Need help choosing a PSU for future building

[Felandro]

Current build: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/BbqwXL

I was considering upping the power supply to plan for the future when the graphics get a bit more intense I figured I could add another 290 for crossfire since it would be a lot cheaper. I was considering getting an 850W SeaSonic X-850 but the wattage according to different websites is different for the 290. According to part picker it's 704W for 2 290s which makes 150W for head room fine. According to hwcompare though it puts the 290 at 300W making it 800W total and only 50W of headroom. Should I just spend the money and get a 1000W XFX or seasonic PSU. I have had a PSU blow on me before and I really can't afford to have one fry my system. I don't know how much wattage is enough or which websites are the most accurate.

 

[Archaic59]

A pair of 290's will use a lot of power and good power supplies don't come cheap:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/antec-power-supply-hcp1000%2Cevga-power-supply-120g21000xr%2Cxfx-power-supply-p11000belx/

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The recommended PSU for two 970s (165) is 750 watts .... the 290s (265) draw an extra 100 watts per card.

PCpartpicker is off on lotta things.... it indicates RAM problems when there is none, doesn't include many vendors, gives wrong priced (MSI 970 is $320 on newegg not $340)

Here I got 875 watts w/ a 4690k OC'd to 4.5 at 1.35v, (4) 120mm fans / (2) 140mm and 30% capacitor aging on a CX PSU (might be higher) without any OC on the GFX cards.

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Adding in GFX OC = 265 x 2 cards x 10% = 53 watts for GFX OC so 928 watts

An 850 will work if you go easy on the OCs and get a high quality unit. With 15% capacitor aging, you're at 780 + 53 = 833 watts

I'd look at a Seasonic X Series, EVGA G2

Considering that the 1050 GS is just $10 more than the 850, that looks like a winner.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/antec-power-supply-hcg900%2Cevga-power-supply-220g20850xr%2Cevga-power-supply-220gs1050v1%2Cseasonic-power-supply-x850/

 

[geofelt]

A very good question.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Buy only a quality psu. The CX line is mediocre.
A tier 1 or 2 psu will deliver more than advertised power and do it continuously and at internal case temperatures.
The important thing is that it will have more protective circuitry to protect your parts from damage.
Here is a list of quality:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true
2. Buy the appropriate wattage.
It will run cooler, quieter, and more efficiently in the middle third of it's range.
I have no problem overprovisioning a PSU a bit. Say 20%.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.
Power requirements are mostly gated by the graphics cards. Here is a chart to help:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
The trend is to smaller and less power hungry circuits, so I would not expect any normal future card to need more than a 6 and a 8 pin connector. If you look at the charts, you will see that the Maxwell cards are much more power efficient compared to the R9 cards.

If you are planning on dual cards, you will need to add 200-300w to your requirements.
But there are some very strong cards our there today, and no doubt some upcoming will be stronger yet.
If you will be gaming on a single monitor, a single card will do the job. Triple monitor gaming is something else.

Seasonic X series is one of the best and I would not be uncomfortable with the X-850.
Even for dual GTX980 cards.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The 980 (171) draws 83 watts **less** than the 290x (254)....so if an 850 is appropriate for 980s.... need 166 watts more (1025) for 290s

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/nvidia_geforce_gtx_970_and_980_reference_review,7.html
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_review_benchmarks,10.html

 

[Felandro]

A very good question.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Buy only a quality psu. The CX line is mediocre.
A tier 1 or 2 psu will deliver more than advertised power and do it continuously and at internal case temperatures.
The important thing is that it will have more protective circuitry to protect your parts from damage.
Here is a list of quality:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true
2. Buy the appropriate wattage.
It will run cooler, quieter, and more efficiently in the middle third of it's range.
I have no problem overprovisioning a PSU a bit. Say 20%.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.
Power requirements are mostly gated by the graphics cards. Here is a chart to help:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
The trend is to smaller and less power hungry circuits, so I would not expect any normal future card to need more than a 6 and a 8 pin connector. If you look at the charts, you will see that the Maxwell cards are much more power efficient compared to the R9 cards.

If you are planning on dual cards, you will need to add 200-300w to your requirements.
But there are some very strong cards our there today, and no doubt some upcoming will be stronger yet.
If you will be gaming on a single monitor, a single card will do the job. Triple monitor gaming is something else.

Seasonic X series is one of the best and I would not be uncomfortable with the X-850.
Even for dual GTX980 cards.

I will most likely OC my CPU and I will be getting one card to start, another down the road when they are very cheap. The PSU I was not skimping on but the price difference between 850W high quality and 1000W is steep. The Seasonic X-850 was exactly what I was looking at getting if 850W is enough, there are so many different wattages I have seen from websites and I don't wanna have too little power.