread across something like 6 rails which is dumb. Want to run a really heavy overclocked flagship GPU? Not going to happen on the Lepa.

Corsair has awesome customer service and did a no-hassle cross ship replacement when I got a little annoyed about some coil whine (that I could only hear if I put my head right next to it). The 1200i I had (upgraded to 1500i) could handle 1100W of power draw @ the wall no problem. The software is more novelty but it's kinda cool being able to see individual current measurements for all the cables.

I can't speak about the EVGA supplies, but on paper it seems pretty good.


Do you really need 1500W? Unless your desktop costs well over $2k, chances are you don't.
 
Gonna guess this is about 2 295x2s based on the no EVGA comment?

If so, it is recommended to use 2 PSUs.
 
Bluesun311 said:
Gonna guess this is about 2 295x2s based on the no EVGA comment?

If so, it is recommended to use 2 PSUs.
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I agree with this. A 4-gpu setup might be OK with 1 large psu, but if you want to overclock it then you can very quickly exceed 1600W.
 
dr/owned said:
The Lepa = no. It's 1600W spread across something like 6 rails which is dumb. Want to run a really heavy overclocked flagship GPU? Not going to happen on the Lepa.

Corsair has awesome customer service and did a no-hassle cross ship replacement when I got a little annoyed about some coil whine (that I could only hear if I put my head right next to it). The 1200i I had (upgraded to 1500i) could handle 1100W of power draw @ the wall no problem. The software is more novelty but it's kinda cool being able to see individual current measurements for all the cables.

I can't speak about the EVGA supplies, but on paper it seems pretty good.


Do you really need 1500W? Unless your desktop costs well over $2k, chances are you don't.
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Ugh, here comes the stupid multi-rail vs single rail argument again.

Done properly, multi-rail is superior to single rail due to more safety redundancies. And will not limit your overclocking potential. The Lepa G1600 is one of those that has the rails done properly. 4 rails are dedicated to the GPUs and peripherals, and each of those rails is rated at 30 amps. Unless each of your GPUs are pulling more than 360 watts, you would not run into power problems. Not to mention OCP is typically set higher than what is stated on the box.

Also, a 4 GPU system easily exceeding 1600 watts? Maybe if you're running 4 heavily overclocked watercooled 290x (ballpark of 350 watts each), and a heavily overclocked watercooled Haswell 8-core (ballpark of 250 watts).
 
It's not an argument, it's a fact. 30A is fine if you want to run an average overclock on an average rig. Come talk to me when you've got a 680 running at 1.25V and +300 Mhz clock speed and pulling 500W from a single rail. The Lepa 1600 won't run that load. 1600W power supply that can't run a 500W load = worthless. AX1200i (or AX1500i, or EVGA 1600 G2 if it's a true single rail) on the other hand you don't need to worry about looking at the rail distribution diagrams and trying to balance multi-gpus and cpu power connectors across multiple rails. You can plug everything in and it just works.

The "multi rail is safer" is a red herring argument. If you've got dead shorts in one of your components, 30A or 100A isn't going to matter...the component is going to get fried and the power supplies overcurrent protection is going to kick in. With the Corsairs you can create virtual rails with individual OCP anyways, again making the safety argument a moot point.
 
dr/owned said:
It's not an argument, it's a fact. 30A is fine if you want to run an average overclock on an average rig. Come talk to me when you've got a 680 running at 1.25V and +300 Mhz clock speed and pulling 500W from a single rail. The Lepa 1600 won't run that load. 1600W power supply that can't run a 500W load = worthless. AX1200i (or AX1500i, or EVGA 1600 G2 if it's a true single rail) on the other hand you don't need to worry about looking at the rail distribution diagrams and trying to balance multi-gpus and cpu power connectors across multiple rails. You can plug everything in and it just works.

