PSU advice

[CLEMENT]

What should a person look at when buying a PSU

 

[PsychoFish]

First calculate approximately how much Wattage you require.

Then look at the amps per rail...higher is better.

Lastly it comes down to the brand... you get exactly what you pay for, so if you buy some dodgy PSU from Game or "Johnny's discount PC parts" don't be surprised if you lose a MB or CPU when it goes bang, and it will.

 

[Fivel]

What he said ^ and also try this http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[CLEMENT]

what is 80plus

 

[PsychoFish]

what is 80plus

That is the efficiency rating of the PSU. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus )

A good review is also http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-psu-80-plus,2746.html

 

[DCWarhound]

Need a little help with a PSU as well.

I have a Nvidia 560ti GPU currently and a Corsair TX650m PSU (650w)

I'm upgrading to a Nvidia 680GTX soon so what wattage power supply will i need? (i'm going with corsair again)

 

[PsychoFish]

Need a little help with a PSU as well.

I have a Nvidia 560ti GPU currently and a Corsair TX650m PSU (650w)

I'm upgrading to a Nvidia 680GTX soon so what wattage power supply will i need? (i'm going with corsair again)

I'm under correction, but I believe the 680GTX actually draws less power than the 560ti. The 560ti at full tilt can draw 285W, where the 680 GTX will draw 195Watt

 

[DCWarhound]

Cool,so i'm all set?

Just need to get a good place that sells the GPU for under R6k now.

 

[TBlaar]

Just need to get a good place that sells the GPU for under R6k now.

TheJoker man can!

 

[DCWarhound]

TheJoker man can!

He's still sick,i don't want to bother him with any orders.

So far i'm planing on geting one from RebelTech for R6100 on monday when they get stock.
http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=21&products_id=6590

 

[The Joker]

He's still sick,i don't want to bother him with any orders.

So far i'm planing on geting one from RebelTech for R6100 on monday when they get stock.
http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=21&products_id=6590

I am much better
Will gladly sort you out with a 680.

Your psu is fine for the 680 as well.

 

[DCWarhound]

I am much better
Will gladly sort you out with a 680.

Your psu is fine for the 680 as well.

Thanks,PM sent.

 

[slayerbunny]

A good PSU is obviously important, but things to look for like some of the other's said are wattage and don't buy what you need now. have some breathing room, as your PSU get's older the components of the device deteriorate and you lose some of the capability of your PSU, not much i grant you but if you're buying barely enough then it could be the difference between stable and unstable.

PSU problems are difficult to troubleshoot to boot, so it pays to get a decent brand name. Not just some local concoction or noname brand. Might work fine in th end but if you want to keep it for 3 or maby 5 years a highend brand is what will last.

 

[PsychoFish]

Something to also keep in mind is capacitor aging, which essentially results in the PSU losing some power over age. Depending on how fine you cut your reserve power this may or may not become a future problem. I tend to overspec my personal gaming PC's PSU by 40-50% as I try to squeeze 2-3 rebuilds (i.e. MB, CPU, RAM and GPU replacements) out of one PSU. The trend however is for components to become more energy efficient.

For instance, the Core i5 (Sandy Bridge i5-2500S) draws 65W where the Core i5 (Lynnfield 750) draws around 82W

 

[TBlaar]

When I bought my AX750, a big factor was the 7 year warranty. This gives me confidence that they have this much confidence in their PSUs.