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What PSU would you recommend?

1Wolf

1Wolf

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
439
I'm in the process of putting together a list for a new system build, and I'm at the point of narrowing down my GPU and PSU choices.

PSU's are a really confusing topic to me, and it seems only too easy to get one thats "not so good". I was really hoping that someone who knows far more than me (which is most everyone) might give me some good recommendations to investigate for 3 different possible configurations..

I'm not quite sure yet whether I'm going to go with:

1) a single 680
2) 2 680's in SLI
3) A 690

so what would you recommend for each of those configurations?

In a nutshell, this is for an overclocked i7-3770K system with a Corsair H100, an SSD, a couple of HD's, and 7-10 fans.

Unless you guys feel that modular PSU's are bad for whatever reason, I'd like a modular PSU.

My primary concerns are 1) Quality and a manufacturer that stand doesn't have alot of QA issues and stands behind its product 2) Performance 3) Some extra "cushion" or "overkill" built in so that if, a couple years down the road I decide to SLI the next latest-greatest-power-hungry video cards...I don't need to get a new PSU...and last 4) Price. I'm willing to sacrifice price for the above, especially quality.

Thanks!
 
1) 450W or above
2) 650W or above
3) 600W or above

For specific suggestions you might want to give us your PSU budget and your location or shop/s of choice.
 
I'm not up to date on wattage requirements, but going off of Profumo's suggestions my recommendation would go to the X-Series Seasonics or the Corsair Professional HX series.

Both are modular though Seasonic are full modular (all cables removable) while Corsair is "mostly" modular (motherboard power cables are not modular). The Seasonic's X-Series are super efficient and probably the highest quality out there right now though they are a little more pricy. Corsair's Professional series are less expensive and not quite as efficient but still very high quality (I believe that the 650 watt and higher models are built with Seasonic parts, somebody correct me if I'm wrong). Seasonic has a 5 year warranty and Corsair has a 7 year warranty so both companies stand behind their products. I've heard that Corsair CS is ridiculously good, but have never had to try it.

Since the SLI rig looks to need 650watts or more and you want the cushion for next gen SLI I'd say the X-650/750 or the HX650/750 would be good choices.

I have the HX650 in one of my rigs and the X750 in another. Both have been running like champs, though I'm probably barely pushing them since I'm not running SLI or anything.
That's just my 2 cents without knowing price ranges. There's plenty of reviews out there on these so check em out.
 
+1 on the Seasonic, they are the only PSUs I use for desktop systems.
 
Budget...lets say $200-$250 give or take. Budget is flexible.

Location...West Chicago, IL.

Shops of Choice...Newegg and Amazon online. As for stores nearby...there is a Fry's, a Microcenter, and a TigerDirect within about 30-45 minutes of me. I went to the Fry's for the first time today and it was really nice. I've never been to a Microcenter. Shopping at the TigerDirect is only slightly more fun than a root canal.

I'm thinking I'd prefer to overshoot a bit...based on Profumo's suggestions...maybe I'll just bump it up to a 750.

JayBlay77 & Mwroobel,

Thanks for the suggestions and info! That gets me started and helps. All of these manufacturers have so many 'series' and 'models' it gets a bit confusing. At Fry's today...I saw a TX750, an HX750, and an AX750. I'll definitely have to look into those X-Series seasonics as well.
 
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all that stuff and a cushion means spend the extra and get an 850W or more. you dont just need to support 2x680, you need to support 2x480 in case anything else comes in that hot. so 2x780 or whatever. to have 2x video card safety margin you need 2x250W. safety margin for everything else means lets say 250W, so 750W total. since you are showing a penchant for high performance, you need system margin on top of that in case you decide to go even further.

so the 750W suggestions are right, except that you asked for a cushion, and that means even more.
 
bAMtan2 said:
all that stuff and a cushion means spend the extra and get an 850W or more. you dont just need to support 2x680, you need to support 2x480 in case anything else comes in that hot. so 2x780 or whatever. to have 2x video card safety margin you need 2x250W. safety margin for everything else means lets say 250W, so 750W total. since you are showing a penchant for high performance, you need system margin on top of that in case you decide to go even further.

so the 750W suggestions are right, except that you asked for a cushion, and that means even more.
Click to expand...

That is flawed logic. I'm not even gonna' talk about the opportunity of "going even further"(what exactly do you mean by that?.. 3way or 4way 680s?.. and what makes you think he wouldn't mention it if he did contemplated such contraptions?), what's relevant here is that he's Not buying two 480s, but two 680s(which under extreme stress are the equivalent of a single, highly overclocked 480 when it comes to power consumption), going way overboard with the PSU does absolutely nothing for you, it's a no return investment, the money you spend on power you don't need and will never use, can be put into something that actually makes a difference performance or usage/usability wise (maybe a larger SSD, or maybe more RAM in case he works in Photoshop or the likes, or maybe a higher end cooler, etc).