The "multi rail is safer" is a red herring argument. If you've got dead shorts in one of your components, 30A or 100A isn't going to matter...the component is going to get fried and the power supplies overcurrent protection is going to kick in. With the Corsairs you can create virtual rails with individual OCP anyways, again making the safety argument a moot point.
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In what planet is a 680 drawing 500 watts? The R9 290x has a fairly hard time drawing more than 350 watts, how the hell is a 680 doing 500 watts? Unless you're doing LN2, in which case you're doing single GPU, and you can split its power between two rails for a grand total of 60 amps (720 watts) to the GPU.

http://www.overclock.net/t/761202/single-rail-vs-multi-rail-explained

A short might not immediately go to above 100 amps, especially if it's only a partial short. And the connectors are balanced such that you don't need to worry about rail distribution.

Also, what happens if the software fails?

Basically, your arguments against the G1600 are pointless. Now, if you want to argue against the G1600 because of the 3 year warranty, then you have some merit. But for multi-rail? Go educate yourself more before coming back here.
 
I don't want to derail this thread, but a 680 Lightning can be made to draw 500W without using LN2. Been there done that, although no one believes me when I throw down those kind of power figures that I saw with mine own eyes. I also ran into issues with a multi-rail 1250W power supply because my 3770K was drawing 350W of power and the CPU power rails were being shared with the mobo 24 pin power rail so I had to move stuff around or else Prime95 caused the power supply to click off.

The Corsair OCP method only relies on the software to set the OCP values. Once they're set the software doesn't need to run. Sounds like you're the one need to educate yourself before extolling the virtues of a 3 year old psu design.
 
Have you ever asked yourself why no one believes you? Because your claims border on the realm of impossibility. Unless there was something physically wrong with your 680, there is no way it can draw (and dissipate) 500+ watts. And I also have a very hard time believing your 3770k can draw 350 watts.

The 3930k's power consumption was measured at 350 watts at 4.8 ghz, 1.6 v. This is a 6-core SB-E processor, with 32nm technology. Your 3770k is a quad-core with 22nm technology, and every review has shown it draws less power at the same frequencies than SB.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1189242/sandy-bridge-e-overclocking-guide-walk-through-explanations-and-support-for-all-x79-overclockers

Either 1. You're making crap up, or 2. You have hardware problems that are not indicative of real world. Either way, your advice is crap and useless.
 
Tsumi said:
Why don't you want an EVGA PSU? And why do you need a 1500+ watt PSU in the first place?

The EVGA 1600 G2 is highly rated by JonnyGuru. Doesn't get much better than that.
Lepa G1600 is also considered one of the best values at the high wattage range.
The Maxrevo 1500w was well reviewed by [H]OCP, though it's not quite as good as the 1600 G2, and for the same price, the 1600 G2 is better.
AX1500i is overpriced IMO, and Corsair is overrated. Sure, it's the only 80+ Titanium while the others are 80+ Gold, but is that worth the $120 over the 1600 G2 and Maxrevo 1500, and $160 over the G1600?
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Good advice and factual.

Maybe op doesn't want evga because of their past reputation regarding power supplies? Evgas recent psu's have had excellent reviews for the most part.
 
rabidz7 said:
Is it the AX1500i? I don't want an EVGA PSU.
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Corsair AX1500i or EVGA G2 1600W.

Tsumi said:
and Corsair is overrated.
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The power supply isn't ;)

dr/owned said:
The Lepa = no. It's 1600W spread across something like 6 rails which is dumb. Want to run a really heavy overclocked flagship GPU? Not going to happen on the Lepa.
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That is completely incorrect. I'm not sure if the Lepa is as good as it used to be, now coming out of a different factory than they used to be built in, but there is nothing wrong whatsoever with the multi-rail OCP implementation on the unit.
 
Tsumi said:
Ugh, here comes the stupid multi-rail vs single rail argument again.

Done properly, multi-rail is superior to single rail due to more safety redundancies. And will not limit your overclocking potential. The Lepa G1600 is one of those that has the rails done properly. 4 rails are dedicated to the GPUs and peripherals, and each of those rails is rated at 30 amps. Unless each of your GPUs are pulling more than 360 watts, you would not run into power problems. Not to mention OCP is typically set higher than what is stated on the box.

