PSU tier list 2.0

[MasterMace]

regarding 3+ 10 series Nvidias, and the lack of true SLI support, does EMA support 3+ cards? Because if it does, i'm totally fine with Nvidia only running true 2 way SLI. I'd like to see rigs out there with 2 GTX and 2 Radeons at the high end

(EMA = Explicit Multi Adapter from DX12)

 

[MasterMace]

Back on topic, I enjoy seeing these new PSU's come out now that I've got an ace.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

regarding 3+ 10 series Nvidias, and the lack of true SLI support, does EMA support 3+ cards? Because if it does, i'm totally fine with Nvidia only running true 2 way SLI. I'd like to see rigs out there with 2 GTX and 2 Radeons at the high end

(EMA = Explicit Multi Adapter from DX12)

Hey yo, wrong thread oopsie I suppose?

 

[010TheMaster010]

FSP Aurum Pro 1Kw, opinions?

It was a decent unit. It was usually overpriced if I remember correctly.

Thinking of grabbing one
$120 CAD

Spoiler

https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rch/sop/5580331209.html

 

[CTurbo]

$120 CAD is a decent price if it really it is "almost new"


Are you SURE you need a 1000w unit though?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Did you guys know the latest ATX specification is "classified" and not published to the public? That's what Aris (Tomshardware PSU reviewer) told me.

I'm not sure I'd call it 'classified' - the intel link results in an internal server error. It's not posted on form-factors.org, though, where the other ones are.

There's a copy on scribd, but I haven't looked through it to see what's changed.

 

[010TheMaster010]

$120 CAD is a decent price if it really it is "almost new"


Are you SURE you need a 1000w unit though?

Oh no don't get me wrong I don't... I was planning on a 650GQ to match the one I got my girlfriend (it was on sale and came to $111 at time of purchase). But I've had this PoS power supply (don't even know how it's survived this long, pretty sure it's been the cause of many problems though.. I've always worried if it screwed up my GPU, seeing as how sometimes stock clocks(manufacturer OC) can't reliably run anymore) in my machine for so long and it's been begging to explode(I was new and didn't know the importance of a good PSU and am so surprised and glad all the actual good expensive stuff I have isn't dead) and I figured the Aurum could last me a while, and last through a CF setup if I wanted.

 

[CompGee]

Can we add Ark to this list as a Tier 6(throw away ASAP if had/do not recommend) unit? My mom has one of these installed and I'm wanting that thing outta there. Not worth $35.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

What makes it worse than any other tier 5 unit?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Hey guys we finally have our well-priced quality 450W unit we've all been wanting https://www.amazon.com/FSP-Certified-CrossFire-Skylake-HGX450/dp/B01F5LX0WI

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Cut the price in half and it'd be worth recommending.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Cut the price in half and it'd be worth recommending.

Not at all for the quality you get. One of the quietest units.

 

[Karadjgne]

Well priced? I'd rather pick up a seasonic unit, or even an evga G for @$10 less, even if they are 520-550w. If that 450 was priced around the same as a CX 430, it'd definitly be worth serious consideration.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Well priced? I'd rather pick up a seasonic unit, or even an evga G for @$10 less, even if they are 520-550w. If that 450 was priced around the same as a CX 430, it'd definitly be worth serious consideration.

But it's far better than a CX 430, so why would you expect it to be priced the same?

 

[Karadjgne]

Consider what it's going to power. A 450w psu is for an average system with a gpu like a gtx750ti or gtx950. It'll nit really see any heavy gaming use such as that capable by a system toting a 970 or r9 380 and up. A 450w psu is more than capable of powering any home office, render station, minecraft server etc. Pcs of that average usage aren't really enthusiast class pcs. Even if you outfit a pc with the uber quality, high speeds everything, and make it an enthusiast class pc minus the jumbo gpu, you'd still not spend $75 on a 450w when for $65 you can get a 550w that's as good, if nit better and keep the option for an uber gpu open. At 450w, gpu choices are limited.

Why buy a filet minion, when for less you can get a T-bone, which is nothing more than a filet minion on one side and a rib-eye on the other.

