What PSU to get?

[Asmekiel]

I just bought a new PC with these specs:

Mobo: Asus P8P67 Deluxe
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Venomous X with cooler
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB)
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB
HDD: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB (Not here yet :P)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 700W

I took the PSU out of my old system and it's enough for now. But it actually needs to go back to the old PC. So, as you can guess, I need a new one.
Was thinking about getting this one: Be Quiet Dark Power Pro P9 750W
I'm not really into PSU's and since I'm planning on getting another HD6950 sometime, I was wondering if 750W is enough to handle the second GPU, or do I need to go with the 850W version then?

[Xuvial]

That's a quality PSU, it will comfortably handle 6950 crossfire. Even if you flash both cards to 6970's the full system should peak no more than 550-590w, leaving you with plenty of overclocking headroom with the CPU

[Xuvial]

People have varying opinions on what "safe" means, some prefer going over the estimated TDP by 100w, others prefer staying 300w+ ahead. It purely boils down to opinion really, and as long as you don't so something stupid (e.g. Crossfire on a 400w) there's a very good chance you're perfectly "safe" :P
As I said, that's 750w Be Quiet is decent and has recieved positive reviews.

[Asmekiel]

Money isn't the issue. It's €161 for the 850W and €144 for the 750W.
So, basically, 750W should be more than enough, but the 850W will outlast more component upgrades because it has more headroom now.

With videocards demanding more and more power the 850W version would be a better choice then if I still want to make a crossfire setup with this PSU in, lets say, 5 years?

If that's just nonsense, please say so

[Xuvial]

Yeah you got the idea

[Xuvial]

beaten down the likes of companies such as Seasonic and Tagan who generally specialise in PSU's.

A ton of companies get their PSU's made by Seasonic, Corsair is one of them. Cosair's TX, VX and AX series were all made by Seasonic (except AX1200, which was made by Flextronics).
Nowadays Seasonic are aiming more at directly getting their product to the end-user, the result being my current PSU which is awesome

[Rendhammer]

If money isn't an issue, why not go for the big one and get a Corsair AX1200 1200W?
Yeah, it's excessive, but provides the best headroom for the future. I personally use one, and even though i'll probably only peak at around 800W under full load when i get my second 580 (for SLI) in a few days, it's good to know that my PSU certainly won't be at fault. What i do have to account for is 4 RAM modules at much higher frequency and volts than most hardware sites, and 4HDD's and 1SSD for a total of 5 drives, where most only use 1 drive.

Even with all that, you may think spending £210 GBP (around €240) on a PSU with 400W of spare power is excessive. I didn't buy it for that reason alone. I also looked at reviews and after seeing it having almost no power ripple or fluctuation EVEN under full load, i just set my heart on it. When you consider it can often peak at 1500W when stressed and still not ripple, you have to wonder just how awesome the designers and engineers at Corsair are and just how they've beaten down the likes of companies such as Seasonic and Tagan who generally specialise in PSU's.

This is why i suggested Corsair originally. I can only vouch for the AX1200W Gold Edition, but i'd imagine all their AX series PSU's are similar in quality. Moreover, this is one quiet PSU. Yeah, it does squel a little when the system isn't powered on, but it's not that loud, and it's all gone when i do flip the switch so to speak. For the quality of it, that's something i can allow.

Quoted to agree. I love the Corsair 1200W, so much.

[ispano]

Seasonic manufactures Corsair's AX series.

I love my current PSU and it's probably as good as it gets in the 750w range

I think PC Power & Cooling makes OCZ PSUs as well. This is assuming OCZ buying them was for that reason, if not, ew?

[Auralian]

I just bought a new PC with these specs:

Mobo: Asus P8P67 Deluxe
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Venomous X with cooler
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB)
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB
HDD: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB (Not here yet :P)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 700W

I took the PSU out of my old system and it's enough for now. But it actually needs to go back to the old PC. So, as you can guess, I need a new one.
Was thinking about getting this one: Be Quiet Dark Power Pro P9 750W
I'm not really into PSU's and since I'm planning on getting another HD6950 sometime, I was wondering if 750W is enough to handle the second GPU, or do I need to go with the 850W version then?

If your not running on a 1366 MB why would you want to CF? Your not going to get anywhere near the full output of 2 GPU's when your dropped to 8x 8x in CF. Anyhow if your planning 1 GPU a 750w is fine even the 700w you have is good. With CF you want 800W+ for some breathing room.

With that I7 2600 OCed to 4.0gig+ and a 6950 flashed to a 6970 your not going to find any game that will give you shit FPS unless you plan on running multiple monitors. Don't even bother thinking about CF your FPS gain vs the $$$ spent will be crap.

