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Looking For Very Efficient Power Supplies

I

iissmart

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
Messages
101
So my federal tax refund just came in, and now I want to upgrade the power supplies for two systems in my apartment. Both are regular ATX cases/boards but one is a Win7 desktop and the other is an Ubuntu server. Both of them run 24/7 which results in my monthly electricity bill coming to $140/mo, my goal being to lower it by getting better power supplies (80+ GOLD or higher).

Here are the specs for the two systems:

Desktop:
Thermaltake Toughpower 700W PSU
Case has 3x 80mm blue LED fans, 1x 120mm blue LED fan, various blue LED lighting on the front, analog temp meter on the front, all which use molex
Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe (one molex connector on board)
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 (Socket-939)
4x 1GB RAM
blue LED CPU Fan
2x 150GB Velociraptors (10000 rpm, SATA power connectors)
BFG Tech GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB (2x 6-pin pci-e power connectors)
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
PCI-to-4x SATA card (JBOD only)

Server:
PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510W PSU
5x 80mm non-LED fans
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe (one molex connector on board)
AMD Athlon 64 4000+
4x 512MB RAM
1x 80GB IDE WD drive
1x 320GB IDE WD drive
3x 1TB SATA WD drives (7200 rpm)
4x 3TB SATA Hitachi drives (7200 rpm)
Very old fanless graphics card (geforce 4 I think? Uses AGP)
Areca 1280ML 24-port SATA RAID Controller

I've got a Kill-a-watt meter on the wall outlet for my server + "green" d-link 5-port switch, and it appears to idle at 200W.

Could someone recommend how many watts I should look for when getting power supplies for these systems? I don't plan on upgrading the desktop at all but I may add a few more 3TB Hitachi drives to the server. Is there a good online PSU wattage calculator I could use?

Also, what brands should I look for? I hear Corsair is nice because they give you free cables if you email them. Good ratings on Newegg too. What about 80+ PLATINUM? Is this the only one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121080? Is it good (why is it cheaper than Corsair)? I noticed that not all the cables are modular, and I wouldn't use any of the PCI-E cables if I got it for my server (possibly a dealbreaker).


I've also got a Sun Ultra 80 + 12-drive A1000 which works great as a space heater in the winter (could turn off the heat and my apartment would still get warmer :p ) but I don't plan on turning it on in the summer.
 
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Your desktop would be easily handled by a 500W PSU. Your server could run on a good 300W PSU. The lowest-power 80Plus Gold PSU you can get from Newegg is the Seasonic X-400FL, but this Kingwin is less expensive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121078

Get one of those for each of your PCs and you'll be set.

Yes, that's the only 80Plus Platinum PSU out there. Yes, it's good (it's not cheaper than any Corsair PSUs of comparable power output).
 
Or another option outside of just getting new psus, you need new main systems. Those processors just aren't efficient anymore, you're much better off with a low end 32nm processor or whatever llano or bulldozer will be. Most modern processors idle at a very low power state, which will help a lot.
 
Unless it's faulty going from an 80 plus original to an 80 plus gold is only going to save you arround 10% at best. If the original PSU wasn't 80 plus at all maybe you will save a bit more but still not that much. Is it really worth spending $100 per system to get that?

I'd agree with meriwolf, look into replacing your processors with i3s (preferably sandy bridge i3s) and also look into replacing that old gen graphics card with something of similar power but more modern. The upfront costs will be higher but I think the savings will be much more significant than from replacing your PSUs.

I'd also suggest doing some more tests, for example with the server I would try measuring power consumption with only one hard drive attatched.
 
OP, you will not recoup your investment in any kind of reasonable time frame.
 
Zero82z said:
Your desktop would be easily handled by a 500W PSU. Your server could run on a good 300W PSU. The lowest-power 80Plus Gold PSU you can get from Newegg is the Seasonic X-400FL, but this Kingwin is less expensive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121078

Get one of those for each of your PCs and you'll be set.

Yes, that's the only 80Plus Platinum PSU out there. Yes, it's good (it's not cheaper than any Corsair PSUs of comparable power output).
Click to expand...

I just looked at the warranties, and Kingwin only has a 3 year while Corsair offers a 7 year warranty. I'd want at least 5 years, so Kingwin is off the list.

merliwolf said:
Or another option outside of just getting new psus, you need new main systems. Those processors just aren't efficient anymore, you're much better off with a low end 32nm processor or whatever llano or bulldozer will be. Most modern processors idle at a very low power state, which will help a lot.
Click to expand...

plugwash said:
I'd agree with meriwolf, look into replacing your processors with i3s (preferably sandy bridge i3s) and also look into replacing that old gen graphics card with something of similar power but more modern. The upfront costs will be higher but I think the savings will be much more significant than from replacing your PSUs.

I'd also suggest doing some more tests, for example with the server I would try measuring power consumption with only one hard drive attatched.
Click to expand...

Paul_Johnson said:
OP, you will not recoup your investment in any kind of reasonable time frame.
Click to expand...

I will some day upgrade both of these machines (probably in a year or two at most), but for now I was hoping to at least lower the electricity bill by a few dollars. Consider these new power supplies as part of a future-proofing upgrade, because they're going to stick around for a while :). I'm looking for high quality, not necessarily the cheapest 80+ GOLD.
 
iissmart said:
I just looked at the warranties, and Kingwin only has a 3 year while Corsair offers a 7 year warranty. I'd want at least 5 years, so Kingwin is off the list.
Click to expand...
Go with a Seasonic then. The X-400 or X-560 would suit you quite well.
 
Ya if you're looking for something you can use for future builds, the X-series is an awesome choice as Zero said. The one platinum is good, but I'd look gold because there's a lot cheaper prices. I'd probably pick the X-560 over the X-400 because a fan is better unless you specifically NEED fanless.
I think newegg currently has $30 off on the X-750 as well.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Does Seasonic let you get more cables for free (or cheap)? Looks like they only have 8x SATA which leaves me with only 1 connector free for future use in my server, whereas the Corsair 750W comes with 12. 750W is overkill and it's the lowest wattage available in 80+ GOLD but I do need more connectors than what Seasonic offers in the box. Bonus points for Corsair because *if* I need more than what they have in the box I can send them an email and get more for absolutely free.
 
I don't know about extra cables, but you could always contact their customer support department and ask if they offer that.
 
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