@OP, You don't need to spend that much, currently the best power supply on the NA market at that output level is the Kingwin Lazer Platinum 750 and can be had for 170$ at microcenter.
 
Profumo said:
@OP, You don't need to spend that much, currently the best power supply on the NA market at that output level is the Kingwin Lazer Platinum 750 and can be had for 170$ at microcenter.
Click to expand...

I also think the Seasonic Platinum 860 should be included in that consideration of the best (not sure what the NA market is). More watts, better warranty (7 years vs 5 years for the Kingwin, although Newegg is advertising it at only 3 years for the Kingwin), same or better efficiency, and the well known Seasonic top quality. All for the same price of $170 FS with promo at Newegg as the Kingwin, and no tax (for most people). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151111
 
To this day I haven't seen a better-put-together power supply than the Seasonics. Their attention to detail, especially in PCB construction/Soldering is second to none. I have seen some other supposed-high-end PSU's where the PCB looks like a 70's breadboard layout. For example, the X-750 that was reviewed here on [H]
image.html
has the cleanest solder job I have ever seen in a PSU.
 
i would say anything above 1000 watt you should be good i would also like to suggest corsair ax series !!!
 
mwroobel said:
To this day I haven't seen a better-put-together power supply than the Seasonics. Their attention to detail, especially in PCB construction/Soldering is second to none. I have seen some other supposed-high-end PSU's where the PCB looks like a 70's breadboard layout. For example, the X-750 that was reviewed here on [H]
image.html
has the cleanest solder job I have ever seen in a PSU.
Click to expand...
Then allow me to tell you, you haven't seen many high quality PSUs. ;)
 
Profumo said:
Then allow me to tell you, you haven't seen many high quality PSUs. ;)
Click to expand...


I beg to differ. Compared to some of the PCP&C, Corsair, Kingwin, Antec and others (some of them made by Seasonic) the Seasonic branded PSU have across the board some of the best designs and construction in the market today. Between builds I do for others and PSU's for work, I go through about 100 PSUs a year, and I have tried and rejected many others and now standardize on the Seasonics.
 
asudi said:
i would say anything above 1000 watt you should be good i would also like to suggest corsair ax series !!!
Click to expand...

Go learn some more about the cards in question and the 1155 platform. He needs MAX 700 watts. MAX.

Profumo said:
Then allow me to tell you, you haven't seen many high quality PSUs. ;)
Click to expand...

Someone needs to show him some Deltas.

mwroobel said:
I beg to differ. Compared to some of the PCP&C, Corsair, Kingwin, Antec and others (some of them made by Seasonic) the Seasonic branded PSU have across the board some of the best designs and construction in the market today. Between builds I do for others and PSU's for work, I go through about 100 PSUs a year, and I have tried and rejected many others and now standardize on the Seasonics.
Click to expand...

Seeing as Seasonic OEMs for a fair majority of the brands you just listed, they likely don't have better soldering. Also, Super Flower (OEM for Kingwin) has become equal if not better then Seasonic recently. I think you need to go ahead and get your research up to date. You would have been rightish last year, but not right now.
 
Jorona said:
Someone needs to show him some Deltas.
Click to expand...
Indeed.
mwroobel said:
I beg to differ. Compared to some of the PCP&C, Corsair, Kingwin, Antec and others (some of them made by Seasonic) the Seasonic branded PSU have across the board some of the best designs and construction in the market today. Between builds I do for others and PSU's for work, I go through about 100 PSUs a year, and I have tried and rejected many others and now standardize on the Seasonics.
Click to expand...

You can "beg to differ" as much as you want, you're still wrong. ;)

Performance wise Seasonic is indeed at the top with the best of them (strictly referring to the consumer market here), however on manufacturing/production quality Seasonic is not up to par with the best of them... it's not at the same level as Delta or Etasis (just to name a couple).
 
Profumo said:
Indeed.


You can "beg to differ" as much as you want, you're still wrong. ;)

Performance wise Seasonic is indeed at the top with the best of them (strictly referring to the consumer market here), however on manufacturing/production quality Seasonic is not up to par with the best of them... it's not at the same level as Delta or Etasis (just to name a couple).
Click to expand...

I am talking about general retail ATX power supplies. When you get into Server PSUs and custom design OEM you are in a whole different league and I agree with you.
 
Jorona said:
Also, Super Flower (OEM for Kingwin) has become equal if not better then Seasonic recently. I think you need to go ahead and get your research up to date. You would have been rightish last year, but not right now.
Click to expand...

