Need advice on PSU for new system

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Will2787

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Feb 17, 2011
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I'm going to be building a desktop in the very near future and I'm not too familiar with power supplies as far as how much I need or what brands are known for being "better" or more reliable than others.

I'm most likely going with the i7 950 for the processor, and either the Radeon 6970 or the GTX 580 as far as graphics cards go. I would also like the power supply to be able to handle and support dual cards in the event I should decide to go that route.

So if I could get some input as to how many watts I would need or whatever specifications I should look for it's be much appreciated. Thanks!
 
If you don't plan on ever going sli/crossfire, I'd say anything around 500w and up would make sense for you. In terms of brands and whatnot, I'd recommend Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, Enermax, XFX as a good starting point to look at. I'm not sure what your budget is, but one of the best (and most pricey) picks is the Seasonic X-series.
 
don't go cheap on psu. get the best one you can get
i personally got ax850 from corsair recently and i plan to use it for minimum of 5 yrs
 
Its hard to go by brand really. Corsair PSUs for example are OEM/ODMed by different companies, there are Corsair units made by CWT and Corsair units made by Seasonic, the latter being better quality, though they are both branded Corsair.

I'd check out Jonnyguru's reviews, he does the best testing IMO.
 
Here's what I look for:

- 12V Amperage: this is a much better indicator of the PSU's capability than the wattage rating. In your case you probably want at least 70A for possible 580 SLI.

- Single rail design: Some PSUs split the 12V into 4 or 6 rails, this can cause problems if you plug too much stuff into 1 of them.

- 80 PLUS certification: Better efficiency = less heat and lower power bill.

- Modular cables: just a personal preference, improves airflow and looks cleaner.
 
Yeah I wasn't planning on cheaping out with the power supply because I know if they go they have a chance of taking everything with them. It's jsut difficult because when looking at feedback of certain psu's there's always a handful of people saying theirs failed in a matter of days or even hours. With anything I understand there's a chance of defective units but I was hoping to get one with the least amount of probability of that happening.

Glad someone brought up the rails. I wasn't sure if more rails meant better or just different or potentially worse. Thanks for all the input so far!
 
The rails thing isn't true for 99% of cases. In fact multi-rail psus with working ocp are actually safer. I would not even worry about the number of rails on a psu.
 
Your setup needs at least a 850W PSU with 70A on the +12V rail.
 
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