Time for a new PSU

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Hi, i think its time i upgrade my PSU once and for all. i currently have a seasonic m12 600w running a i7 920, 3gb 4hdd and a 260gtx but im planning to buy a 480gtx.

i know my 600w could take it but JUST about and i dont really wanna stress my expensive rig to its limit. i want room for it to breath so im looking for maybe a 1kw PSU to power it all and future power hungry products.
what you guys suggest? i could not find a 1kw seasonic but i heard corsair are branded seasonics?

[Terbinator]

Corsair AX PSU's, atleast the highest model is the best PSU available at the minute AFAIK.

[dave87]

Can't fault the couple of Seasonics I've got at the moment, nice & quiet and suitably powerful for the machines they are in.

I would highly doubt you'd need more than 850w for those bits though? (Currently the largest Seasonic PSU I can see listed on Scan)

[Pob255]

Unless you really push that 920 hard and really overclock it then no 600w is still good enough for a single gtx480

If you where going for a 480 sli setup then you'd want to consider some 1kw units.

All we have to do is look at the Hexus review

475w with an Intel Core i7 965, so your m12 600w should still be fine.
Granted if you wanted to keep the gtx260 as a dedicated physX card then it may well start struggling under full load. (although I'd look at replaceing it with a weaker card if all you use it for is physX, or just sell it.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

ahh ok cool. i thought my 600w aint good enough

[Pob255]

Just don't try to sli 480's on a 600w is all

[dfour]

The corsair HX 750 or 850 would do you as long as your not going to sli the beast. Very powerfull and quiet and gold power saving rated to.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

cool nice i will buy this first ie my graphics card

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1536M...s-DL-DVI-mHDMI

and then a few months down the line a 1kw for future proof

[kalniel]

cool nice i will buy this first ie my graphics card

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1536M...s-DL-DVI-mHDMI

and then a few months down the line a 1kw for future proof

Er... you don't think that you're paying over the odds for the card? Didn't all the tests show two 460s really stomp all over a single 480, while costing up to £100 less?

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Er... you don't think that you're paying over the odds for the card? Didn't all the tests show two 460s really stomp all over a single 480, while costing up to £100 less?

er, SLI is not as good as a single card GPU. read the hexus threads conclusions of good and bad points.

SLI issues = stuttering because of latency between the cards, less vram(a 460gtx limitation) = less AA/AF, new games may not have sli support when they are first released, better upgrade path for me that IF i decide to throw in another 480 a year later(doubtful) it will destroy 460 SLI etc etc

[kalniel]

Adding another card as an upgrade a year later is almost never a good thing to do, I don't know why people keep listing that as a viable option

But fair enough if you don't want to use SLI - the point about not having support when games are first released is perfectly valid. I'm not sure about stuttering - think they solved that years ago. Less VRAM, sure - certainly a problem if you're going to use 3 or more monitors at high res + AF/AA.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Those power ratings are probably measured at the wall so you have to take into account your PSU efficiency too.

[RS_Maverick]

Has to be Corsair. Their PSUs are immense and usually overpowered versus their sticker value. Great range IMHO.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Those power ratings are probably measured at the wall so you have to take into account your PSU efficiency too.

yea. my psu efficiency is meant to be good. its a seasonic one. pretty high end 600w mate. seasonic also makes corsair PSU's by the way

[Domestic_Ginger]

yea. my psu efficiency is meant to be good. its a seasonic one. pretty high end 600w mate. seasonic also makes corsair PSU's by the way

What I meant to say is if your wall meter reads 400W and your PSU is only 85% efficient then you are actually only using (400*.85) 340W of your PSU's rated output. Its rated on what comes out rather than what goes in.

[kalniel]

What I meant to say is if your wall meter reads 400W and your PSU is only 85% efficient then you are actually only using (400*.85) 340W of your PSU's rated output. Its rated on what comes out rather than what goes in.

But given the tests are measured at the wall, there's no way they were conducted with >100% efficiency PSUs , so as long as is PSU output isn't too far below the at the wall measurement you'll be fine