Also, a 4 GPU system easily exceeding 1600 watts? Maybe if you're running 4 heavily overclocked watercooled 290x (ballpark of 350 watts each), and a heavily overclocked watercooled Haswell 8-core (ballpark of 250 watts).
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Gotta agree with Tsumi on the rail issue. When my Corsair AX1200 died. I switched to using my backup multi-rail 850W PSU to run a 5970 & 5870 mining rig back in the early days of GPU bitcoin mining. By properly splitting the rails (and undervolting the cpu) it was able to safely keep going until I got a proper replacement. I would not have trusted trying to run that close to the edge of the operating envelope through a single rail 850W PSU.

More importantly, if you intend to run gear like dual 295x2's (or whatever needs a 1500+ W PSU) you better be doing it on something more robust than a 15A, 120V line.
 
Oklahoma Wolf said:
Corsair AX1500i or EVGA G2 1600W.



The power supply isn't ;)



That is completely incorrect. I'm not sure if the Lepa is as good as it used to be, now coming out of a different factory than they used to be built in, but there is nothing wrong whatsoever with the multi-rail OCP implementation on the unit.
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Hey there Oklahoma by the way.

Long time no see personally, but been a few other places these days.
 
Can somebody present reliable power consumption estimate and suggest best PSU configuration for the following configuration:

Haswell-E i7-5960X 8 core overclocked
Asus X99-E WS workstation motherboard
4-Way SLI GTX Titan Blacks with overclocking

From the published results a single overclocked Titan Black consumes 400 W. That gives roughly 4x400 + 250 = 1850 W for the configuration above which is over the capabilities of single PSUs. Conclusion is then that a dual PSU system is needed. Is this correct?

Additionally, Titan Black 400 W means over 30A current, multirail PSUs are not suitable then?
 
Umm, where are you getting 400 watts from? There is no way you are hitting 400 watts on air cooled Titan Blacks. Hardware.info seemed to be just fine running 4 Titan Blacks off of a CoolerMaster Silent Pro 1200w. You're going to be pulling at most 300 watts per card, especially since nVidia doesn't allow voltage tweaking. A 1500+ watt power supply is more than sufficient. What you need to be careful about is your household wiring.
 
Tsumi said:
Umm, where are you getting 400 watts from? There is no way you are hitting 400 watts on air cooled Titan Blacks. Hardware.info seemed to be just fine running 4 Titan Blacks off of a CoolerMaster Silent Pro 1200w. You're going to be pulling at most 300 watts per card, especially since nVidia doesn't allow voltage tweaking. A 1500+ watt power supply is more than sufficient. What you need to be careful about is your household wiring.
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Yes, you are right. I looked at the data,I missed they quote complete system: http://www.hardwareluxx.com/index.p...-geforce-gtx-titan-black-edition.html?start=3
Titan Black alone is thus 300 W.

Anyway if I would have to go for with more than 4 such cards (I have also machine learning data crunching in view) what would be the best way of using dual PSU's? Taking two identical PSU's? Are there any PSU's which are prepared for stacking them together? Is there any problem with common earthing for the PSU's?
 
wirk said:
Can somebody present reliable power consumption estimate and suggest best PSU configuration for the following configuration:

Haswell-E i7-5960X 8 core overclocked
Asus X99-E WS workstation motherboard
4-Way SLI GTX Titan Blacks with overclocking

From the published results a single overclocked Titan Black consumes 400 W. That gives roughly 4x400 + 250 = 1850 W for the configuration above which is over the capabilities of single PSUs. Conclusion is then that a dual PSU system is needed. Is this correct?

Additionally, Titan Black 400 W means over 30A current, multirail PSUs are not suitable then?
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Those kinds of specs means that you have no budget constraints.

Go with the Corsair axi1500. Is it overpriced considering Enermax, LEPA, Rosewill, EVGA, LEPA, or Silverstone 1500w/1600w offerings? Yes. Is it higher quality than those brands? Yes.

