Help finding a much needed PSU??

[phill8800GT]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to buy two identical PSU units as I've built/building a rig for my misses and my best mate and his wife and I want to make sure I'm getting the best I can for my cash.

I've been looking around at some units, having got a Silverstone 1000w model myself I thought I'd go with them and I found this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/700W-...-PCI-E-v1-RoHS

I'm looking for a modular unit, with at least a single 6 and 8 pin PCI-E because of upgradability just in case I add more juicer graphics cards at a later date. I dont want to have to buy another PSU again!!

The rig spec's of the two machines are as follows:

E8500 @ 4.2Ghz + TRUE + 120mm fan, 2Gb PC1066 @ 1133 (or so), Asus P5Q Premium, ATI 4850 512Mbs, Samsung 250Gb (for the moment), Pioneer DVD-RW, few 80mm fans - Misses rig

E6300 @ 3Ghz or more + TRUE + 120mm fan, 2Gb PC1066, Asus P5Q Premium, EVGA 8800GT, Western Digital 500Gb (maybe two) Pioneer DVD-RW, few 80mm fans etc - not yet built but end spec

I appreaite the help guys, so thank you in advance
Hope you've all had a merry Christmas and having a great holiday so far

[PeterStoba]

Hi Phil, always nice to find a familiar face (read as name)

The 700w unit is majorly overkill for the systems, but if you want to then I suppose it would be fine for future upgades and stuff, modular is a bonus too, but it'd consider a Corsair or even an Enermax

[phill8800GT]

I was aiming for a 600w Pete but I cant seem to find one that has the 8 pin PCI-E connector in The last thing I want to do is buy one without one and then upgrade their PC's a year down the path and have to upgrade it again

Would this be ok for the rigs tho? I mean is it going to cost more for them to run them??

[PeterStoba]

I'm far from a PSU guru, but afaik a psu running near full load, ie a 500w pulling 470w from the wall is innefiecent, compared to the same 500w psu pulling 400w, but i'm not sure on the differences, can only be a few pence...

As for the 6pin/8pin issue i'm sure you can get adaptors as the 2extra pins aren't actually needed but need to be in place, this could all be wrong though

[DavidM]

Worth checking perhaps http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/#3

[phill8800GT]

Thanks for the link David but I cant see the model I'm looking for or any one thats like it

I think I'll just get them the units because the Silverstone units arent bad and the one I have gotten is perfectly running still so I cant complain in the slightest

Maybe I'll just have to buy them when they are on special offer or something

[DavidM]

Silverstone are rather good - although I'd normally go for Corsair, FSP or Xclio myself ...

[phill8800GT]

I do like to stay while something that is a decent brand as I know it'll be fine when I put pressure on the unit to work harder Overclocking you need a bit of head room anyways

[smargh]

E8500 @ 4.2Ghz + TRUE + 120mm fan, 2Gb PC1066 @ 1133 (or so), Asus P5Q Premium, ATI 4850 512Mbs, Samsung 250Gb (for the moment), Pioneer DVD-RW, few 80mm fans - Misses rig

I have a similar PC to that (E8400, x2 HDDs, 1GB HD4850) and the whole thing, including my 24" monitor and a 24-port ethernet switch, only uses a peak of approx 240 watts from the wall when in Crysis, and that includes UPS inefficiency too.

Any quality branded 400W+ PSU would be fine and allow for a lot of future expansion.

edit: is OCing really necessary? My stock E8400 is fine for everything.

[phill8800GT]

I guess it would be fine, but then where's the fun in that? I also run World Grid computing, so the load would probably be nearer 400w with everything there. I guess its my little way of making sure I dont have to spend anything on them for a long time

Overclocking is fun for all of the family!! All of my PC's run overclocked, be it 100Mhz or 1500Mhz.. Its only the CPU mind, the GPU's normally stay at stock