[Cantii]

Man, it's a good thing that Tom's Hardware did an article on this very issue recently (the crossfire/sli issue of p67 vs x58 vs x58 + NF200):

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...e,2910-16.html

As you can see, it doesn't matter. At all. Go balls out, OP, it'll be worth it, IMO. As for power supply, I generally just go with what I need with room to expand in the future. So if I need a 650W PSU, I'll generally go 750W, I just feel safer in terms of being able to upgrade and not having to worry about buying another PSU.

[Xuvial]

Great find Cantii! Interesting to see that P67 can make 8x/8x go faster than X58 @ 16x/16x with dual 6950's lol.

[Cantii]

Great find Cantii! Interesting to see that P67 can make 8x/8x go faster than X58 @ 16x/16x with dual 6950's lol.

Too bad someone's going to come up in here and say how Tom's Hardware sold out and isn't a reputable source anymore... lol.

[Asmekiel]

Hm, 1200W, didn't even think about that.
I said that money isn't the issue, but I'm not gonna spend €60 more if I don't need it.

I don't know what the lifespans are of PSU's, but if they both die of old age before I can get full use out of the 850W PSU, why would I get the 1200W?

[Doylez]

If money isn't an issue, why not go for the big one and get a Corsair AX1200 1200W?
Yeah, it's excessive, but provides the best headroom for the future.

You know what also provides headroom for the future? Simply buying a new PSU when you actually need it (chances are you won't). No idea why so many people want to buy such an oversized PSU, even if you have the most hardcore highend overclocked PC ever and are still planning to upgrade it in the future, chances are you still won't need that much. Certainly not with only 1 GPU.
Imo this is a bad suggestion, you want to be as close to your actual power consumption as possible, else the PSU won't work efficiently.

[Asmekiel]

So, while looking at the Corsair 1200W PSU I found 2 versions, anyone knows the difference?

Corsair CMPSU-1200AX
Corsair CMPSU-1200AXEU

I have a feeling I need the EU version, just can't unsee the CMPSU-1200AXEUrope


-edit- While looking a bit further I also found this one: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200W
€30 cheaper and same performance, i think.

-extra edit- If the Corsair is better I'm going with that one. I already have an order running at that webshop, and they have both PSU's.

[Asmekiel]

Just ordered the Corsair 1200W PSU.
Thanks for the help

[Doylez]

OP is looking at Crossfire, and i'll be having SLI on 580's tomorrow, not to mention 5-6 drives (as mentioned previously). Consider that i'm also running my CPU and Memory WAY above spec too. Not to mention it's 16GB over 4 modules. It's not so strange to think that the memory alone might be eating up 200w under load (which happens quite regularly in After effects), and the CPU could be in the range of 250W under load. That's 450w just for the RAM and CPU. Factor in 2 580's and you get another ~550-600W. The drives themselves won't use much, probably around 7W each. Add in fans (a total of 8 in this system) at ~4w each. So far, we're totaling around 1100W under full system load with everything going flat out.

I think you might still be overestimating your power consumption by a lot, here is an interesting test I found:

Our test system is a power hungry Core i7 965 / X58 based and overclocked to 3.75 GHz. Next to that we have energy saving functions disabled for this motherboard and processor (to ensure consistent benchmark results).

I'd say on average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to higher CPU clock settings, water-cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc. Keep that in mind. Our normal system power consumption is a little higher than your average system.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforc...-sli-review/14

Maximum peak with 2* GTX580: 719W

And here another one that shows a 1200W PSU would be enough to power a world record PC with 4 (!) GTX 580.
http://www.evga.com/articles/00597/

But oh well if money is really no problem then I guess it really doesn't matter.

[Xuvial]

6950 Crossfire (even if flashed to 6970's) would pull no more than 700-800w PEAK with everything brutally overclocked, and you guys managed to convince him to buy a 1200w. Nice work.

Here's the amusing part....OP was like "what psu to crossfire 6950s?" and then some guy comes in yelling "blah blah GTX 580 SLI blah blah BUY AX1200 IT'S AWESOME." GTX580 has way more power draw than a 6950 so...umm...unrelated much?

I have a good feeling that if a 2500w PSU existed, some people here would suggest the OP buy it for his rig. Money not an issue after all :P

[Asmekiel]

Here's the amusing part....OP was like "what psu to crossfire 6950s?" and then some guy comes in yelling "blah blah GTX 580 SLI blah blah BUY AX1200 IT'S AWESOME." GTX580 has way more power draw than a 6950 so...umm...unrelated much?

I have a good feeling that if a 2500w PSU existed, some people here would suggest the OP buy it for his rig. Money not an issue after all :P

Funny, eh XD
At least it's efficient at the current max load :P
I don't care, I'm drunk right now and I bought a new over-the-top PSU.