Need suggestions for a 850w 80+ Gold power supply

[Joey249]

Power Supplies ive been looking at:

(Click the name to view the item)
#1: Corsair Professional Platinum Series HX850i, modular, 850W, 80+Platinum (€166)

#2: XFX Pro Series Full Modular Edition 80+Gold 850W ATX 2.3 (€144)

#3: NZXT Hale Power 90+ Gold V2 New Edition Modular Netzteil - 850 Watt (€185)

PC Specs:
*CPU* Intel Core i7-4790K - 315,58 €
*Motherboard* ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer - 116,54 €
*CPU Cooler* NOCTUA NH-U14S - 69,71 €
*Ram* 8GB(2x4) Corsair Vengeance Low Profile PC3-12800U CL9 - 74,03 €
*Case* NZXT Phantom 410 Medium Tower, ATX, - 111,91 €
*Cardreader* LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one, 3,5 - 3,99 €
*PSU* Corsair Professional Platinum Series HX850i, modular, 850W, 80+Platinum - 166,70 €
*GPU* 2x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, 4GB GDDR5 - 358,54 €
*HDD* Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB, SATA 6Gb/s - 50,16 €
*SSD* Crucial MX100 SSD 128GB (2,5", 7mm) - 59,99 €
*DVD Drive* Samsung SH-224DB - 11,96 €
*WiFi Adapter* ASUS PCE-N15 - 14,90 €

What are platinum PSU's? I know that gold PSU's usually means better performance and better on your electricity bill, is platinum pretty much the same thing just much better?

Im debating between these PSU's, please let me know what one you think I should go for and briefly why over the rest?

Thanks,
Joey

 

[Alpha3031]

the power efficency iof a psu probably won't determine much, even in the long run. i'll just go for the cheapest one that is high quality, in this case, the XFX. They are, however, all excellent PSUs

 

[Math Geek]

yah can't go wrong with any of those 3. the gold/platinum/bronze and such really make little difference. grab whichever one looks the best to you of those 3 and you'll be happy with it. they are all modular and quality psu's.

 

[jimthenagual]

Efficiency refers to how well the PSU pulls electricity from the wall without losing energy in the form of heat. So a gold system will waste less energy than a bronze one using the same amount of watts. The bronze will have to pull more from the wall in order to supply the same amount of electricity. However from what I have read, it would take years of running your system 24/7 full power in order to make back the money you would save in electricity bill in going with a Platinum over an 80+.

Also, it does not necessarily mean the gold is higher quality than the bronze. There are many examples of a gold PSU with low quality capacitors, and bronze with high end.

Of the ones you have selected, personally I'd go for the HXi, but that's just me. I like the best of the best and of the ones you have linked, it is according to Jonnyguru the best of the three. Jonnyguru is the authority in PSU testing. He puts the HXi in tier 2 of 9, and the XFX you are looking at in tier 3 of 9. The NZXT is tier 4. So it is close, but the HXi has a slight edge.

Most people however, would select the XFX as its price is much lower and the quality is only inches lower. And they'd be right, the XFX makes more sense. I just go for extremes in PSUs for myself.

 

[Joey249]

Efficiency refers to how well the PSU pulls electricity from the wall without losing energy in the form of heat. So a gold system will waste less energy than a bronze one using the same amount of watts. The bronze will have to pull more from the wall in order to supply the same amount of electricity. However from what I have read, it would take years of running your system 24/7 full power in order to make back the money you would save in electricity bill in going with a Platinum over an 80+.

Also, it does not necessarily mean the gold is higher quality than the bronze. There are many examples of a gold PSU with low quality capacitors, and bronze with high end.

Of the ones you have selected, personally I'd go for the HXi, but that's just me. I like the best of the best and of the ones you have linked, it is according to Jonnyguru the best of the three. Jonnyguru is the authority in PSU testing. He puts the HXi in tier 2 of 9, and the XFX you are looking at in tier 3 of 9. The NZXT is tier 4. So it is close, but the HXi has a slight edge.

Most people however, would select the XFX as its price is much lower and the quality is only inches lower. And they'd be right, the XFX makes more sense. I just go for extremes in PSUs for myself.

Thanks for the descriptive post I think ill go with the XFX so since im already over what I was hoping to spend.

I know this is off topic, but do you know of any good cases?
Would a full tower be a better option than getting the NZXT Phantom 410?

Hoping for around the €110 mark, doesn't need a window as I think where im going to be putting the PC, the window wouldn't really be visible, but sure if it has one all the better I guess
-Hoping for around €110 or less but €150 max.

 

[jimthenagual]

That one you are looking at is very popular for sure. For something else to think about, have you had a look at the corsair cases?

http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00I6BJ8MQ/?tag=pcp05-21

 

[Alpha3031]

Thanks for the descriptive post I think ill go with the XFX so since im already over what I was hoping to spend.

I know this is off topic, but do you know of any good cases?
Would a full tower be a better option than getting the NZXT Phantom 410?

Hoping for around the €110 mark, doesn't need a window as I think where im going to be putting the PC, the window wouldn't really be visible, but sure if it has one all the better I guess
-Hoping for around €110 or less but €150 max.

