XFX PSU clicks as well

[Mehta23]

I have a Corsair 750W V2 PSU, and the fan makes a sort of ticking soon. I've rang Corsair up, and one fo the guys said this may be normal due to the rpm's on the fan slowing down, or I may just have a noisy fan. I will do some testing to see if this is true ( he said if i put my case on a soft surface it shouldn't be audible)


I've contacted Amazon, who said they can offer me a refund, but as they don't sell the PSU directly any more, they can't cross ship me a replacement. I can either order a new PSU - but not from a 3rd party seller- and they'll even pay the shipping. Or I can buy the same PSU off Ebuyer for £2 less, and then send off my "faulty" PSU back to Amazon.

Question is, what should I do? I had a quick look on amazon, and there weren't many good 750W PSU's, unless 750 is a bit overkill. Then the second question is what PSU should I get ?

I've seen a 650W Corsair too ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-TX65...1404959&sr=8-3

[dacads]

Get the XFX 650w XXX edition Will be near silent and produced by the top dogs Seasonic

I made the jump myself from TX V2 750w to XFX(550w) and was surprised how muh quieter my system became

[Mehta23]

I can't normally hear my psu at the moment anyway. :-P

Edit : I've only just realised that my gpu needs 30A...And my psu delivers 62. Overkill? Would it be worth 'downgrading' to something like a Antec HCG over another TX6/750?

[D1DM]

Your GPU doesn't need 30A for itself, it is recommending 30A for the system as a whole. So yes you could easily use a PSU with much lower wattage, as long as it still has the necessary connectors.

OCZ ZS Series 550W (£45 @ Aria PC)
http://skinflint.co.uk/ocz_zs_series...w_a631078.html
Better than Antec's HCG series because it is independantly regulated.

[Mehta23]

You mean 30A for everything AND the GPU in total?

I've heard bad things about ocz...?

[D1DM]

You mean 30A for everything AND the GPU in total?

Yes. If I knew what GPU you were using I could elaborate more.
Describing your system fully might be helpful to anyone who wants to advise you.

I've heard bad things about ocz...?

Like what?
As far as their PSUs go, some of their older/lower end units are worth avoiding nowadays. However the ZS Series is, as far as I'm concerned, some of the best budget units around.

Lots of positive reviews for the ZS Series:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cas..._11.html#sect0
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=248
http://www.kitguru.net/components/po...supply-review/
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/1361
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ZS_650W/
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ZS_750W/

So Antec's HCG series is certainly good, but not as good as the ZS Series IMO.

Judging a PSU based solely on it's brand isn't that wise IMO. This is because very few brands produce their own PSUs. Another important reason is because a brand will have low, medium and high end units. With quality and performance varying in each segment, so a brand's low end units might not be worth buying, if the brand is particularly bad then it might not be worth buying even their 'high end' units. Very few brands are so good that even their low end units are worth buying.

What is your budget for a PSU?

[Mehta23]

I have a EVGA 670 FTW SIG II.

I know what you mean about not judging based on the brand.... You're right. I think the bad things i heard were about a different PSU model - not the ZS which does look pretty good.

I don't really have to budget, but seeing how a new TX750V2 is £82 I guess £80 is the budget.

As a rough estimate, how much load should I aim to put on a psu?

My build :

i5 3750K ( may over clock)
Asus P8Z77 V LX
Samsung 840 250gb
WD Caviar Black 1TB
EVGA 670 FTW SIG II.
Sony DVD drive
Basic fans in a CM Storm enforcer.

[D1DM]

TPU measured the power consumption of that card by itself to be 180W at maximum. 180W / 12V = 15A
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/E...W_Signature_2/

180W seems a reasonable overestimation for what the rest of the system will draw.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/29...iewed?start=11
Shows a system using an i7-3820 (more power hungry than an i5-3570K) and that card drawing 329W.

Some people talk about trying to achieve the optimum efficiency curve when 'sizing' their PSU. For instance, this is where the minimum load is more than 20% of the unit's capacity and the maximum load being 60/80% of the capacity. This is based on Ecova (the company behind the 80 PLUS certification system) starts at 20% for certification, so companies usually optimism for that. But efficiency curves obviously vary from unit to unit.

With high quality units the only obvious problem with drawing 100% of a unit's capacity should be fan noise. Perhaps the lifespan of the unit will be reduced, but if it's high quality then the system it is powering should be outdated/at the end of it's useful life even then.

Based on the above numbers you could probably use a high quality ~350W PSU, as long as it has two PCIe connectors. So anything above that is fine.
If you're thinking about SLI in the future or want the option, then four PCIe connectors is required. This number of PCIe connectors is usually found on 700W+ units, occasionally good 650W will also have that many.

