So, currently rebuilding my gaming rig, and every psu calculator recommends a 1000w psu. Before I get too far ahead of myself. Current Specs. FX-4100 Zambezi (soon to be a FX-8350) XFX DD R9 270X (adding a second down the line for Crossfire) 8gb DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance (will upgrade to 16gb dual channel kit later on) ASUS M5A97 LE 2.0 Samsung 840 EVO 120gb (really shoulda splurged for a larger ssd >_<) WD Green 2tb ASUS DVD-r/w this system will eventually be watercooled as I've never done watercooling before and It's something I'd love to try. Don't care that it's not a "high-end" system and "not worth it". Doing it because I can. But I digress. As stated earlier, every psu calculator suggests upwards of a 1000w psu, which if true, I'll go with the RM1000. I recently picked up pcgamer where they had the LPC components listed. That thing has 4 titans in it, watercooling and plenty of other power hogging items; but uses a 1200w psu. Are these psu calculators over-stating power needs or am I completely missing something? and yes, i used search, but my search-fu is apparently weak. >_<
Thank you! Should I go 850w considering I want to watercool down the line? I figure maybe go a bit larger now instead of finding out the hard way I can't run my pump and fans off the psu. and for those wondering, yes, it's been a while (like 4 years) since I built a pc. XD
750W is plenty even with serious overclocking and WCing. In fact, I'm sure it would run on a 650W but a little wiggle room is always good. But TBH I don't see the point of crossfiring a couple Pitcairn with the release of the gtx970 and price drops of the 290/290x.
With that setup. You'll be 100% fine with a 600W model. Watercooling hardly takes any more power than normal.
WC does take quite a bit more when you think about it, but it's not a huge amount in the overall scheme of things. An air cooler, like the D15 with two fans, will probably pull about 5w for the fans, and that's it. The pump alone for a good loop can pull 18w at full tilt, plus fans on the rads, you're already at 5x the power draw. It's still only 25w which is nothing, but it sounds like more when you put it that way. I agree, I really wouldn't bother CFX'ing two 270X cards. I would however put the entire system under one loop, keeping a H60 on the CPU seems like a very half-arsed job to me. Do it properly or don't do it at all.
I appreciate your input, but as i usually only upgrade when things die, I'll be sticking with the R9 270X's. Also, call me a fanboy, but I won't run Nvidia cards ever again in my own rig. I feel the AMD stuff is better bang for the buck considering I'm not after 4k gaming, or anything much more than World of Tanks and Skyrim. As for the watercooling loop, when did I mention an H60? XD This will eventually be stuffed into a Corsair 750D (gasp! so unoriginal!) with dual 280mm rads and hardlines. Why? Cuz I want to. Pure and simple. I really do appreciate everyones input and thoughts on spending money elsewhere, but as i said, The core components will stay as they are. Maybe when I have a larger budget by the time this setup dies, I'll go crazy. But, well, life and all that.
700W is recommended for 270X in CF, so you would be in a safe spot between 700-800W. Just need to pick the right manufacturer
I have a wattage meter and I tested this myself. I have 2 x GTX780s overclocked to 1202Mhz An intel 4670K overclocked the 4.8Ghz 3 x HDD's 1 x SSD A dedicated sound card 14x 120mm fans A watercooling pump 2 x fan controllers All from a 1200w Antec PSU I ran furmark and prime together and tested the wattage pull. It was only 690w Video here to prove it too
awesome! thats great to know! Thank you both very much! ninja edit: Current PSU of choice is a Corsair RM750.
