How much Wattage of PSU Power do I Need?

[Techno-boy]

Hi, I only just wanna ask about how much wattage of PSU power do I need for this spec:

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E PRO (mainstream motherboard)
CPU: Intel Core i7 860 (high-end mainstream CPU)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Venomous X
RAM Memory: 4GB DDR3 Ram
Hard disk: Seagate SATA III HDD
PC Case: Thermaltake Armor + (with 6 fans)
Single Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5870 (or possibly Radeon HD 5890 in the future)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Pro
Speakers: Creative Gigaworks 550W
number of USB devices: about 3 or 4



I am currently interested with Enermax brand PSUs with 80+ Gold Energy Efficient Certified.

I was looking at something like Enermax Modu 87+ (500W/600W/800W)...

Many PSU Calculators said that I need about 350 Watts of PSU Power to get this system spec running but how much I can trust these PSU Calculators??? Are these PSU Calculators' results accurate or at least close to the correct results?

I used Enermax PSU Calculator Outervision and it said something like about 347W of power to run this spec I posted.

Should I go with a 500W PSU? Or should I go with something like 800W PSU or more?

PS: I might do Crossfire or SLI in the future so I think that it is better for me to get a PSU with a little bit more of extra Wattage of Power to be more sure/safer.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Techno-boy - I read that in the summary page of the Hardware Secrets review that I linked to. Here is a direct quote from Hardware Secrets:

"Compared to the other 80 Plus Gold that we’ve already reviewed, Seasonic X-Series 650 W, this new unit from Enermax achieved a little bit better efficiency under light load, while this model from Seasonic achieved a little bit better efficiency under full load."

Unfortunately they didn't provide any additional explanation in the summary so I had to go to the Hardware Secrets test results for each psu to see what they meant.

At 21.5% load the Enermax was determined to be operating at 90.0% efficiency.

At 21.8% load the Seasonic was determined to be operating at 88.3% efficiency.

At 100.7% load the Enermax was determined to be operating at 86.1% efficiency.

At 102.0% load the Seasonic was determined to be operating at 87.7% efficiency.

At the low end there is a 1.7% difference in efficiency. At the high end there is a 1.6% difference. I have no idea how to convert those specific results into dollars and cents on an electric bill for the typical user, the enthusiast, or the hardcore gamer.

I got curious and went over to jonnyguru.com for another look at their test results. Their results were a bit different.

At 20% load the Enermax was determined to be operating at 90.4% efficiency.

At 20% load the Seasonic was determined to be operating at 90.5% efficiency.

At 100% load the Enermax was determined to be operating at 87.2% efificency.

At 100% load the Seasonic was determined to be operating at 89.3% efficiency.

It is apparent that test results vary. That is to be expected. Perhaps one should look at the overall performance of both units. In that respect, jonnyguru.com provided significantly more information. The site tested the Seasonic and OCZ psu's before the Enermax unit. There were some comparisons and comments about that in the Enermax review:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=179

Seasonic is not an American company. Seasonic is a Taiwanese company. Headquarters are located in Shih-Lin, Taipei, Taiwan. The original factory is in Taiwan. A second factory is located in Dong Guan, China. Seasonic has a regional office in the USA and in the Netherlands to serve the North American and European markets.

 

[Techno-boy]

Techno-boy - I read that in the summary page of the Hardware Secrets review that I linked to. Here is a direct quote from Hardware Secrets:

"Compared to the other 80 Plus Gold that we’ve already reviewed, Seasonic X-Series 650 W, this new unit from Enermax achieved a little bit better efficiency under light load, while this model from Seasonic achieved a little bit better efficiency under full load."

That's exactly what I had read about 4 days ago but I did not remember the website precisely. Anyway, you got the article link. Thankyou.

I think that saving energy while light load or being idle is better than during full load because normally our computers do not run at full load except for when we do gaming or heavy multiple tasks.

However, Seasonic's value is cheaper on Newegg but I don't know if it would be the same in other places since I'm not in North America.

