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broken76
Joined: 27 Jan 2008
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 Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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You don't need to get an expensive PSU if you have a low end system or if you're not stressing it. Getting a good PSU is definitely playing it safe since it is the first step for electricity to be flowing into your computer. A PSU screwup could lead to your entire system getting fried.
The Zalman is definitely a good PSU and if you're thinking about bumping the graphics card to the ATI 48xx while running a quad core I would recommend it as well.
Another thing about a good PSU is that it saves you on your electricity bill in the long run especially if you're the type to keep the computer up and running 24/7. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| broken76 wrote: |
You don't need to get an expensive PSU if you have a low end system or if you're not stressing it. Getting a good PSU is definitely playing it safe since it is the first step for electricity to be flowing into your computer. A PSU screwup could lead to your entire system getting fried.
The Zalman is definitely a good PSU and if you're thinking about bumping the graphics card to the ATI 48xx while running a quad core I would recommend it as well.
Another thing about a good PSU is that it saves you on your electricity bill in the long run especially if you're the type to keep the computer up and running 24/7. |
That's how I see it. I could run my system on a 450w PSU, but it would be pushing it. With the Zalman 600w I can be sure that, no matter how much I push my CPU (overclocked) and my GPU (HD4870, overclocked too  ) I can feel confident that I won't get a brown out.
Would you feel better flying down the expressway at 90mph in a car with a 1000cc engine? Or a 3000cc engine? The small engine will be screaming and hot. The 3000cc engine will be barely ticking over and cool. |
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chevro1et
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Location: Busan, ROK
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:35 am Post subject: |
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| I'm totally with eamo on this, the PSU is the heart of your system. You spend 100 000's of won on the other components, but skimp on the PSU? Doesn't make sense. |
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JustJohn
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Location: Your computer screen
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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What you guys seem to be missing is that "don't skimp" on the PSU doesn't mean "go way overboard." I just build a e8400/4850 rig and after doing some calculations found that it would need around 350w to run. A quad core 4870 is still going to typically draw under 400 unless it has a bunch of extra drives or something.
I've said it once and I'll say it again: get a quality (zalman if you like) 450w. You'll save a decent chunk on the price and still have nothing to worry about.
I would avoid a generic PSU unless you know what to look for well enough to check all the numbers though. |
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chevro1et
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Location: Busan, ROK
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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Here is a link from a hardware review site that I totally trust, these guys know what they are talking about:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-hd-4850-iceq4-turbox-review/4
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Power consumption
It's time to do some actual testing with these cards. We'll start off by showing you some tests we have done on overall power consumption of the PC. Looking at it from a performance versus wattage point of view, the power consumption is really good with the new 55nm products. Our single card test system is a Core 2 Duo E8400 (3GHz) Processor, the nForce 680i SLI mainboard, a passive water-cooling solution on the CPU, 2GB memory, DVD-ROM and WD Raptor drive. Have a look:
Videocard Radeon HD 4850 512MB
Desktop IDLE 150 Watt
GPU 100% load 266 Watt
A single Radeon HD 4850/4870 series requires you to have a 450-500 Watt power supply unit at minimum if you use it in a high-end system, and I think that's barely on the safe side. Also recommended is 32 AMP's on the 12 volts rails for stable power distribution (in a single card configuration).
Crossfire is something else, you add another 130-150 Watts plus 8 AMPs on the 12V rails during gaming. I recommend a PSU of, at the very least, 750-800 Watts. Make sure you have some reserves folks. It's not that your PC will consume that much power, it's just that you want to make sure your PSU can deal with the hefty load and will stay stable during you entire gaming experience. |
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