If you're over budget, you may want to consider downgrading to a 750W unit.

This PSU made by Super Flower is good quality (Tier 2A): Super Flower Golden Green HX 80 Plus Gold Netzteil - 750 Watt (€ 89,90)

Or, if you want to stay with a 850W PSU, I believe this is somewhat cheaper: XFX Pro Series Full Modular Edition (Gold) 850W ATX 2.3 (€ 144,69)

Another popular case is the Cooler Master HAF series: Cooler Master RC-932-KKN5 GP HAF Advanced full-tower PC case black

 

[Karadjgne]

80+ is not a standard, its an adopted rating system. The are some psu manufactures such as Seasonic and SuperFlower who are actually honest in those ratings, that being 80% efficient at 20/50/100% load at a power factor of 0.9 or greater. That said, there are also some manufacturers who are dishonest, and will throw on a '80+ gold' label just to make their psu sound better than the competition. And since it is a voluntary certification, its left up to the buyer to beware.

The shown difference in Bronze and Gold is only @2% more efficient, you'd save a lot more money turning off the 60w light bulb and playing in the dark. The real difference in honest bronze and gold is in the outputs. Gold units have a better, cleaner ripple after the Ac is converted to DC, but this will affect nothing more than extreme overclocks where a cleaner vroop leads to higher stability on a touchy OC.

For the majority of users, a quality honest bronze unit is more than sufficient, only those who are looking for very high OC will benefit from gold. Platinum is another step up, and even more stable ripple, Titanium being the highest, but really only for the smallest percentage of the extremists. Those guys who not only push the envelope to its bursting point, but also try and reinvent it.

The gtx970 is @150w card and will run all day on a quality 500+ Watt psu. For sli, you need nothing more than a quality 620w - 650w psu. The 850w is overkill by a long way and defeats the purpose of any 'gold' efficiency vrs bronze.

 

[Alpha3031]

^^Totally agree, but seeing as 80+ Gold is not too expensive (a few dollars more than a comparable Bronze unit). By the way, for the 620-650 W estimate, did you take into account possible OC and capacitor aging?

 

[Karadjgne]

Intel cpu + high oc = @200w roughly.
Fans, mobo, drives, basically everything else = @100w.
Gtx 970 = 150w
Total = @450w, if you run everything maxed at the same time, as in 100% load on cpu, gpu, fans 100%, all optical and hdd running top speed. Basically something which can never happen.

So a 500w pushing 450w system, still leaves room. Add 150w for sli and you are up to 600w. At maximum outputs, or more likely closer to 550w during heavy gaming with a high OC since even the most demanding games don't use 100% load on cpu unless the system is totally unbalanced, in which case the pentium/i3 running is only using 100w not 200w.

As far as cap aging, for a quality psu using Japanese 105° solid caps, you are looking 1-3% loss per year, or in 5 years maybe 10% total. If using a cheaply built psu with capxon caps, look at double that. It's also why those psus warranty is only 3 years. They expect failure, so you'll buy a new one, and chances are even though it's a different brand, its built by the same OEM manufacturer, so you pay them twice.

Since there is capacitance loss, and voltages will be constant, resistance will be constant, amperage draw from the wall will rise slightly due to loss in efficiency, or in other words, a new psu @83% efficiency after 5 years may be 80% efficient.

 

[Joey249]

Efficiency refers to how well the PSU pulls electricity from the wall without losing energy in the form of heat. So a gold system will waste less energy than a bronze one using the same amount of watts. The bronze will have to pull more from the wall in order to supply the same amount of electricity. However from what I have read, it would take years of running your system 24/7 full power in order to make back the money you would save in electricity bill in going with a Platinum over an 80+.

Also, it does not necessarily mean the gold is higher quality than the bronze. There are many examples of a gold PSU with low quality capacitors, and bronze with high end.

Of the ones you have selected, personally I'd go for the HXi, but that's just me. I like the best of the best and of the ones you have linked, it is according to Jonnyguru the best of the three. Jonnyguru is the authority in PSU testing. He puts the HXi in tier 2 of 9, and the XFX you are looking at in tier 3 of 9. The NZXT is tier 4. So it is close, but the HXi has a slight edge.

Most people however, would select the XFX as its price is much lower and the quality is only inches lower. And they'd be right, the XFX makes more sense. I just go for extremes in PSUs for myself.

Im reading people saying that 750 watts is loads for sli 970's, and ive just noticed you're running sli 970's with Corsair AX760. Do you think I should go with the same PSU? Or should I go for a different one? I looked it up and it seems it has a 10 year warranty so im guessing its a good quality PSU?

On hardwareversand its €150 so it is within my budget, but is there maybe a new PSU since you got the AX760 that you would now prefer to have gotten instead?

 

[jimthenagual]

The AX is one, if not the best 760W PSU. It's usually priced so out of reach that it doesn't make sense to buy, as there are other PSUs that come close in quality but typically are priced much better. I bought it when it was at a decent price. If it's at a good price for you right now, I'd highly recommend it. Great PSU.