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Is My OCZ Enough?

P

PC_User

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
5,022
I currently have an OCZ 700W GameXStream PSU (in my sig) and I'm planning on upgrading my system to the following:

i7 920 (OC)
6GB DDR3 1600 (OC)
GTX 260 Core 216
1 x WD 640GB AALS
1 x WD 1TB EADS
1 x SATA DVDRW
1 x PCI-E Wireless Card
6 x 120mm fans
1 x 92mm fan

Will it be enough to power that system? I know it's not the best PSU out there (Jonny Guru's test) and may have ripple problems at 90%+ load.
 
I think it should be fine. I have the same PSU powering:
Q6600 (not OC now, but at 3.2 ghz was fine)
9800gtx (display) and a 9600gso (physx)
4gb DDR2
4 SATA hard drives
2 DVD burners
5 120mm fans

I don't think a GTX260 draws much more power (if any more at all) than a 9800gtx, and I doubt more than 9800gtx plus a 9600gso.
 
I think you would be fine. I don't see anything on there that would eat up too much power.
 
My main concern is that ripple issue that reviewers have noticed. It only occurs (allegedly) when very close to load but I wouldn't want to risk killing any components. Also, will there be enough voltage on the rail to power a 260 and possibly an upgrade down the line?
 
Will I have enough power on the 12V rail to power a new video card in the future?
 
PC_User said:
What I meant to ask was, would it allow me to power a video using 2 rails if 1 proves to be insufficient?
Click to expand...

99% of the time you will not have problems with the the rail layout. What you seem to be missing is that your OCZ PSU starts having problem above 500W or so. So it's not a rail issue you need to worry about: it's a wattage issue.
 
PC_User said:
What I meant to ask was, would it allow me to power a video using 2 rails if 1 proves to be insufficient?
Click to expand...
I'll echo what Danny was saying. Also, the splitter you linked to does not let you power a graphics card with multiple rails.
 
Danny Bui said:
99% of the time you will not have problems with the the rail layout. What you seem to be missing is that your OCZ PSU starts having problem above 500W or so. So it's not a rail issue you need to worry about: it's a wattage issue.
Click to expand...

Where did you find this? I heard that there were only limited problems appearing near 90% full load, and this was only from Jonny Guru's review. All other reviews I have read recommend this PSU and show no problems.
 
PC_User said:
Where did you find this? I heard that there were only limited problems appearing near 90% full load, and this was only from Jonny Guru's review. All other reviews I have read recommend this PSU and show no problems.
Click to expand...

And as BBQ pointed out the last time you mentioned those other reviews, those other PSU reviews you've read aren't proper PSU reviews. Anyway, I got the 500W max load just from that same jonnyguru review. In that review, after 500W, the ripple started going crazy. Yes it was just under the ATX specs but it was just under 20mV from the ATX specs. That's far too close IMO. In addition, if you check out other PSUs based on the same FSP Episilon platform, a vast majority of them exhibit that same problem:

FSP BlueStorm II 500W PSU @ HardOCP
FSP BlueStorm II 500W PSU @ jonnyGuru
FSP Everest 700W PSU @ HardOCP
FSP Everest 700W PSU @ jonnyGuru
FSP Everest 900W PSU
FSP Everest 1010W PSU
OCZ GameXStream 700W
OCZ GameXStream 1010W
Sigma SP-700 700W PSU
Super Talent Atomic Juice PS-700 700W PSU
Antec Basiq 500W PSU
 
So would you recommend that I get a new PSU for my i7 920 build (listed in 1st post)? I don't want to risk killing any components...

Also, I've had it for about 1.5 years now so it may have lost some efficiency since then.
 
PC_User said:
So would you recommend that I get a new PSU for my i7 920 build (listed in 1st post)? I don't want to risk killing any components...
Click to expand...

No, not really. You'll be right under that 500W threshold. As long as you don't add another hard drive or upgrade the GPU past the power usage of a GTX260, you'll be fine.
 
Danny Bui said:
No, not really. You'll be right under that 500W threshold. As long as you don't add another hard drive or upgrade the GPU past the power usage of a GTX260, you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

So what you're saying is I'm cutting it close. I just ran the PSU calculator with i7 920 @ 3.8, 3 x 2GB DDR3, 2 hard drives, 6 fans, 7 usb devices, gtx260, PCI-E x1 card, and 20% capacitor aging. It gave me an estimate of 540W.

The thing is, in the future I am thinking of going with the newer generation of video cards (past the 260) so I probably won't upgrade from my 4850 just yet. I suppose I will also need to add maybe one or two 1TB drives for additional storage when I need them.

That being said, I like to err on the safer side whenever possible. In this case, do you still think I should stay put with the current OCZ or perhaps upgrade to something more reliable (i.e. HX620, 750TX, etc)?
 
PC_User said:
So what you're saying is I'm cutting it close. I just ran the PSU calculator with i7 920 @ 3.8, 3 x 2GB DDR3, 2 hard drives, 6 fans, 7 usb devices, gtx260, PCI-E x1 card, and 20% capacitor aging. It gave me an estimate of 540W.

The thing is, in the future I am thinking of going with the newer generation of video cards (past the 260) so I probably won't upgrade from my 4850 just yet. I suppose I will also need to add maybe one or two 1TB drives for additional storage when I need them.

That being said, I like to err on the safer side whenever possible. In this case, do you still think I should stay put with the current OCZ or perhaps upgrade to something more reliable (i.e. HX620, 750TX, etc)?
Click to expand...

I used the Corsair PSU finder (Core i7 OC'd more than 30%, two drives, GTX260) and it recommended the Corsair 520HX for your system which has 40A/480W on the +12V rail. Since the Corsair 450VX with its 396W on the +12V rail wasn't recommend, it's safe to say that your system would use more than 396W but not more than 480W. I'm fairly sure that Corsair left a little bit of headroom when it recommended the PSU because I went through the PSU finder again and increased the drives to 4. It still recommended the Corsair 520HX with its 40A on the +12V rail.

So no you don't need to upgrade your PSU unless your next video card uses more power than the GTX260 (182W by itself)
 
PC_User said:
Thanks so much Danny. You saved me some money.
Click to expand...

Yeah, no prob.

Though personally I'd get a new PSU anyway. Then again, as you can probably tell, I'm very anal/OC about PSU quality.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yeah, no prob.

Though personally I'd get a new PSU anyway. Then again, as you can probably tell, I'm very anal/OC about PSU quality.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm still leaning towards getting a new one. I'm going to be giving most of my computer (in my sig) except the hard drives, video card, case, and hsf to my dad so I'm buying new parts. I can either choose to give him my current OCZ and get myself a new PSU or keep my OCZ for the i7 build and get him something less (i.e. Corsair 400VX).

If getting a new PSU for my i7 build (with a bit of headroom for future upgrades), which would you recommend?
 
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