Couple Year Old Enermax EG465P-VE good enough?

[jerems]

Hi,

New to the forums, not new to Toms Hardware, been an avid reader for some time.

Anyways I have a question about the new computer I have recently purchased. (haven't received all the goodies yet to put it all together) :lol:

My question is I have a Enermax EG465P-VE 465W PSU that I have had for a couple years now, it's worked amazing in my OC'ed Thunderbird system, I was just wondering if anyone would know if it's going to have enough juice to handle the new system which is:

AMD Athlon X2 4400+ (which will be OC'ed in the near future)
Asus A8R32-MVP
Zalman CNPS9500 LED
2GB OCZ XTC PC4000 DDR (gold edition) (will also be OC'ed)
ATI x1800 XT PCI-E 512 MB (not Crossfire...yet)
1 x (probably be 2 in the future) Seagate 300GB 16MB cache SATA II HDD
1 x Pioneer DVD Writer
1 x Yamaha CD Writer
1 x floppy
1 x 56K modem (I know 8O 56K, I can't get high-speed in the country )
About 5 various USB things connected at any given time (Game Controller, Ipod, PDA, Printer, Etc. which most are connected through an externally powered hub)
and 3 extra 80 mm fans that came with my CoolerMaster WaveMaster Case

I think that's everything, used those sites in the topic that was a sticky topic at the top of the forum and it came in around 396 on the one to about 450 on the other, just wanted some input and advice from some of the experts in these forums

Thanks for all input,

Jeremy

 

[sojrner]

I will assume that you are using the term "experts" loosely here... plus I am bored and ready to go to bed but don't want to yet, so I will contribute what I know:

Your system will be well served by that enermax. I have one that is 3 years old (450w, dont have model offhand) and running an athlonXP 2700, 9700proAIW, 3 hard drives (WD 250, 120 and Maxtor 120) 2 opticals, gig 'o ram, audigy sound, a few peripherials on usb/firewire etc... never failed yet.

My current system is 450w antec.

While a xfire/sli system does eat power, most other systems do not need more than 450 watts. In fact I have seen those small ff systems running similar systems to yours and mine w/ 300w ps! anything more than that just gives you headroom and longevity.

Use it and enjoy. Just know that once you go xfire you may need a better one suited for dual cards. not necessarily MORE power, but more efficient and made w/ sli in mind (more connectors, proper power rails to the cards)

just b/c a ps says "600 WATTS!!!" does not mean you are getting it. Enermax, antec, and others are top-end companies that perform well and outperform most budget supplies. I would take an old 465w enermax over a new 600w "compu-watt-giver-thing" anyday.

JMO of course, and nothing but my 2 bits.

 

[jerems]

Thanks for the input,

I think i'm just going to wait for the computer and see what happens with the Enermax, and yes if i did buy another one it would be an Enermax or something to that standard of quality.

 

[pengwin]

yah tha tshould be fine but if ur gonna massively OC or go dual GPU, get an OCZ Powerstream 520, best powersupply for the money

 

[MrCommunistGen]

It should do fine as long as your 12v rails have a decent bit of the total amperage going to them rather than beefy 5v or 3.3v and a weak 12v. Of course if (when?) you go crossfire you'll need a new PSU.

-mcg

 

[jerems]

It has 20A on the +12V / 44A on the +5V and 38A on the 3.3V.

 

[Smoke20]

Having experienced the power-hungriness of an ATI card, I would say it's highly doubtful. You should look for ~30A on the 12V rail for that system.

 

[jerems]

CRAP haha well i guess i have to start looking for a new PSU :? , i think i will try out the Enermax first and see what happens.

Any indications i should look for that would tell me that it's too little power for the system?

