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Hardware 900W to 1100W PSU Group Test

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Tim S, 9 Jul 2007.

  1. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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    http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/07/09/psu_group_test_july_07/1

    Those with mighty power requirements need an equally mighty power supply. After spending thousands of your hard earned cash on some high end components, surely you want to top it of with a PSU that'll stand up to the task? We check out six units rated between 900W and 1100W.

    :thumb:
     
  2. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Article Edit: After speaking to Nanopoint again it appears our wires got crossed and the SilverPower SP1000 PSU was £150 INC VAT not Ex VAT. Scores and article adjusted accordingly.
     
  3. Guest-23315

    Guest-23315 Guest

    Where are the PCP&C's and the Silverstones!
     
  4. f00dl3

    f00dl3 What's a Dremel?

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    Make sure you need one of those big boys before you buy one. I got a 650 Watt PSU with my system I built last year w/ Core 2 Duo, 2 GB PC 800 RAM, nVidia 7950 GX2 1 GB, 2x 250 GB SATA drives, TV Tuner, front USB, etc.... and the max power consumption does not peak above 215 Watts. Could have got a 450 Watt PSU and would probably have been fine :-S
     
  5. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Didn't have them at the time of testing. We'll be looking into them in the future but they're not currently on the cards out of the 9 I've got coming to review.

    PCPCs have only just come available too :p
     
  6. cosmic

    cosmic What's a Dremel?

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    That is so true. Sitting next to a machine with an 1100W PSU going full on will be like sitting next to a one bar electric fire. Mind you summer is not too hot this year, so useful for providing background heating. :D
     
  7. Guest-2867

    Guest-2867 Guest

    Lol, so true, most people over spec their PSU, adopting a 'bigger is better' mentality

    total waste of money unless you have a massive hard drive array or some obscenely expensive gfx setup
     
  8. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Which is my whole argument for the entire review XD :thumb:
     
  9. Amon

    Amon inch-perfect

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    The drop-down box for the page index needs a minor adjustment:
    should be
    And thanks for including the fabled Enermax unit in the comparison :)
     
  10. Guest-2867

    Guest-2867 Guest

    Lol, sorry bud, haven't even read it yet, was just meandering through threads :D
     
  11. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    The PCP&C has a single monster 12v rail instead of 4 smaller ones

    afaik the PCP&C is also rated at 1kw for higher temps and 24/7 use
    and the PCP&C is, well, its a PCP&C :D

    I did not know that, is it designed to cut off at >620w, or does it just keep on going?
     
    Last edited: 9 Jul 2007
  12. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    It keeps going afaik but it's only rated to 620W because they want it to be silent, which it is :) Otherwise the heat and noise start to crank up.
     
  13. Krikkit

    Krikkit All glory to the hypnotoad! Super Moderator

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    Nice review, and thank you for putting that note in at the beginning about PSU ratings and what people actually need, a lot of people see quad-core and SLi G80's and think they need 121 jigawatts! :p

    Interesting about the Corsair PSU, I'll definately move that one higher up the list on my next upgrade. :)
     
  14. airchie

    airchie What's a Dremel?

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    Thing is, it won't be going 'full on' unless it has a massive amount of peripherals etc.

    Isn't it true that a PSU is likely to be more efficient when it's not working near 100% load?
    ie, buying a bigger PSU like this and running it at less than 50% load may actually be MORE efficient than getting a 430W PSU and making it work like a slave to maintain your power requirements?

    Can you lovely Bit-Techers try running a test like this to confirm or refute this idea? :)
     
  15. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Yea. But there's arguments over it: should you run at PSU at 50-75% and not stress it too hard? Or, do you buy what you need citing that it says it can do that so that's what it should be capable of.
     
  16. cosmic

    cosmic What's a Dremel?

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    The more recent PSUs rated as 80+ efficient provide that rating in the 20% to 80% load range. There are some interesting efficiency measurements on the link below for the Corsair HX520/620 PSU where as you say they are most efficient around the 50% of max load mark. However, given most systems idle around the 100W mark and rarely exceed 250W, that makes the optimum PSU rating about 400 Watt for people not using a pair of power hungry graphics cards in SLI?crossfire mode. For those guys, these big units are OK, as long as they can get rid of all the heat somewhere

    http://www.silentpcreview.com/article692-page4.html
     
  17. pillow

    pillow What's a Dremel?

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    y would you anyone but a select few need one of those? corsair hx620 is enough. another way to make money.....
     
    Last edited: 9 Jul 2007
  18. Woodstock

    Woodstock So Say We All

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    just out of curiosity who would that be? i think id be more tempted to grab to hx 520's then one big
     
  19. airchie

    airchie What's a Dremel?

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    I like the Corsairs PSUs too (since I have one) but I think they're manufactured for Corsair by Seasonic anyway aren't they?
    they're deffo made by another company anyway. :)
     
  20. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Power hungry SLI and CrossFire needs anywhere between 400-550W in our experience with only a single hard drive, single fan and single DVD drive. Obviously people's setups vary as they add more kit. To be 80Plus certified they need to have an 80+ real efficiency at 20, 50 and 100% load.

    Wood: Last time I checked Brett swears by them :D I've always owned Enermax personally.
     
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