PSU advice please

[wilma101]

Hello there, just wanted help with upgrading my PSU as im soon to upgrade my system. my question is which one of these is better, and also are the the same size as regular PSUAntec TruePower Quattro 850W Modular PSU / Coolermaster Silent Pro 850W Modular PSU i have an Antec 902 case.

thank you for you're help in advance

[kalniel]

The Antec is the better of the two, and they are both fine for fitting in a 902.

[c.ruel]

Antec is better than the coolermaster. But be careful with antec psus with regard to them being modular ... I know alot of the truepower ones claim to be modular when in fact most of the wires are captive.

What is your budget? Alot of new psus came out recently, why not consider one of those?

[wilma101]

thank you both for you're help, c.ruel can you please explain what you mean by "most of the wires are captive" my max budget is £100 can you also surggest some other PSU that are better or as good as the Antce TruePower Quattro 850W Modular PSU

again thank you for you're help

[Pob255]

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...=Story&reid=58
The Antec TruePower Quattro 850W has 5 fixed non-modular cables, a 20+4pin motherboard cable, a 4pin ATX12v cable, a 8pin EPS cable and two 6+2pin pci-e cables

I think the main question should be what make&model is your current 650w psu and what are you thinking of upgradeing to?
A decent 650w psu is still capable of running any single gpu setup I can think of.

[Zaim]

Hi mate if your looking at a 850w psu i'd take this instead:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=41316

[wilma101]

hi

the PSU i have now is ez cool 650w, from looking at the pictures the antec looks bigger that what i have now. im looking to upgrade my motherboard to msi xpower, GPU to the Hawk with i7 CPU. would what i have now be good enough to run what im upgrading to?

Zaim - im tempted as im looking for something that will give me peace of mind in the long run but that PSU would require more saving on my part

[Attila the Bun]

the PSU i have now is ez cool 650w

Most people on here will warn you off EZ Cool.

Having seen I other replies I would ask yourself if you actually need an 850w PSU. If you check my system specs you will see I have a 650w Antec modular psu which I could safely add an additional GPU and HDDs/SSDs. It does have cables that have been hardwired in so is not a "true" modular but direct wiring has the advantage over plug in cables as you don't get additional electrical resistance around the connections. Also, it hasn't overloaded the hardwired cables so you get lot's of spares lying about, I've used all the hardwired cables only adding one modular cable for the GPU power socket.

What others on here will advise is make sure you get a good brand of PSU...Antec, Corsair, BeQuiet etc. I'm sure HEXUS will be happy to advise you on their personal favourites.

[watercooled]

Arrrrgghhh! EZ-Cool!!?!?
Seriously though, bin it and get a decent brand. Without going into too many details, crap PSUs can destroy PC components either when they go bang or over time, cause instability and can very rarely deliver the rated wattage without going boom. A decent 400w PSU would be able to supply way more actual power than any EZ-Cool I can think of - the price difference is there for a reason and I'm still annoyed along with plenty of other forum members that a shop like Scan even considers selling them. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...=Story&reid=71
Just a few more proper brands to add to that list: Enermax, SeaSonic, XFX.

[Pob255]

EZcool getting a decent 650w to replace that would probably be best.

Something like the corsair hx650w however it's a bit overpriced now
Consider:
Seasonic M12-II 620w http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/620W-...0TX12V-V23-PSU
Fractal design Newton 650w http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...-Molex-x8-Sata
Antec True Power New 650w (simlar to the qudro in only being part modular
) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...-Pin-120mm-Fan
Silverstone Strider 600W http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/600W-...mm-Fan-EPS-12V

[c.ruel]

What i meant is, is that some psus are 100% modular, i.e. all of the cables can be completely removed and some come with a few cables hardwired. Alot of the antec "modular" psus tend to come with a lot of wires hardwired ... which kind of defeats the purpose of a modular psu. It isn't really the end of the world, but it could be a little bit annoying if you were expecting most of the cables unattached.

Of course pob is right, it should not be a deal breaker unless you have a very small case like me, it's just worth being aware of it.

You can use a psu wattage calculator, like this one to give you a rough estimate of your needs. The good thing is well with that is you can estimate the power draw of what future upgrades might consume and therefore plan a little bit for the future as well.

As the quattro is around £100 pounds I am guessing you have that much to spend.

Your current system in your sig I doubt will ever pull 400w and even an i7 860, with a GTX 460 as you suggested (hope i got that right!?) isn't going to pull much over 400w unless you have like 12 HDDs and really elaborate watercooling. So really a quality 650w psu or 750w at the most is all you need and there are alot of those around the £100 mark.

[Pob255]

Ahh hang on, which "Hawk" graphics card?
I assumed the Inno3D gtx470 "hawk" but it could be the MSI n460GTX hawk or MSi R5770 hawk

For a GTX470 I'd look around 600w for a gtx460 or 5770 I'd look around 500w

[wilma101]

thank you all for the help, i have decided to go with what most of you have said and with be replacing the ez cool with Antec TruePower 650W was not aware of how bad ez cool was.

Pob i was on about the MSI n460GTX hawk.

again thank you all for you're help its been very much appreciated

[amarcus]

Good job! I'm sure things will work out for you. Keep us posted how you get on.

Adam

[claylomax]

Do you want to be spoiled for reviews? This: http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page541.htm

[watercooled]

Wow that looks like a really great site, I've been hoping someone would make something like that for ages!