Seasonic is not an American company. Seasonic is a Taiwanese company. Headquarters are located in Shih-Lin, Taipei, Taiwan. The original factory is in Taiwan. A second factory is located in Dong Guan, China. Seasonic has a regional office in the USA and in the Netherlands to serve the North American and European markets.

Great! Now, I'm feeling more proud to be in Asia and acting like an Asian. 😀

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Speaking of Asia - Enermax only makes about 50% of the power supplies they market. The other 50% are made by other manufacturers in Asia. It was the same way with PC Power and Cooling. Their Silencer models were probably the best power supplies they ever offered. They were manufactured by Seasonic for PC Power and Cooling. No wonder they were excellent psu's.

The Seasonic X-650 Gold and the Enermax Modu87+ are brand new designs with some new components. jonnyguru.com very briefly mentioned the new components were identical. I wonder if Seasonic makes the MODU87+ for Enermax? That would explain the almost identical performance and noise reduction.

 

[Techno-boy]

The Seasonic X-650 Gold and the Enermax Modu87+ are brand new designs with some new components. jonnyguru.com very briefly mentioned the new components were identical. I wonder if Seasonic makes the MODU87+ for Enermax? That would explain the almost identical performance and noise reduction.

But they are competitors/rivals, why would Seasonic offer a secret answer to Enermax about how to gain 80+ Gold of Energy Efficiency??? That would sound just like NVIDIA is giving secret PhysX codes to the rival ATI/AMD or Intel is helping AMD to make Phenom III or something. Lol! 😀

Both sides wanted to offer the best solution for 80+ Gold of energy effiency by hitting over 90% of energy efficiency so I don't think that both sides would be giving their secret solution to each other unless if someone is paying for it because their solution could be proprietary. Anyway, it is possible that the last company to make 80+ Gold PSUs could open the rivals' PSU and see inside of it to learn about how they were made.

I remember that one time, Enermax did showed an image of the inner part of their Revolution 85+ PSU (if I'm correct) with one section being censored. The section that was censored could possibly be the solution to archieve the 80+ Silver of Energy Efficiency and that is what Enermax does not want to show to its rivals. 😱

 

[shrapnel_indie]

I've heard that PCP&C is actually owned by OCZ now, but still remains to be about the same quality as before, even though OCZ has released their own branded power supplies.

Price-point wise, Antec and Corsair seem to be real good, efficiency depends on who's design they use too.


Don't start with the cheaper in China propaganda. Labor wise it may be true, but unless you got someone standing over your Chinese "slave labor" demanding and enforcing QC, the defect rates go significantly up. the MBA types ignore this fact though and leave it in the warranty coverage costs. (I'm going to stop here as the discussion of this is OT in this specific forum.)

 

[OvrClkr]

personally I think OCZ sucks in General, I have had many customers complain about their ram and PSU's....

 

[Techno-boy]

I've heard that PCP&C is actually owned by OCZ now, but still remains to be about the same quality as before, even though OCZ has released their own branded power supplies.

Price-point wise, Antec and Corsair seem to be real good, efficiency depends on who's design they use too.


Don't start with the cheaper in China propaganda. Labor wise it may be true, but unless you got someone standing over your Chinese "slave labor" demanding and enforcing QC, the defect rates go significantly up. the MBA types ignore this fact though and leave it in the warranty coverage costs. (I'm going to stop here as the discussion of this is OT in this specific forum.)

Supporting the Chinese regime's cheaper products is as bad as supporting American Arrogant Imperialism.

Anyway, most high-tech products are not Chinese but they are Taiwanese products so there is no problem.

Look at wikipedia for company's profile information before you buy. Enermax is Taiwanese. I just hope that Enermax isn't hiring any Chinese slaves in China or something... 😀

Save Democratic Taiwan and its independence! 😀

Enough with Politics...

 

[JohnnyLucky]

OCZ did in fact acquire PC Power & Cooling. However, they operate as two separate companies. Neither one makes their own power supplies. Other companies make them. Both brands are inconsistent in their quality. PC Power & Cooling's Silencer series were the best power supplies they ever had. It's no wonder. The Silencer models were manufactured by Seasonic.