I'm not really here to start an argument, but I'd like to see some sources to backup that statement. I could see them maybe close to equal, but I've seen nothing to even remotely indicate that they're better or that Seasonic still isn't one of the best (besides Delta and Etasis who I know nothing about).

AnandTech just recently did a review back in Feb. 2012 that compared the Seasonic Platinum 1000 to the Kingwin Lazer Platinum and had the Kingwin/Super Flower as the inferior product. Techpowerup has also done recent reviews on both and the Seasonic Platinum came out with the top score. And finally JohnnyGuru has done reviews on both units and again Seasonic tops the Kingwin. All of these reviews are less than a year old. I'm just trying to figure out where you're getting your research from that's saying Seasonic is now a grade down from Kingwin/Super Flower.

AnandTech: Seasonic Platinum and Kingwin Lazer compared in conclusion (Feb 2012)

TechPowerUp: Kingwin Lazer Platinum Score (Mar 2012)

TechPowerUp: Seasonic Platinum Score (Oct 2011)

JonnyGuru: Seasonic Platinum Score (Nov 2011)

JonnyGuru: Kingwin Lazer Platinum Score (Jan 2012)



Jerona said:
Delta and Etasis both OEM for many consumer grade PSUs
Click to expand...

Who are they OEM for? I'd be interested to find out more about them cause I don't know much regarding those.
 
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1 - the PSU is THE single most important component of any build, go overkill The PSU is one of the few components that can kill other components if/when it fails.
2 - overkill also = future proofing

Because I swap components in and out between my gamer and my benching rigs, virtually all of my PSUs are 1200 watts. When you're running extreme the PSU becomes even more important is why. I'm thinking I agree with whoever said 1000 watts or above.

I prefer Corsair or PCP&P Turbo Cools, but I just got a Thermaltake 1475 for my Quad Sli 580s .. was running 2 x 1200 before I got that :D
 
JayBlay77 said:
I'm not really here to start an argument, but I'd like to see some sources to backup that statement. I could see them maybe close to equal, but I've seen nothing to even remotely indicate that they're better or that Seasonic still isn't one of the best (besides Delta and Etasis who I know nothing about).

AnandTech just recently did a review back in Feb. 2012 that compared the Seasonic Platinum 1000 to the Kingwin Lazer Platinum and had the Kingwin/Super Flower as the inferior product. Techpowerup has also done recent reviews on both and the Seasonic Platinum came out with the top score. And finally JohnnyGuru has done reviews on both units and again Seasonic tops the Kingwin. All of these reviews are less than a year old. I'm just trying to figure out where you're getting your research from that's saying Seasonic is now a grade down from Kingwin/Super Flower.

AnandTech: Seasonic Platinum and Kingwin Lazer compared in conclusion (Feb 2012)

TechPowerUp: Kingwin Lazer Platinum Score (Mar 2012)

TechPowerUp: Seasonic Platinum Score (Oct 2011)

JonnyGuru: Seasonic Platinum Score (Nov 2011)

JonnyGuru: Kingwin Lazer Platinum Score (Jan 2012)
Click to expand...
That's why you should thoroughly read the reviews and not just check the final score.
Both Wolf and Jon @ JonnyGURU, as well as Crmaris @ TPU, score units on many other parameters except pure electical performance... availability, price, functionality/modularity, etc.
About AnandTech reviews, you should know better than that.... Martin Kaffei seems to have (for reasons that I will not debate, because Paul just loves to infract me) a thing for Seasonic (check the XP-860 review, then read about on JG forums maybe), and a thing against Super Flower. Either way, Anandtech reviews are generally poor, and almost never objective.

On the Super Flower versus Seasonic, the Golden King lineup(Lazer Platinum) is more or less on par with XP lineup from Seasonic, it's just far more extensive... it ranges from 550W to 1KW (5 models) as opposed to only two from Seasonic.
The Golden King units are quieter at high loads, they offer slightly better output quality then the Seasonic units, but slightly worst regulation, they are also single rail units as opposed to quad rail ones for the Seasonics (I wouldn't count this as an advantage though, quite the contrary), and they overload like champs.. for example, the 1KW unit is certified to function as a 1.2KW Gold unit (continuously). The Seasonics are fully modular though, as opposed to partially modular for the Super Flower units.
That's about it as far as relevant differences are concerned... you get about the same thing from both in terms of quality and performance, but the Super Flower units are typically less expensive, so they offer better value for money.
JayBlay77 said:
Who are they OEM for? I'd be interested to find out more about them cause I don't know much regarding those.
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Delta is the OEM/ODM behind the Antec Signature, Antec CP, Antec HCP, etc.. is also the largest OEM in the world.
Etasis used to manufacture many of the Impervio designed Silverstone units... I suspect it's also the ODM behind the upcoming EVGA SuperNOVA 1500W.
 