$75 is too high a price point for a psu with limited options.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Consider what it's going to power. A 450w psu is for an average system with a gpu like a gtx750ti or gtx950. It'll nit really see any heavy gaming use such as that capable by a system toting a 970 or r9 380 and up. A 450w psu is more than capable of powering any home office, render station, minecraft server etc. Pcs of that average usage aren't really enthusiast class pcs. Even if you outfit a pc with the uber quality, high speeds everything, and make it an enthusiast class pc minus the jumbo gpu, you'd still not spend $75 on a 450w when for $65 you can get a 550w that's as good, if nit better and keep the option for an uber gpu open. At 450w, gpu choices are limited.

Why buy a filet minion, when for less you can get a T-bone, which is nothing more than a filet minion on one side and a rib-eye on the other.

$75 is too high a price point for a psu with limited options.

A system today with a single high-end GPU is about 300-350W under full load. Take the GTX 1080 for example, a machine with an Intel CPU and a GTX 1080 is looking somewhere around 325W under full throttle, less under gaming conditions even. I think it's silly to think a 450W unit only serves for budget gaming computers. The industry is moving away from the need for those high-end PSUs with high labelled wattage. Currently AMD's GPUs are the only reason necessary for those heftier units, soon to change, and any Nvidia GPU, a 450W unit is ideal. If you are overclocking the CPU out the wazoo as well as a 980Ti, then perhaps a quality 550W unit, but even then that may be overkill since our current high-end GPU is 225W when overclocked to 2100Mhz.

 

[Karadjgne]

I hope you aren't thinking TDP is wattage. My Asus strix 970 uses every bit of 225w by itself, not to mention a 3770k at 4.6GHz using @150w, and the rest of the system using @100w. You need to figure total power usage not TDP values. A 450w psu would choke on my system, which honestly isn't that extraordinary. For best efficiency a psu should be in the 50%-70% range and that's total efficiency including heat transference, output etc and usual gaming you can expect @ 350w, but over 400w isn't uncommon for my system. So I use an evga 550w G2. I wouldn't even consider a 450w, no matter it's quality, and I'd recommend against for any running a top end intel with a 970 or better. 550w minimum. Period.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I hope you aren't thinking TDP is wattage. My Asus strix 970 uses every bit of 225w by itself, not to mention a 3770k at 4.6GHz using @150w, and the rest of the system using @100w. You need to figure total power usage not TDP values. A 450w psu would choke on my system, which honestly isn't that extraordinary. For best efficiency a psu should be in the 50%-70% range and that's total efficiency including heat transference, output etc and usual gaming you can expect @ 350w, but over 400w isn't uncommon for my system. So I use an evga 550w G2. I wouldn't even consider a 450w, no matter it's quality, and I'd recommend against for any running a top end intel with a 970 or better. 550w minimum. Period.

The Tomshardware review of the 1080 has power consumption charts, that is what I go off of. Also, I mentioned overclocked CPUs. Overclocking can change things. Also, what do you have on the rest of your system that makes up 100W?

Anyway, agree to disagree.

 

[Karadjgne]

Hdd is 35w, optical is like 30w, then there's ram, motherboard wattage, usb keyboard and mouse and headphones, and that's not including the pcie x16, but there is use of a pcie x1. 5 fans for another 30w. 100w for a motherboard and peripherals is about average usage, some maybe more, some less. But consider this, my cpu is at 4.6 now, I can easily take it to 4.9, but a stock 4790k runs at 4.4-4.2 so while I have a decent OC, it's not far beyond normal, and that's only intel. Throw in a 2011 or fx cpu and watch the wattage climb easily.

You should never plan a psu around average values, always plan on total max possible, then add some for safety. A 225w gpu on a 450w psu is asking for trouble.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Hdd is 35w, optical is like 30w, then there's ram, motherboard wattage, usb keyboard and mouse and headphones, and that's not including the pcie x16, but there is use of a pcie x1. 5 fans for another 30w. 100w for a motherboard and peripherals is about average usage, some maybe more, some less. But consider this, my cpu is at 4.6 now, I can easily take it to 4.9, but a stock 4790k runs at 4.4-4.2 so while I have a decent OC, it's not far beyond normal, and that's only intel. Throw in a 2011 or fx cpu and watch the wattage climb easily.

