Good Value Reliable SLI PSU?

[herman368]

I am looking for a PSU for a gaming rig which hopefully would be good value ie cheapish, quite quiet and is really reliable . Problem is all SLI PSU's out there are at least 500W which I doubt I'll need. The rig I am building will not even be using SLI initially and will only have 1 SATA HD, 2x512 RAM, 1 DVD RW drive, 7800GT(X) and most probably a stock clocked AMD64 CPU on an Asus A8N. (The reason I want an SLI PSU is just in case I decide to get another GFX and would prefer not to replace the PSU for it). I doubt I will do any overclocking so I think around 400-450W is plenty (pls correct me if im wrong).

I've looked everywhere and reliable SLI PSU's start at around £80 which is about the same as an Antec Sonata II (which is a damn good case with a decent PSU!).

BTW is Corsair Value RAM bad with a 7800GT and AMD64 4000+??? And in general is 4 512 sticks of RAM better/worse than 2 1 Gig Sticks

[mike_w]

I have a Tagan - does the job for me (although my power requirements are a lot lower than yours, people have used Tagan 480W to power similar machines).

As for the RAM - I personally think Corsair Value Select is fine - the faster RAM isn't that much faster, and costs a lot more. It's also generally better to have 2 sticks rather than 4.

[arthurleung]

If you are not overclocking, any ram will do you find.

512x4 gets higher frequency / lower timing than 2x1G, but the 2T timing required will reduce performance for quite a few percent. 2x512 will give you the best performance but 1G is not enough now.

You could do 4x512 or 2x1G, 2x1G ultra-high end stuff will be the best for you, but do they justify the slight increase in performance? Your choice. Do you want to pay 250 quids just for Ballistix? Or you want to buy some cheap Elixir 4x512 at around 100 quids but still do the job? Yes the Elixir is 150 pounds cheaper, but that setup won't be much slower (around 6%?)

[herman368]

I will probably get 2x1 GB Corsair Value Select Sticks...I dont really understand what you mean about the 2T timing, as far as I know 1T is better or something??

Anyway its just plain silly to pay for something 250% more expensive for a 6% performance improvement.

Finally, any more PSU suggestions? I take it I can't I use a non SLI certified PSU for 2 SLI Cards...

[mike_w]

Finally, any more PSU suggestions? I take it I can't I use a non SLI certified PSU for 2 SLI Cards...

You can get converters which convert 2 molexes (I think) from the PSU into a PCI Express connector. They might come with the card, but I honestly have no idea whether they do.

[herman368]

Really? Thats cool. Can someone then tell me what advantages an SLI certified PSU has over a non SLI one without a PCI express connector?

[Dougal]

Really? Thats cool. Can someone then tell me what advantages an SLI certified PSU has over a non SLI one without a PCI express connector?

Its guaranteed to work for SLi basicly.

The un certified ones, if they damage your card can just say, "It wasnt designed for that, you modified it, your problem"

[herman368]

Cool I think I just found my ideal PSU!!!!!!!!!! Its the 430W Tagan 2Force http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=230451

[Butcher]

My tagan 480W does fine with my SLI (6800GTs). Also my cards came with molex to PCI-e converters, though not all do. You can buy the converters separately for tuppence though.

[herman368]

Okay I just finished planning my new system. I have a budget of £1200 and all in all with vat and delivery it came to 1197.68 using 3 different sites.

CASE:Coolermaster Wave Master Black
CPU:AMD Athlon 64 San Diego 3700
MOBO:Asus A8N-SLI/Premium
GFX:Leadtek GeForce 7800GT
RAM:Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select
HD:Western Digital 200GB SATA
DVD:LG GSA4163 16x DVD R/RW
PSU:Tagan 2Force SLI 430W PSU
TFT:17" Daewoo L1711MN 10ms
Saitek Eclipse Keyboard

[plesuvius]

very nice system sir. Only one comment, if you are happy with the ideas behind it you might want to save some money on the CPU (and overclock a cheaper one) as you may be looking at an X2 upgrade in a year or so anyway.

When there's more support for it, there ought to be a lot of gains with a dual core CPU. I very much doubt current single core CPUs are often using all that memory bandwidth.....

[herman368]

My only reasons for not getting an X2 are a) its more expensive b) no current gaming performance gains c) uncertainty over whether games will make use of dual cores

Does anyone know how a 3700 San Diego overclocks?

[Butcher]

I think games will make use of dual cores. Whether it's within the lifetime of your CPU is another question.

[Tobeman]

Erf, change your case. That was so last, er, few years ago when I got mine. 80mm fan mounts

Im steadily building my new PC, I got the Akasa Eclipse 62 - it's amazing!

[herman368]

oh god no offence but i cant stand the look of the akasa eclipse 62... its so wide and ugly and ewww....

[amjedm]

oh god no offence but i cant stand the look of the akasa eclipse 62... its so wide and ugly and ewww....

Oi

I have the Globalwin (same as the Akasa) and it's probably one of the best cases you can get. It isn't going to win any beauty contests but with the very minor modding (cut out front and rear grills) I have done and buying quiet fans etc it is about as silent as you can get.