It is the best 1500w PSU money can buy right now if money is not a constraint....and money does not appear like a constraint of your build.
 
Higher quality than the EVGA? Maybe just barely.

If you plan on adding more than 4 GPUs, be prepared to run into some software issues. Most systems do not like having more than 4 GPUs attached. And there is no X99 board that can support more than 4 GPUs with air coolers without PCI-E risers.

There are adapters that allow dual PSU usage. I suggest taking a look at this: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/24/black_art_dual_psus_in_your_enthusiast_pc/10

If you do go the dual PSU route, two 1000 watt PSUs would be more than sufficient. There are a lot more choices available in the 1000-1200 watt range. And make sure your household circuit can support more than 15 amps.
 
atp1916 said:
Those kinds of specs means that you have no budget constraints.,Go with the Corsair axi1500. Is it overpriced considering Enermax, LEPA, Rosewill, EVGA, LEPA, or Silverstone 1500w/1600w offerings? Yes. Is it higher quality than those brands? Yes. It is the best 1500w PSU money can buy right now if money is not a constraint....and money does not appear like a constraint of your build.
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You are right, money is not a constraint here... but I do not intend to splash it mindlessly, and go after careful preparations. The starting point is Asus X99-E WS workstation motherboard which has 7 PCIe slots and Haswell-E i7-5960X.

Tsumi said:
Higher quality than the EVGA? Maybe just barely.
If you plan on adding more than 4 GPUs, be prepared to run into some software issues. Most systems do not like having more than 4 GPUs attached. And there is no X99 board that can support more than 4 GPUs with air coolers without PCI-E risers.
There are adapters that allow dual PSU usage. I suggest taking a look at this: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/24/black_art_dual_psus_in_your_enthusiast_pc/10
If you do go the dual PSU route, two 1000 watt PSUs would be more than sufficient. There are a lot more choices available in the 1000-1200 watt range. And make sure your household circuit can support more than 15 amps.
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Thanks for the advice. I am aware about those issues and studying all details right now before the X99-W WS will be generally available in shops. Regarding more than 4 GPUs there are reports they run with no problem in Linux and also it is claimed in Windows by some.
 
wirk said:
Thanks for the advice. I am aware about those issues and studying all details right now before the X99-W WS will be generally available in shops. Regarding more than 4 GPUs there are reports they run with no problem in Linux and also it is claimed in Windows by some.
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From my mining experience, 4 cards is rarely an issue on Windows 7 or 8. I've run 4 290s, 4 280xs, 4 7950s, and 4 270s combinations with no problems. I run a mix of 13.12,14.6 Beta2, and 14.7RC3 on any of the 4 card rigs on a mix of Win7 and Win8 with no issues. On my 5 card rigs i run Windows 8 because Windows 7 doesn't like running any more than 4 cards.

About your PSU comment, any of the PSUs i linked a couple of posts up will do you well then. Of the ones i linked, i personally recommend the Silverstone 1500w. It has served me well with my 290 mining rigs running 24/7 for six months now.
 
atp1916 said:
On my 5 card rigs i run Windows 8 because Windows 7 doesn't like running any more than 4 cards.
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Can four of the cards be connected in the SLI mode so SLI would be used for gaming and all 5 cards for other applications?
 
The EVGA might be cheaper, but my experience with their other line-ups (before their 1600W model came out) were that they were ALL incredibly noisy compared to other offerings.

*note- rig is 4930k @ 1.4v, tri-sli gtx titan @ 1.3v
I personally got sick of trying different PSU's - when the Corsair AX1500i came out, I just decided to get it and quit messing around. It's an actual product they cared about to get right - everything else just felt like a reboxed OEM that I hoped would be built up to snuff.

I had tried 4 different PSU's up until the AX1500i. The EVGA models were relatively the best performing, but annoyingly loud. Antec's performance being the absolute worst, but the quietest. Thermaltake's were ok, but overpriced.