Do you have actual numbers on that stuff? Aris' newest chart is completely contrary to what you say:

I've never heard of a modern day 35W hard drive. That would probably require actual cooling. Fans in general are only 2W. Optical drives about 10W. Also, if you are talking worse possible scenario, you can count the GTX 970s that have transient spikes into the 300W+ region. But those transients won't cause an issue since OCP trigger points are always higher than rated amperage, if they are even detected by OCP since OCP checks the outputs so many times per second.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Hdd is 35w, optical is like 30w, then there's ram, motherboard wattage, usb keyboard and mouse and headphones, and that's not including the pcie x16, but there is use of a pcie x1. 5 fans for another 30w. 100w for a motherboard and peripherals is about average usage, some maybe more, some less. But consider this, my cpu is at 4.6 now, I can easily take it to 4.9, but a stock 4790k runs at 4.4-4.2 so while I have a decent OC, it's not far beyond normal, and that's only intel. Throw in a 2011 or fx cpu and watch the wattage climb easily.

You should never plan a psu around average values, always plan on total max possible, then add some for safety. A 225w gpu on a 450w psu is asking for trouble.

Whew no. A 7200RPM "performance" HDD uses 7-9 watts at full load. Optical drive at full load is about 20 watts tops.

Not arguing with you about headroom though. I always want ~150-200 watts more than my system can use max.

 

[Karadjgne]

My formula is this.
Gpu connectors + pcie + 100w cpu + 100w mobo + 100w OC. For amd add 50w. So my 970 has 8pin 150w + 75w + 100w + 100w + 100w . Grand total is 525w, add 25 to make an even 550w, and that's what I run. For an fx cpu, you'd be looking at 600w, but those psus are a joke, so a 620/650w would be better. This'll put normal gaming in the 50% - 70% range, which is easiest, most efficient area for the psu. Dropping in a 450w would be seeing 80% or better average usage and 100% under some conditions. While a quality psu is built to handle that usage, I can't see a reason to choose that over more favorable options.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Let's think of a typical gaming system Let's say it has a GTX 970, an I5-6500, 1 HDD, 1SSD, 2 fans, and an H170 motherboard. I'd say under a maximum scenario it's about 300-325W. Intel's Skylake CPUs that aren't overclock are quite efficient. The GTX 970, let's say 200W for an overclocked one. Probably 275W with those two combined. A HDD and an SSD together ~13W maybe. The motherboard ~30W and the fans ~4W. So somewhere in the premises of 300-325W, a system with a non-overclocked Intel CPU and a GTX 970.

Then take into account different things. When you are gaming, it's doubtful the CPU is under actual full load. It is likely more around 50W at the time. With this, there is less load on the motherboard. The GPU, when gaming, depending on the game, might not really be working 100%. it really depends on the game. The GTX 970 that tested to be 200W in some games may be more like 150W in other games that run less hot instructions, for instance. In the end, under an actual gaming scenario, the computer comes out to be about 230-250W, even though maximum load is about 325W. Some games may tax the GPU a bit more and put it in the 275W vicinity while gaming, but 230-275W is precisely the ideal efficiency zone for a 450W unit.

I totally agree Karadjgne that an overclocked CPU changes the game, but that's more of a high-end user thing. A typical user does not overclock. But no motherboard is 100W Karadjgne. Anyway, I guess we all have our own methodology, and I respect that.

 

[Karadjgne]

The best noctua fans run 0.18A each, that's 3w. Corsair fans run closer to 6w each, a hdd is 35w. If you push my 970 to 99% (easy to do with MGS V) then that's 300w just for gpu. Forget averages. Count on any 970 pulling 300w and some are higher, the gigabyte can pull over 330w.

As I said, plan for maximums, not averages or could be's. Because sooner or later, that gpu will be pushed hard, that i5 will easily see heavy usage if my i7 can get to 55% usage in several older games.

And that 100w is for mobo + periphials, like fans, hdd etc.not just the mobo alone.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

The best noctua fans run 0.18A each, that's 3w. Corsair fans run closer to 6w each, a hdd is 35w. If you push my 970 to 99% (easy to do with MGS V) then that's 300w just for gpu. Forget averages. Count on any 970 pulling 300w and some are higher, the gigabyte can pull over 330w.

As I said, plan for maximums, not averages or could be's. Because sooner or later, that gpu will be pushed hard, that i5 will easily see heavy usage if my i7 can get to 55% usage in several older games.

Those "maximums" are very brief spikes that are absorbed by the PSU. They are not continuous and are not posing problems because of that.