I have always run PC Power and Cooling and they have never let me down.
 
Thanks to everyone for the responses. Much appreciated :)

Unfortunately, I'm still a bit confused. I've read all the responses and there doesn't seem to be much general consensus on wattage.

I'm not surprised that different folks recommend different brands and models, as I pretty much expected that. People tend to recommend what has worked well for them and that was exactly what I wanted to know because if it was bullet-proof and quality for you, there's a fair chance it will be for me as well.

However, I'm not sure what to do about wattage. Everything from 700 up to 1200 has been recommended.

So how do you guys figure it out for your own builds? How does a novice like me, figure out how much wattage they "need"...and then tack on some cushion in case you add something in the future that will require more juice?

I have no idea how to figure that...so please forgive me if this seems an ignorant way to do it...just using my own best guess...

If I use the [H] review of the 690 as a reference, it lists the power draw by both the 690 and 2 x 680's in SLI while playing some high-end demanding games. The highest draw for the 690 was 510W and the highest for the 2 680's in SLI was 584W.

I'm not quite sure how to determine power draw for the CPU. I believe the i7-3770K is 77W? I'm not sure if that will draw more when overclocked or the max is 77...or maybe I'm completely looking at the wrong number. If I round that up to 100, that brings the max total to 684. I'll be running an H100, 7-10 Fans, an SSD, and a couple HDs. So if I ballpark and add 100W in for that...then add say...a 200W cushion...that brings the total up near 1000W.
 
The 584w in the review was total system wattage from the wall. Factor efficiency in and you'll find Profumos suggestions to be right on the money. Just to have an extra bit of head room, I'd go for the 700w units.

Get yourself a nice Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, or Kingwin unit in the 650-750w range and you should be just fine and dandy.
 
I have a 750W Seasonic and would highly recommend them to anyone. They used to make PSU's for other companies, as well. For example, they used to make PSU's for Corsair, but not sure if they still do.
 
Scythe5 said:
I have a 750W Seasonic and would highly recommend them to anyone. They used to make PSU's for other companies, as well. For example, they used to make PSU's for Corsair, but not sure if they still do.
Click to expand...

They still do. Very few companies make their own power supplies, and Corsair is not one of them. The Corsair AX series (with the exception of the AX1200 and AX1200i) is made by Seasonic. Future Corsair Platinum power supplies are likely to be manufactured by Seasonic as well. Antec uses Seasonics, and several other companies use them as well.

Thing is, Corsair also uses a host of other manufacturers, like Delta, Flextronics, and more. The same is true of most other companies that do not manufacture their own PSUs. Pretty much the only company exclusively using Seasonics is XFX.
 
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the help :)

Looks like I'm going to go with either..

1) Seasonic X-750 Gold
2) Corsair Professional Series Gold AX750

However...I also went out to...
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

just to get a ballpark and set it up with an overclocked 3770K, 2x680's in SLI, my HD's, etc and it came back 796 Maximum Watts. Based on what I've been told in this thread, I'm sure thats overshooting...but maybe I should bump it up to 850 and pickup either...

3) Seasonic Platinum-860
4) Seasonic X Series X-850
5) Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850
 
Using that calculator I'm getting 699w recommended, 649w minimum.

If you want to spend the extra on some headroom, I'd just go for the 860 Platinum. Your normal load should be near the sweet spot for efficency, and idling the fan may not even have to spin, making it quiet during menial tasks.
 
Profumo said:
what's relevant here is that he's Not buying two 480s, but two 680s(which under extreme stress are the equivalent of a single, highly overclocked 480 when it comes to power consumption), going way overboard with the PSU does absolutely nothing for you
Click to expand...

yeah but you arent answering his question. he asked for cushion and overkill. most of these replies didnt deliver that. and that you would purposely recommend he not support a power load which could show up again in 6 months is ridiculous because he asked specifically for that.

he asked for overkill so he could run all kinds of crazy shit, and 750W is not the answer to that question.
 
I just ordered the AX 850. My plans are similar to yours, with SLI 680s or a single 690 later, but I'm also running a D5 pump. 700 watts was more than enough for my current set up.
 
Thanks again everyone, and thanks Jorona...

I think that 860-Platinum will be perfect for me and seems a very nice PSU. Thankyou. I read the reviews here on its big brother (1000W) and [H] had fine things to say. Aside from reading some reports that the cables are a bit stiff and not quite long enough...I think that will work out well for me.

baldrik, thanks for chiming in. That helps alot as well :)
 
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