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Multi or single rail?

T

Technophobe

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
Messages
339
Thinking of updating my systems components soon. Thinking of I7 920, X58, 2 x GTX260, 3 x HDD, 1 x optical, lights, fans etc. etc. Would like to cater for tri SLI maybe in future. So according to some PSU calculators, maybe a good brand 850 to 1000+. Should I try to get a single rail 12v supply or go for multiple rail. E.g. if I go for a HX1000, has 2 x 12v rails, how to balance that when I might go for tri SLI? Even worse I suppose for 3, 4, 5... different rails?
 
The number of rails doesn't make a difference for the vast majority of systems. However, I'll make it simple: get the Corsair HX850. Single rail, great voltage regulation, ripple suppression, and efficiency, modular, and more than enough power for a dual-card SLI setup. If you want to go tri-SLI in the future, the HX1000 will be fine, and to balance things out, just put the CPU and one of the video cards on one rail, and the other two cards on the other rail.
 
Thanks, but that was my concern. If I run 2 video cards from the one rail (in the case of the HX1000, 40amps), then each card can't draw more than 20amps. Don't some high end video cards draw more than this to start with? Thats why I'm thinking single rail, high current is the way to go. Please tell me if I have this wrong.
 
Technophobe said:
If I run 2 video cards from the one rail (in the case of the HX1000, 40amps), then each card can't draw more than 20amps. Don't some high end video cards draw more than this to start with?
Click to expand...
GTX260s draw less than 200W per card. And I don't think there even are any single-rail 1000W PSUs.
 
robtrevino said:
Single is easier to manage IMO
Click to expand...

Well, for the most part the manufacturer has already balanced the rails for you. It was in the past that some PSUs were incorrectly done. Ok, single might be better if you have an insane crapload of harddrives that end up all on one rail or if you plan on running high end quad SLI/CF on a PSU with few rails. Nevertheless, the majority of people won't have a problem running a multi rail PSU, unlike what a certain manufacturer of PSUs likes to point out.
 
JoeBob said:
Well, for the most part the manufacturer has already balanced the rails for you. It was in the past that some PSUs were incorrectly done. Ok, single might be better if you have an insane crapload of harddrives that end up all on one rail or if you plan on running high end quad SLI/CF on a PSU with few rails. Nevertheless, the majority of people won't have a problem running a multi rail PSU, unlike what a certain manufacturer of PSUs likes to point out.
Click to expand...

What's more ironic is that the certain power supply seller that you pointed out that pushes the "multiple rail power supplies are the work of the devil" FUD themselves sold a 1Kw turbo cooled tri-rail power supply that was so poorly engineered that it caused multiple problems when used.

Hint: the rail distribution was horribly done and they put all the PCI-e connectors, hard drive, and all other accessory drive connectors onto a single 34A rail. Naturally, when it was used for SLI or Crossfire video card setups. the power supply caused crashes.


Of course, instead of redistributing the rails.....the intelligent solution.....this company went with the cheap solution and just made one big rail. Then, to justify their ineptness, the single rail is best FUD began.
 
Technophobe said:
Thanks, but that was my concern. If I run 2 video cards from the one rail (in the case of the HX1000, 40amps), then each card can't draw more than 20amps. Don't some high end video cards draw more than this to start with? Thats why I'm thinking single rail, high current is the way to go. Please tell me if I have this wrong.
Click to expand...

No....the most power hungry video card I know if only uses a 6 pin and an 8 pin PCI-E connector. Those are supposed to be limited to 75W and 150W respectively. Total of 225W or 18.75A....which is a worst case scenario. The rest of the power is drawn from the PCI-E slot itself...which would be drawn from the ATX connector on the motherboard.

Yeah there are 1000W and 1000W+ units that are single rail too.

Silverstone Decathalon/Olympia 1000W
obviously the PC P&C Turbo-Cool 1200W

Anyway, it is a non-factor if you buy a quality unit and don't plan do use some ultra powerful TEC cooler, or simultaneously spin up tons of hard drives.
 
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