PSU recommendations wanted

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee, Devonavar

Post Reply
Jatismara
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:46 pm

PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Jatismara » Sat Jul 13, 2013 1:22 pm

I'm nearing completion of parts-list for my upcoming build, and ran the tentative list through couple of power supply calculators, which came up with 650w & 675w. I'd like to get PSU slightly stronger-say in the 700w to 750w range. I'm thinking of the Corsair TX750 (750w) model, but would like to hear opinions or other recommendations. I would like PSU that is as quiet as possible, but I don't want to mess with it alot (change its fans, fool with BIOS mods, etc.). Suggestions?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Abula » Sat Jul 13, 2013 1:38 pm

Would be best for you list all the components, a lot of the online calculators tend to overvalue a lot, unless you are doing heavy overclocking and mulitple gpus you should be fine with 500W or even less (depending on the components).

Personally i wouldnt go with Corsair TX series if your goal is a quiet setup, the TX series are more mid end value oriented PSU, if you have a little higher budget i would go with either of the following,

KINGWIN LZP-750
CORSAIR AX760
SeaSonic SS-750KM3
Seasonic SS-760XP2
Last edited by Abula on Sun Jul 14, 2013 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Jul 13, 2013 6:05 pm

Abula wrote:Would be best for you list all the components, a lot of the online calculators tend to overvalue a lot,
+1

Jatismara
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:46 pm

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Jatismara » Sun Jul 14, 2013 1:31 pm

Abula wrote:Would be best for you list all the components, a lot of the online calculators tend to overvalue a lot, unless you are doing heavy overclocking and mulitple gpus you should be fine with 500W or even less (depending on the components).

Personally i wouldnt go with Corsair TX series if your goal is a quiet setup, the TX series are more mid end value oriented PSU, if you have a little higher budget i would go with either of the following,

KINGWIN LZP-750
CORSAIR AX760
SeaSonic SS-750KM3
Seasonic SS-760XP
Thanks for actually recommending specific brands/model numbers I can research! I had been holding off on giving parts-list of my custom build until I can fill in the holes (several components not yet researched), and check for errors (already today found couple), but will try to have it ready for next post. Should I put the parts-list here, or under different topic? I'll look into the models you suggested, and comment next time. Thanks again!

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Jul 14, 2013 1:37 pm

Probably better to stick with a single thread.

Jatismara
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:46 pm

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Jatismara » Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:51 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Probably better to stick with a single thread.
Please note this parts-list is tentative. I'm still trying to iron out the wrinkles, trim the fat, make sure there are no incompatibilities, and ensure this build will run all (or most) of the legacy distro releases I want to test drive.


*CPU-
Phenom II X6 1055T (95W)

MOTHERBOARD- in order of preference:
GA-MA770-UD3
GA-MA770T-UD3
GA-770T-UD3P
GA-770TA-UD3
GA-770T-USB3

MEMORY- Depends on board chosen, but I want the high end sort, and to fill all DIMM sockets...if anyone wants to recommend memory modules for the five boards above, please do!

NIC CARD- in order of preference:
DGE-528T
Intel EXPI9301CTBLK PRO/1000
Netgear GA302T
Startech ST1000BT32

*SOUND CARD-
Asus Xonar D2

*GRAPHICS CARD-
Either Geforce 6800GS or 6800GT (PCIe x16, 256 to 512MB)

VIDEO CAPTURE CARD- Must include 'framegrabber' function.
No idea! Suggestions welcomed for PCI or PCIe card type.

SATA DVD (3Gb/s) BURNER- I'm considering Plextor PX-880SA, but welcome suggestions, just no Sony brand.

