Do I need to upgrade power supply?

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Zabuzaxsta

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Jan 19, 2012
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So I found this website that outlines in broad strokes what you need as far as wattage goes in a power supply - http://www.pcpower.com/technology/power_usage/

Dunno if it is up to date or accurate, which is all the answer I need, I suppose.

As for my specific question, I have a 850w power supply: can it run this theoretical setup (monitors and graphics cards in the mail)?

Eyefinity triple monitors @ 5760 x 1080
ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 16GB ram
Intel Core i7 2600k
Blu-ray/DVD burner
6 NZXT Enthusiast Series 2800RPM 120mm fans
XSPC X20 750 Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir/Pump combo
Wireless Internet PCI card
Two Radeon HD7970 Graphics cards in Crossfire mode (these are 250w each, in case you can't find here's a link http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1847/1/)
Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SSD

Since I know the graphics cards are 250w each, it seems highly dubious that my current power supply is sufficient - all of the rest of that would have to take less than 350w in order for me to be in the clear. You think I should buy a new power supply? If so, how much do you think I need?
 
Which 850W PSU do you have?

Oh and yes, that link is a bit outdated.
 
Zabuzaxsta said:
Since I know the graphics cards are 250w each, it seems highly dubious that my current power supply is sufficient - all of the rest of that would have to take less than 350w in order for me to be in the clear. You think I should buy a new power supply? If so, how much do you think I need?
Click to expand...

How exactly did you figure that all the rest will/should pull more than 350W!?..

2600k @ 1.4v <140W
everything else you listed ~100W

If your 850W PSU is a quality unit you're perfectly fine.
 
Danny - I have a Corsair Enthusiast Series TX850 (80 plus Bronze Certified, whatever that means)

Profumo - According to that website I cited, as it was the only real thing I had to refer to, here is the breakdown (let's go ahead and assume minimums for the moment):

Wireless PCI Card - 5W
BR/DVD Burner - 20W
HD - 15W
6 high RPM case fans @ 3w each - 18W
MB (w/o CPU or RAM) - 50W
CPU - 80W
16GB RAM @ 15w per GB - 190W

Total: 380W minimum

Like I said, I'm no pro, so maybe this website has bad/outdated info. In spite of that, hopefully you can see how (exactly) I figured that all the rest should pull more than 350w since, according to that website, they should be pulling 380W minimum. That's already above 850W (500W + 380W = 880W), and that's just the minimum amount of power.

If these other things pull something above the minimum wattage noted, they (combined) could pull an additional 190W. 380 + 190 = 570W, and 500W (graphics cards maxed out in eyefinity setup) + 570W = 1070W. Since that's like 25% more wattage than the PSU supplies, it concerned me.

Regardless, does everyone else agree that this setup should be fine? I'm glad at least one person thinks so (given that the Corsair TX850 is a quality unit).
 
:)

Here's you issue, your motherboard isn't using 50W and you're ram is using <5W per stick;)..
 
That would solve the issue, as that would be a difference of ~170W, bringing the total to around 700W...and you said the CPU would use 140W which is 60W greater than my calculation, so that would bring it up to 760W.

Oh crap, I totally forgot...I have a pump, too...what would the wattage be there? Website is no help...single loop 750 lph XSPC X20 750 pump/res combo.

I dunno, I guess 760W + pump + future pump for graphics cards (separate loop) seems too close to 850W to me...am I overreacting, or just miscalculating?

Also, does my Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 850 PSU count as a quality unit?...what does that mean, exactly? That it will handle higher loads better?

Sorry to beat this to death, but it's my first build and I'm super nervous.
 
Zabuzaxsta said:
.am I overreacting, or just miscalculating?
Click to expand...
A little bit of both, you're calculating as if you're benching all your hardware at once(CPU, VGAs, RAM, HDDs, Fans, etc @ full load at the same time) and that's not a realistic scenario.

Zabuzaxsta said:
Also, does my Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 850 PSU count as a quality unit?...what does that mean, exactly? That it will handle higher loads better?
Click to expand...
What version of the TX do you have?.. the TX, TX-C, TXv2 or TX-M?

The last two are good, the first two aren't that good but will suffice.
 
Profumo said:
A little bit of both, you're calculating as if you're benching all your hardware at once(CPU, VGAs, RAM, HDDs, Fans, etc @ full load at the same time) and that's not a realistic scenario.
Click to expand...


This is exactly right. Your system is probably drawing ~550-600w from the wall at heavy gaming loads, if that. The 7970 is pretty energy efficient unless you're doing some serious OC'ing.
 
Alright, I figured it wasn't the case that everything would be running full load at the same time...I just figure that's a good bet as far as the PSU is concerned (if you have enough wattage to run everything at load, you have to be fine as far as that's concerned). Good to hear, though, that it's still not as close as I thought.

As for the PSU, I think the fact that it is in the enthusiast series makes it the TXv2...when I go to the amazon page, "TXV2" is the last part of the name. Sorry for the n00b lookup; I just don't feel like digging through all my extras bags to find an instruction manual or whatever. I always wondered why the enthusiast series and the modular unit (TXv2 and TX-M) cost more...I suppose there is more to power units than just wattage.

What about pumps? Is there some sort of wattage guide/classification for pumps?

Thanks for all the help, guys...starting to feel a lot better about all of this.
 
Zabuzaxsta said:
As for the PSU, I think the fact that it is in the enthusiast series makes it the TXv2...when I go to the amazon page, "TXV2" is the last part of the name. Sorry for the n00b lookup; I just don't feel like digging through all my extras bags to find an instruction manual or whatever. I always wondered why the enthusiast series and the modular unit (TXv2 and TX-M) cost more...
Click to expand...
I recommend going back and dig then. Or just open up your PC and look. Or look through your order invoice.

The problem is that there was a period of time where the TX850 and TX850 V2 were both on sale. We saw this dozens of times in the General Hardware subforum where people would list the older TX850 as their planned PSU when the TX850 V2 was cheaper. Or they'd list the TX850 V2 but linked the TX850 instead. Or at the very end, ended buying the TX850 because they weren't paying attention. This applied to the TX650, TX 650 V2, TX750 and TX750 V2 as well.

Zabuzaxsta said:
I suppose there is more to power units than just wattage.
Click to expand...
Yes there is.
 
All quality power supplies have those standard protections. SCP, OCP, OPP, etc. You need to read [H] and JonnyGuru reviews in order to see if those protections actually work, and a whole host of other things which determine PSU performance. There's voltage regulation, ripple suppression, etc. You have to cut through the marketing crap, so to speak.

With the TX850 V2, you're fine. Even the original TX850 would have been fine, it would just have been a bit on the dated side.
 
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