There are so many PSUs on the market how on earth do i make the decision of picking the right PSU for my new system. I've current got a: - i5 2500k - 8GB Corsair 1600 RAM - 120GB SSD - 1TB HDD - Saphire 6870 graphics card Any suggestions?
How to choose? Pick a trusted brand and go with the amount of power required. I can personally recommend Corsair for this, but there are others such as Seasonic and Enermax. Any plans to add another graphics card for crossfire? Or switch to Nvidia and SLi? If yes: A Corsair 850HX would be about right. If no: A Corsair 650HX Would likely be sufficient. Haven't run any of this through the PSU calculators, but I think the above advice is sound. Hopefully someone with a Sandy Bridge system will post too
I personally would go for a 850W PSU ... just so i dont have to upgrde my PSU in the future... but a 650W should also be more than plenty... you could probably pull it off with a 550W but i wouldnt risk it........ OH and always make sure its a good supplier !
A 500W would be more than capable, my home system(in sig) uses a Silverstone SST-ST50FP. A 650W would be the sweet spot for a 1155 single GPU system. 750W if you plan to go dual GPU or change to 2011. Just pick something quality.
i have a similar system, if you oc it get a 850w because you might need it for watercooling and lots of fans. if you intend to keep it at stock then 600w would be plenty
Inexperienced at sli myself, but according to psu calculators I should be able to add another gtx460 if I wanted. SO, it just depends on the card you are using. 6870, if these calcs are anything to go by, would be similar. You will have no problems on 500w. YOu could even go lower. My Phenom wasn't a very efficient chip and I used to use a 500w with a overclock on the card and the gfx, with 4 harddrives.
Consider noise and your rig's uptime too. Larger psu's are dearer but can run much quieter at higher loads and consume less power.
Well, the bequiet range aren't exactly breaking the bank and can be had for not much in the way of dosh. Plus they are modular. I haven't looked up the models for reviews, but for ages bequiet was the psu bit-tech recommended. So unless they've made a dramatic fall from grace, you can get away with around £50 for a quiet decent quality psu. Unless of course you are going for outright efficiency, in which case check out the latest seasonic psu supply reviewed at anandtech.com
As many have said, it really comes down to your needs; do you prioritise cooling, efficiency, cost or quietness. Also, when picking one, you need to keep one eye on the future; How drastically are you looking to upgrade your rig? How often do you upgrade your core components? A decent PSU will last you through several upgrades and 5+ years of service so choosing one with a long warranty is worthwhile.
A 500 will probably handle it fine, but leave you little in the way of extra if you decide to upgrade anything. I would recommend something between 650 and 850, it only costs a little to have extra, but it hurts a lot to not have enough (new psu, damaged parts). An extra $20 now can save you a bundle later.
Just ordered a Corsair TX650w V2. I chose not to go for the HX650 as I didnt think it was worth the extra £20, just hope I'm right...