I have also never heard the AX1500i's fan spin up to audible levels under load (there's a threshold where the fan speed takes a massive jump in RPM) except for extremely long sessions of gaming - sessions long enough that you should take a break for your eyes that is

Personally, I would go with the AX1500i and be done. You can save some money with other options and what not, but I'm sick of testing/swapping/returning/RMA'ing PSU's at this power level. Systems at this power level are no joke on power draw
 
Exyia said:
I had tried 4 different PSU's up until the AX1500i. The EVGA models were relatively the best performing, but annoyingly loud. Antec's performance being the absolute worst, but the quietest. Thermaltake's were ok, but overpriced.
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Which Antec PSU were you trying out that was 1500W+? Currently running an Antec HCP-1300 Platinum, but I wasn't aware they offered anything higher at the moment unless you're talking about extremely old releases. I've been very happy with it -- no issues with performance, and extremely quiet under 80%+ load, same as mentioned by Oklahoma in his review on JohnnyGuru. I love it to death, but it's 1300W, not 1500W, so I'm curious as to what you were testing...
 
Exyia said:
The EVGA might be cheaper, but my experience with their other line-ups (before their 1600W model came out) were that they were ALL incredibly noisy compared to other offerings.

*note- rig is 4930k @ 1.4v, tri-sli gtx titan @ 1.3v
I personally got sick of trying different PSU's - when the Corsair AX1500i came out, I just decided to get it and quit messing around. It's an actual product they cared about to get right - everything else just felt like a reboxed OEM that I hoped would be built up to snuff.

I had tried 4 different PSU's up until the AX1500i. The EVGA models were relatively the best performing, but annoyingly loud. Antec's performance being the absolute worst, but the quietest. Thermaltake's were ok, but overpriced.

I have also never heard the AX1500i's fan spin up to audible levels under load (there's a threshold where the fan speed takes a massive jump in RPM) except for extremely long sessions of gaming - sessions long enough that you should take a break for your eyes that is

Personally, I would go with the AX1500i and be done. You can save some money with other options and what not, but I'm sick of testing/swapping/returning/RMA'ing PSU's at this power level. Systems at this power level are no joke on power draw
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How do you define "best performing?" I highly doubt you have the $6,000+ equipment that professional reviewers use to truly measure performance.
 
Xinmosni said:
Which Antec PSU were you trying out that was 1500W+? Currently running an Antec HCP-1300 Platinum, but I wasn't aware they offered anything higher at the moment unless you're talking about extremely old releases. I've been very happy with it -- no issues with performance, and extremely quiet under 80%+ load, same as mentioned by Oklahoma in his review on JohnnyGuru. I love it to death, but it's 1300W, not 1500W, so I'm curious as to what you were testing...
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Yes the 1300W Platinum - hardly anyone on overclock.net had good experiences with that 1300W Platinum.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1470877/antec-hcp-1300-connection-multi-rail-nightmare-please-help

My EVGA Supernova G2 1200W was able to run the system compared to the Antec (just annoyingly loud as I mentioned, which is why I started looking for other units). After deeper searching, general consensus was that all EVGA units are loud.

Thermaltake's SMART (haven't tried their toughpower because they were always relatively high priced compared to other offerings) series would occasionally hit OCP once I overvolted the Titans

The Antec was the last straw for me though - the AX1500i had just come out and I wanted to be done shopping around.

I am not saying it's the best unit. I'm saying it's the easiest to recommend buy as of 10/1/14 with all other units still being new and most builds with them still in progress. You can go ahead and try the other cheaper units out there and hope they hold up (especially in the noise department), but my time is worth more to me than the hassle that I've already put up with.