SATA HARD DISC DRIVE- SATA 3Gb/s & 750GB required. Maybe:
WD7500AVCS
WD 7500AAKS-OOBA0

SATA HDD MOBILE RACKS- Maybe:
Kingwin KF-201-DF
" KF-1000-BK
SNT-SAS136B
Vantec MRK-300ST-BK
iStarUSA T5F-SS
iRack MRA300

5.25" BAY DEVICE-
Lian Li BZ-UO1

EXTERNAL HDD DOCKING STATION- For making backups. Prefer eSATA or firewire
Orico 6618SUS-BK
Rosewill RX-DUS100

FLOPPY DRIVE- For internal floppy drive connector.
Bytecc BT-145
NEC FD1231

PCI/PCIe EXPANSION CARDS- Depends on motherboard chosen, and which chips Linux rejects, but will likely need at least eSATA and Firewire cards that work with Linux:
Syba SD-SA2PEX-2E
Startech PEX1394B3 Firewire PCIE Card

LCD MONITOR- Require 1024x768. No touchscreen.
ViewEra V151HV-

WIRED ROUTER- Require NAT & SPI;gigabit WAN.
TP Link TL-R600VPN
Netgear FVS336G
Trendnet TWG-BRF114
Cisco Linksys RVS-4000

UPS- It must cover minimum 675W, and have quiet operation.
Cyberpower CP1350PFCLCD
APC BR1500 LCD

MEMORY CARD READER-
Plugable Technologies Plugable 2.0

SCANNER-
Canon Canoscan LIDE 30

COLOR INKJET PRINTER- Require each color to have separately replaceable ink cartridge; above average color graphics & photo print quality, & easy Linux setup. Much prefer single-function printers.
HP Officejet Pro 800 Enterprise
" " 6000 Wireless Printer
Epson WF7010

MONOCHROME LASER PRINTER- Require double sided printing (auto-duplex), use reasonably priced toner, have above average text print quality. Single-function printers much preferred.
Brother HL-2040
" HL-5370DW
Dell 2350D
" 3330DN
HP Laserjet Pro 400 M401DN
" " " " M401DNE
" " " P1606DN
Xerox Phaser 3250


* These components are already decided on, so its very unlikely I'll change them.

Pappnaas
Posts: 726
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 11:23 am
Location: Germany

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Pappnaas » Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:47 pm

Planing a new system and not including any SSD is a waste of money imho.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Abula » Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:31 pm

Wondering why AMD? i mean you could build a workstation that will wreck AMD CPU and will come with very good included network nics and have support for other OS, a board like SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SAE-O + Intel Intel Xeon E3-1225V3 ($60 saving as combo), the mobo already comes with Intel I210-AT and Intel I217-LM lans. Are you reusing those gpus or are really needed for your linux proyects? there are much more efficient cards today. There are Xeons that will also come with iGPUs like Intel Intel Xeon E3-1225V3, i bet other models will be released in the short run. In my experience i coudlnt use a iGPU, i had to use the novoton integrated on the motherboard, but i believe this gen of supermicro can use them (but crosscheck it).

On the UPS both brands are really good, APC been the leader of market on UPS, best quality and perfromance, i have 3 APC (smallers than the one you want) and been perfect. But for PC and server im using Cyberpower 1500VA, no issues, really recommeneded for the price imo it beats APC, and in my case totally silent as long as there is no interruptions on the power.

On the PSU, i think you could do fine with SeaSonic X Series X650, its cheap and should be passive at idle and still quiet at load. Another PSU that might be worth considering, but was just release so no reviews that i seen is the new RM series that will replace the TX series, but better as it will be semi passive, gold rated and a little cheaper, Corsair RM Series 750 Watt ATX/EPS 80PLUS Gold-Certified Power Supply - CP-9020055-NA RM750, its being marketed as a silent psu, but no real reviews to back this up.

Jatismara
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:46 pm

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Jatismara » Sun Oct 27, 2013 2:42 pm

Abula wrote:Wondering why AMD? i mean you could build a workstation that will wreck AMD CPU and will come with very good included network nics and have support for other OS, a board like SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SAE-O + Intel Intel Xeon E3-1225V3 ($60 saving as combo), the mobo already comes with Intel I210-AT and Intel I217-LM lans. Are you reusing those gpus or are really needed for your linux proyects? there are much more efficient cards today. There are Xeons that will also come with iGPUs like Intel Intel Xeon E3-1225V3, i bet other models will be released in the short run. In my experience i coudlnt use a iGPU, i had to use the novoton integrated on the motherboard, but i believe this gen of supermicro can use them (but crosscheck it).

