Is 480W enough?

[EvanJackPenn]

Hi there,

I'm doing a build bang on IVB launch so I'm looking to gather up most of my components now.

I want to get this PSU, but if 480W isn't suffice then this one.

My build will be:
i5-3570k (overclocked)
Radeon 7870 (overclocked)
SSD
5900RPM HDD
3x case fans
1x CPU fan
ASUS Gene V, with WiFi card

Will 480W be correct for this? AMD reccomends 500W, and they're always over. I'm not looking to go dual GPU any time in the near future, so that's no issue.

Many thanks

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Any reason it has to be a Be Quiet??

TBH,I suspect the 480W should be enough. I ran a Q6600 overclocked to around 3GHZ,an overclocked HD5850 1GB,4GB of DDR2,a 975X based motherboard,two hard drives,an optical drive and a card reader off a SFF Shuttle 450W PSU fine.

[scaryjim]

Hexus gave its big brother a decent review, and with those components - even with some heavy overclocks - you'll be (un!)lucky to draw 300W from the wall; Hexus's test system is an i5 2500K and with a stock 7870 they drew less than 200W. A decent quality 480W PSU will be more than enough.

As CAT says though, there are plenty of quality ~480W PSUs out there - why the be quiet in particular?

[TheAnimus]

Why are you looking at brand of quiet PSUs? Surely the fans will ramp up more on a 480W at 75% capacity than on a higher rated PSU at a lower capacity?

[Bambooz]

Will be more than enough if you don't plan on multi-GPU setups.
That PSU has a max. combined output rating of 38A on 12V (= 456W).

The HD7870 is rated at 175W max. on full load, the i5-3570k is rated at 77W TDP, so think 90W max. on stock clocks.
Even with OC, the i5 isn't going to come close to 150W as long as you don't have a watercooling setup and decide to go nuts with the core voltage.

Just as a comparison, my ancient setup from the specs thing on the left runs off of a Seasonic S12-II 430W with just 30A combined on 12V (= 360W). And I've had far more power-hungry graphics cards than the HD6870 (151W) in there before, like a GTX260 (182W) and way back when, a HD2900XT (215W .. ridiculous in every aspect lol)

[EvanJackPenn]

Well, I was looking at those because of the 80+ Gold rating, modular cabling and quiet operation. I'm open to others!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The OCZ ZT 550W is fully modular:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...-year-warranty

http://www.ebuyer.com/290084-ocz-zt-...-ocz-zt550w-uk

[EvanJackPenn]

The OCZ ZT 550W is fully modular

I did look at that first, but apparently the fan makes a bit of an annoying noise and I thought gold efficiency would be better?

[scaryjim]

tbh, the difference between 80+ Bronze and 80+ Gold is minimal. You'd be better off saving money now on a Bronze rated PSU. So how about this Be Quiet 530W Modular @ £60, or (from Scan) a 430W Be Quiet modular which would easily be enough for your planned rig and is only £48...

[EvanJackPenn]

But aren't those PSUs of a worse quality?

Please excuse my naïvety, I'm new to this

[scaryjim]

Not really. They're still be quiet, so they'll be built to exactly the same standards - they're good quality reliable PSUs. They've simply not been ultra-tweaked for that last few % of efficiency.

With 80+ Bronze v 80+ Gold we're talking the difference between high 80s efficiency and low 90s efficiency. Even hammering a demanding game you're talking ~ 10W MAX power draw difference between the two, and just browsing the web you're looking at maybe 2W or 3W. Over an entire year it's going to save you two or three quid in electricity, but it's going to cost you £20+ more in up front outlay.

If you were planning on doing some kind of HPC that would hammer your rig full tilt 24/7 then it might be worth worrying about the difference, but for a normal day-to-day/gaming computer, the ultra efficiency really isn't worth worrying about.

[EvanJackPenn]

Hmm, okay. Thankyou very much. So it's the 430W BeQuiet you'd reccommend?

[kalniel]

Surely the fans will ramp up more on a 480W at 75% capacity than on a higher rated PSU at a lower capacity?

Not necessarily - depends on the efficiency at the different power levels. If at the same absolute load a 480W supply is the same efficiency as a, say, 850W unit at the same load, then the amount of heat generated will be identical. It's even more likely that a 200W load will be more efficient on a 480W supply than a 850W supply, meaning the 480W unit will generate less heat that has to be extracted, therefore if the fan is the same it will have to ramp up less.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How about this one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/460w-...oogle+shopping

Its made by Seasonic and cheaper than the Seasonic version. Fully modular,fanless and has Gold efficiency!



This PSU is somewhat cheaper though:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...onze-eps-12v-q

[EvanJackPenn]

Bargain!

The PCP&C seems rather noisy compared to the BeQuiet. I'm not going for a silent build, but I'd like to avoid noise where necessary.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Bargain!

The PCP&C seems rather noisy compared to the BeQuiet. I'm not going for a silent build, but I'd like to avoid noise where necessary.

I thing you are getting a tad worried over the PSU noise. IMHO - you need to look every part to reduce noise and that includes getting a decent case too.

The Be Quiet! PSUs have been known to use sleeve bearing fans and cheap capacitors which have put me off them ATM.

If you look at the E8 400W they use CapXon for the primary capacitor and a whole load of CapXon,OST and Teapo capacitors for the secondary. CapXon and OST don't have a good reputation especially if there is not enough cooling for the capacitors.