Tsumi said:
How do you define "best performing?" I highly doubt you have the $6,000+ equipment that professional reviewers use to truly measure performance.
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fine - "some of the best performing". I don't care enough to argue tiny details in wording :rolleyes:
 
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Exyia said:
Yes the 1300W Platinum - hardly anyone on overclock.net had good experiences with that 1300W Platinum.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1470877/antec-hcp-1300-connection-multi-rail-nightmare-please-help
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What are you talking about? I've read that thread multiple times when configuring my own trifire setup, because the instructions for the HCP-1300 tell you pretty much nothing. But it's revealed later on in that same thread that the OP had two out of four defective Titans that he ended up RMAing -- it had nothing to do with the PSU!

Unless there were other threads like this one that I missed, in which case I guess I've just had less problems.
 
Xinmosni said:
What are you talking about? I've read that thread multiple times when configuring my own trifire setup, because the instructions for the HCP-1300 tell you pretty much nothing. But it's revealed later on in that same thread that the OP had two out of four defective Titans that he ended up RMAing -- it had nothing to do with the PSU!

Unless there were other threads like this one that I missed, in which case I guess I've just had less problems.
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from his build thread
A little about the PSUs.

I was running into some major power issues with my system a couple of months ago ever since I sold my old trusty Antec HCP-1200. I got a Lepa G1600 and it was not working well - got shut offs every time there was load on the computer.

I then got a single HCP-1300 and that couldn't even run 3 GPUs, let alone 4. I got another used HCP-1200 and it crapped out on me! frown.gif

I spoke to Antec and specifically to Patrick and Justin - two straight-shooters who are very helpful and understood my situation. They suggested I try 2 PSUs. I was a bit apprehensive at first since I used to have 2 PSUs back when I was running 4x GTX-580 Classified (with those 2 8-pin and 1 6-pin connector EACH eek.gif). I was using two different PSUs and had random shut offs and freezes and so I ditched that setup and thought "never again." smile.gif

When Patrick and Justin at Antec told me that they now have this feature called "OC Link", I was at first skeptical but decided to give it a try. I am really glad I did because the OC Link somehow enables the PSUs to modulate the voltages supplied to the system. I can't really monitor the exact details of each PSU but using KILL-A-WATT at the wall (plugging in both PSUs), I am seeing anywhere from 1100 - 1700W at the wall and it is rock solid! There is no worry of whether I am pushing the units too hard or whether something could just 'pop'.

These two Antec PSUs run in tandem very well and provide all the power I need for the Uber Rig.

The HCP-1300 powers 3 of the GTX-Titan Black SCs while the HCP-850 powers the CPU, 1 GPU, and all the peripherals. The OC Link is connected to make sure the power is modulated correctly between the two units and I have to say, I am pretty happy with it so far.

I think we are at a point where some 'power' users need ~2K watts to play it safe. I would like to see companies come out with rock solid PSUs with 1800 - 2000W since single PSU systems would be the better choice.
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my experience was similar - couldn't handle my system at all, yet the EVGA 1200W G2 Supernova could.
 
wirk said:
Can four of the cards be connected in the SLI mode so SLI would be used for gaming and all 5 cards for other applications?
Click to expand...

I've never tried gaming on with quad fire mode + 1 card.

If it did work, imagine the stutter. :
 
I need at least 1500W because I plan on using four heavily-overclocked GTX 580s and a 4930K. I will also be upgrading to four full-fat GM210 cards when they come out. Is the AX1500i the best PSU?
 
rabidz7 said:
I need at least 1500W because I plan on using four heavily-overclocked GTX 580s and a 4930K. I will also be upgrading to four full-fat GM210 cards when they come out. Is the AX1500i the best PSU?
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No idea as I haven't seen the unit, but I do have some new 1500W units that have come in.
 
The difference between the top-end PSUs would be like the difference between having 1,000,000 dollars and 1,000,100 dollars.
 
rabidz7 said:
I need at least 1500W because I plan on using four heavily-overclocked GTX 580s and a 4930K. I will also be upgrading to four full-fat GM210 cards when they come out. Is the AX1500i the best PSU?
Click to expand...

According to many reviews the AX1500i is the best PSU ever and an ultimate one getting 10/10 scores. Me have no experience with it yet, AX1500i just landed on my desk:cool:
 
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