On the UPS both brands are really good, APC been the leader of market on UPS, best quality and perfromance, i have 3 APC (smallers than the one you want) and been perfect. But for PC and server im using Cyberpower 1500VA, no issues, really recommeneded for the price imo it beats APC, and in my case totally silent as long as there is no interruptions on the power.

On the PSU, i think you could do fine with SeaSonic X Series X650, its cheap and should be passive at idle and still quiet at load. Another PSU that might be worth considering, but was just release so no reviews that i seen is the new RM series that will replace the TX series, but better as it will be semi passive, gold rated and a little cheaper, Corsair RM Series 750 Watt ATX/EPS 80PLUS Gold-Certified Power Supply - CP-9020055-NA RM750, its being marketed as a silent psu, but no real reviews to back this up.
Thanks for the advice. Do you know of any 600 watt PSU that is platinum grade and quiet? Been thinking I could get by with PSU under 650 watt, but don't want to go under 600.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by Abula » Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:09 pm

Jatismara wrote:Thanks for the advice. Do you know of any 600 watt PSU that is platinum grade and quiet? Been thinking I could get by with PSU under 650 watt, but don't want to go under 600.
Exactly 600W, i havent seen, more comon is the 550 or 650, here some options,
Seasonic SS-660XP2
KINGWIN LZP-650
KINGWIN LZP-550 (another link that has available LZP-550) Reviewed by SPCR and got the editors choice, Kingwin Lazer Platinum 550W Power Supply.

If you dont want to spend that much, and willing to go with gold, then look into,
SeaSonic X Series X650 also reviewed by SPCR and got the editors choice, X-650: Seasonic hits Gold
CORSAIR RM Series RM650

The X-650 has been out for a long time now, and goes on sale a lot, sometimes around $100 and its a really nice PSU, i have the next iteration of it X660 (now discontinued in favor of the platinum version) and been great, but they kept making this model and been very popular. Worth mentioning that some people have experience coil whine on seasonic PSUs, i own two and i have 0 problems, no noise or while or coil at all, dead silent in my two PCs, but this is the primary marketing of the new corsairs, and i have read very little issues on coil or whining on kingwins, i still think its a combination of hardware and settings not alone the psu, but im just warning you in case you expecting a dead silent psu and when you get it it has it.

Good luck with your choice,

lodestar
Posts: 1683
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:29 am
Location: UK

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by lodestar » Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:33 pm

Abula wrote:Exactly 600W, i havent seen...
There are at least two 600w Platinum PSUs, the Enermax Platimax 600w and the Fractal Design Newton R3 600w.

The Platimax 600w has been reviewed by SPCR.

The Newton R3 is well priced for a semi-passive Platinum unit at this capacity level - there is a UK video overview of the R3 600 here.

ggumdol
Posts: 154
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:01 pm
Location: Scandinavia

Re: PSU recommendations wanted

Post by ggumdol » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:57 pm

Abula wrote:The X-650 has been out for a long time now, and goes on sale a lot, sometimes around $100 and its a really nice PSU, i have the next iteration of it X660 (now discontinued in favor of the platinum version) and been great, but they kept making this model and been very popular. Worth mentioning that some people have experience coil whine on seasonic PSUs, i own two and i have 0 problems, no noise or while or coil at all, dead silent in my two PCs, but this is the primary marketing of the new corsairs, and i have read very little issues on coil or whining on kingwins, i still think its a combination of hardware and settings not alone the psu, but im just warning you in case you expecting a dead silent psu and when you get it it has it.
I have used Seasonic SS-400FL2 (Platinum Fanless) in three different rigs, (i) P67 Board with i3-2100, (ii) B75 Board with i3-2100, and (iii) B85 Board with i5-4430. All the motherboards were made by Asrock. The PSU whined and produced quite noticeable electrical noises in all the three configurations. I would not say that it cannot be tolerated. In case you spend much time in reading difficult documents straining your brain on the computer, it can surely distract your concentration. Corsair RM650 has been dead silent and is certainly a safer bet.

I have this theory that PSUs need to be tested in the long run, at least over 3~5 years' time span as it seems like their sound characteristics deteriorate over time presumably due to the aging of the main components such as capacitors and transformers (I did not major in electrical circuits). As far as my experiece goes, when I purchased SS-400FL2, it was a bit quieter than now.

Post Reply