Choosing Correct Power Supply

[vortexprog]

Hi all,

I am looking into building a new case with an AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 CPU and an ASUS M4A79T Deluxe mobo. I will need a PSU with at least 1150W of power and will probably be going at least 1200W. When looking at mobo compatability for PSUs, it said that I should get an ATX12V model. Does this mean that I should not get an ATX PSU? What is the big difference between these 2 PSU models? Thank you very much in advance!

vortexprog

 

[1337]

I'm not 100% sure about this but I'm guessing ATX12V just means ATX with +12 V rail voltages (which is pretty standard on most PSUs). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[mindless728]

1200w, Jesus Christ (sorry if i offend anybody), you will more than likely not need anywhere near that much power

listen to wusy, just make sure that it is a good PSU, like Corsair PC Power and Cooling, Seasonic, Enermax, to name a few

 

[JohnnyLucky]

vortexprog - It might help if you list the rest of your pc components and explain what you plan to do that would require a 1200 watt power supply.

 

[gkay09]

^+1 List all the components that you want to put inside your PC and we might be able to suggest the power required...
Well if you want to run the 955 at 4GHz with water cooling, 4890 in Quad-fire and about 5 to 10 HDDs, 2 or more DVD drives, many LED fans in the case, 2 or 3 pci/ pcie cards...then you might need that 1200W PSU...

 

[vortexprog]

Sorry, here are the parts for the new system...I plan to OC all parts that can

ASUS M4A79T Deluxe motherboard
AMD AM3 955 Black Edition CPU
2 ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 graphics cards in crossfire
4-8Gb Corsair Dominator DDR3 RAM (would go DDR2, but I think the mobo requires DDR3)
**may change which RAM**
2 ViewSonic VP201s 1600x1200 monitors
1 HDD @ 7500 or 10000RPM (at least)

+ custom liquid cooling kit...not sure about parts yet
+ LED case fans (not sure about which case yet)

 

[JohnnyLucky]

1,000 watts sounds just about right. Two of those HD 4870x2 video cards could easily suck up 500 watts during a heavy gaming session. Add about another 300 watts for the rest of the system, maybe a little less since it's Intel Core i7.

The PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS910 1000W would be an excellent choice:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703022

It's a brand new psu that earned an 80+ Silver certification for power efficiency.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like a great system there, but completely overkill for the resolutions you will be gaming at, you dont need two 4870x2 cards to game at 1600 x 1200, one will suffice, then you can drop down to a good 80+ certified 650w Psu

 

[gkay09]

Sorry, here are the parts for the new system...I plan to OC all parts that can

ASUS M4A79T Deluxe motherboard
AMD AM3 955 Black Edition CPU
2 ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 graphics cards in crossfire
4-8Gb Corsair Dominator DDR3 RAM (would go DDR2, but I think the mobo requires DDR3)
**may change which RAM**
2 ViewSonic VP201s 1600x1200 monitors
1 HDD @ 7500 or 10000RPM (at least)

+ custom liquid cooling kit...not sure about parts yet
+ LED case fans (not sure about which case yet)

Hmm... 2X 4870X2...
Doesn't sound good...
The quad crossfire wont scale well...The ATI crossfire drivers would pose problems...
Better of getting 2 X 4890
Reason :
Lesser number of cards hence little problems...Power consumption would reduce...

And that setup would be suffice for most of games even at 2560x1600...
You also get factory overclocked 4890s, which performs equally to a GTX 280...

And I would again suggest getting lesser number of powerful cards rather than higher number of comparatively weaker cards...
Even you can add one more later if you feel the need...

As for the PSU, well I still feel 1KW is much but seeing your setup, the 1KW is a safer option...
And the PCP &S by Johnny is a very good option...If you want a modular, then the Corsiar 1000HX would be a good option...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

But spending about $450 for a mobo + CPU, I would suggest you look into the i7 also...As an i7 setup would cost you about 70 to 80$ more...
But seeing the overclocking potential of the PII X4 955, you could very well stick to that...

 

[vortexprog]

Sounds like a great system there, but completely overkill for the resolutions you will be gaming at, you dont need two 4870x2 cards to game at 1600 x 1200, one will suffice, then you can drop down to a good 80+ certified 650w Psu

Sorry, I will have a different company monitor and be using it at a much higher resolution, that was just what I have it at now for use.

So you suggest 2 4890s rather than 2 4870X2s? One reason I would like to stick AMD/ATI is that I have a large discount for the products from the company direct, so those parts will definetally cost me less.

 

[Helloworld_98]

well dual 4890's will scale better but if you wanted to go with trifire 4870's then the Gigabyte one might be a good idea since it has displayport out which most top-end monitors use and future screens.

also a lot of motherboards nowadays use EPS12V or 8 pin so make sure you get a PSU with an 8 pin CPU power connector.

 

[vortexprog]

Thanks for the help guys. I fyou think that a new nVidia card in SLI will outperform the 4890, I am totally open, as I am still deciding on exactly which CPU (and therefore mobo) I will get. I am going to spend at least a full day with a buddy of mine so we can find the right one.