Some high end options closer to £80:
Seasonic G-550 (SSR-550RM) (£77 @ OCUK)
http://skinflint.co.uk/sea_sonic_g-s...m_a830688.html

NZXT Hale90 550W (£78 @ Scan)
http://skinflint.co.uk/nzxt_hale90_5...2_a557337.html

Enermax Triathlor FC 550W ETA550AWT-M (£76 @ Scan)
http://skinflint.co.uk/enermax_triat...m_a852500.html

[Mehta23]

Would you say that any of those options were better than the TX750( it has the 4 pcie sockets you mentioned) ?

Just that I (of course) wouldn't mind saving money, or getting a psu that better matched my system. But getting less power for the same price doesn't seem that good to me.
If my card needs 30A, how much should my psu be delivering? 40?50?

I'm also a Lil annoyed that my psu being too big was never brought up in the forums (not here) unless the 570 - which I originally intended to get - needs that much more power that the 750W wasn't overly overkill
Would going to a GS700 and saving £10 be kinda pointless? I guess I'll postpone the search for a psu until I know I definitely need one - I don't know if the fan being loud at times is enough to make me go through the hassle of a new psu.

[kmac]

Any noisy fan would drive me up the wall. I would replace the PSU if you can RMA it.

30A at 12v is 360W so a 400W PSU would be just fine

Get the seasonic from the list DIDM posted - it is rated 80plus gold for efficiency

[Mehta23]

It's not the fan being noisy per se, but more the sound of the fan slowing down. I was told because my pc is on the desk right next to me I can hear it more.

Might try to put something soft under it to see if that helps... - plus i don't know if downgrading and getting a lower wattage psu would make that much difference, or be worth the time I'll be spending having to reconnect the cabling :-(

[D1DM]

GTX 570s are supposed to use more power than GTX 670s (219W TDP vs 170W), but I still think that a 750W PSU would only have been necessary if you had intentions to add a second card in the future.

It is quite common on internet forums for people to overestimate how much power systems use. Plus lots of people always think more = better, and things like better safe than sorry - even if there's nothing dangerous about using a 500W PSU for a single card system... just plain old ignorance most of the time.

I'd definitely take any of those I listed over a TX750. This is because two (out of three) have significantly higher efficiency and modular cables. And they all have slower spinning fans, therefore very likely to be quieter.
The original TX750 V2 uses a fan which has trouble spinning/starting up below 1000RPM.
Corsair's line-up is quite confusing/translucent atm, this is because they have added a semi-fanless mode to the TX series without much advertisement. The TX750s being sold now possibly aren't related to the original TX750 V2 either, again without much advertisement of this fact.

Yes I would say it's quite pointless buying a GS700, as the TX650 V2 is available for a similar price and it is exactly the same functionally, and it is supposed to be higher quality than the GS series.
http://skinflint.co.uk/corsair_enthu...8_a616446.html
Unless, somehow, you managed to buy an original TX V2 - without the semi-fanless mode - in which case the GS700 Bronze will potentially have an advantage; fan not spinning in idle.

[Mehta23]

Yeah, I didn't know about the TX thing - thanks!

I have just realised however, that ad long as I have my 670 FTW, i probably won't sli till an upgrade is needed (hopefully at least 3-4 years)by then, I guess cards will be much more efficient and 750W would be more than overkill.

So I think - if I choose to change the psu - to change to a OCZ ZS 550W. I'll be on the lookout for others too, but i guess i shouldn't spend too much (TX750 was 80 summing, saving money sounds like a nice idea)


Modular doesn't really make too much of a difference although not having that bunch of wires at the bottom would be nice. Would the savings on the bills be big when you compare bronze vs gold efficiency?

Also, how much current should be enough on the 12v rail if I allow room for OC's of CPU/GPU?

One more thing :-P - would the OCZ 3 year warranty vs Corsair 5 year warranty not make a difference? I. E. Nothing likely to break after 3 years, is it?


EDIT: OCZ ZS 550W for £50 vs OCZ ZT 55-W Modular for £67? http://www.ebuyer.com/290084-ocz-zt-...edium=products

ZT is £55 here, but I dont think its in stock http://www.dabs.com/products/ocz-tec...pply-7TLZ.html

[kkxlynx]

get an OCZ ZS Series 550W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply from scan!
Cheap. Saves you money and it's not overkill.

Send back the PSU if it is faulty and make sure (if you can) that it is not sitting on a desk, as this can cause a noise like such.

Don't get modular, if you have to pay £20 extra for one less wire. No point.

[Mehta23]

Making multiple posts just to up your post count isn't gonna help you. Neither is repeating what I've said in the OP

But as you said, I won't be getting the modular to save myself one cable, and but I'll have to have a look around to see what PSU I end up getting.

[Mehta23]

oops...double post. The irony.