Thanks for the input though

 

[pengwin]

u want 2 12v rails each with atleast 18 A and together with atleast 32 or look for tri rail PSU's and even quad rail, the OCZ Powerstream is really nice, take a look at the antec NeoHE series too

 

[Rugger]

Even thought that particular PSU is heavy on the 3.3V/5V rails and a little lgiht on the 12V rail I agree that you should still try it in your rig. At stock speeds I would be surprised if it did not run your system smoothly. Install it and run a stress test while logging voltages. If your voltages don't show high fluctuations and stay within 5% of rated voltages, then it can run your system. Another simple test; open the side of the case, insert a CD/DVD into one of your drives. If you hear the fan RPM fall, then your PSU is really having a hard time meeting the power requirements of your rig and should be replaced.

 

[jerems]

Great, Thanks for the tips and recommendations, I'll have to see how it runs with my Enermax then judge from there if I need a new one.

I found a OZC Powerstream for a pretty good price at NCIX (145 CAD) for the 520W SLI, so if my doesn't workout I might get that, still looking at reviews of other ones too though.

Thanks

 

[Rugger]

NP - Let us know what happens with EG465. If it gets to the point that you need to replace it, then let us know what your PSU options are or the site at which you will be purchasing the PSU and we can make some recommendations.

 

[jerems]

Alright well, I haven't been able to try the computer yet (shipping mix up, some of the parts won't be here till Tuesday now :twisted: ) but I’ve been looking into a couple PSU's that I might be considering as a replacement for my enermax,

The two that I’ve been looking into the most are:

Enermax Liberty 500W ($125 CAN avg price before taxes)
OCZ Powerstream 520W SLI ($145 CAN Before Taxes)
OCZ Powerstream 600W SLI(only listing this b/c I can get it for 170 cash CAN /REG. 229 or so before taxes)

Now I’ve read couple different reviews on the Liberty:

www.silentpcreview.com/article279-page1.html
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/303/1
http://www.insanetek.com/review.php?id=157&page=1
http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/review.php?item=enermaxliberty&file=1

They all seem to speak pretty highly of the PSU and the voltages seem to rock solid during idle and under full load. It has the 2 12V rails at 22A each, now the one review says it's actually 32A total not 44A. Although the enermax site says nothing about warranty, one review said it's 3 year.

For the powerstream I couldn't really find any to do with the SLI version, I found a couple on the 520 w/o SLI though:

http://www.hardwaremods.com/reviews/psu/ocz-powerstream/520W-review.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/151/1/
http://www.overclock.net/hardware-reviews/36880-ocz-powerstream-520-review.html
http://www.cooltechzone.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&Itemid=449&id=576&limit=1&limitstart=0&query=&source=searchbox&frmtrk=affiliate&kbid=1557&img=%3Fimg%3D67%26kbid%3D1557&version=Eng150x150051108

And again, everyone loves this one too :? ....it does have a 5 year warranty, 3 years for hot swap program or whatever.

What do you guys think, I guess I have a soft spot for the Enermax name since it's preformed perfectly for me in the past and I know is a good name in the PSU business, but I’m looking for the best bang for the buck I guess, any suggestions would be great.

I pretty sure I can get the PS 600W SLI for 170 CASH should I just go to that b/c it's an awesome price for that model? I'm pretty sure I will never need 600W in my new system.

I will still most likely try the old PSU first in the new machine but when I go to OC, which won't take long, I would like to know which one to buy now so I don’t' have to go through all this when I realize my old one is not up to the challenge.

Thanks a lot guys you've been a big help so far.

Jeremy

 

[jerems]

Bump!

 

[Rugger]

I'd go for the least expensive of the ones you listed or for the PSU that you have confidence in. There's nothing like the peace of mind that comes from having a high-quality PSU in your rig, especially from a mfr who has earned your confidence. I don't think you need the 600W PSUs, but that depends on how far you want to OC and whether or not you will be OCing the GPUs as well as CPU....

 

[jerems]

Well i'm assuming I will be over clocking the GPU as well once i get some better cooling for it, the X1800 XT seems to have some good overclocking abilities, i'll probably hold off on cross fire for a while though. I still dont' see it needing 600W.

Thanks