I was gonna buy a 650W power supply from Corsair which I believed would suit my needs just fine, but then I started looking at the XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 which requires a 650W power supply, so I'm probably gonna end up with a 750W power supply from Corsair instead. The Corsair HX 750W PSU to be more precise, modular, 80 Plus Gold and all those kind of goodies.
I've also seen that many of the recent high-end graphics cards only require 500W, so I would assume that 750W would cover my future needs as well.
Appreciate your help essenbe, your post answered a lot for me, especially the whole GPU and PSU deal.
- Drops
The HX750 would be extremely excessive overkill. To power your system with one 7850 in it, all that is needed is a quality-made 400W power supply. Here's proof:
AMD Radeon HD 7850 and 7870 review - Hardware setup | Power consumption
With one 7850 under full load in their system, their PSU pulled 256W from the wall outlet. Their CPU was idling, so I have to add 150W for an overclocked 3570K at 5 GHz (I can prove it). So with the 7850 under full load at the same time as the overclocked 3570K, the PSU would then be pulling 406W from the wall outlet. This means that if the PSU is 85% efficient while pulling 406W from the wall outlet, then the system is pulling 345W from the PSU. This means a quality-made 400W power supply is way more than enough.
However, this is an unrealistic situation because to start with, this is a simultaneous maximum load between the 7850 and the 3570K. In addition to that, I'm talking about the 3570K being overclocked to 5 GHz which probably isn't going to happen on a board like the P8Z77-V LX. I'd expect about 4.5 to 4.7 GHz with that board. To top it all off, your actual gaming load would be closer to about 225 to 250W - maybe 275W. The 7850 does not pull that much power at all.
Finally, AMD recommends a 500W peak-rated power supply to power a system that has one 7850 in it:
AMD Radeon
Most 500W peak-rated PSUs have a continuous capacity that is closer to about 350 to 375W. I learned this during my 4+ years on Overclock.net (daily, 18+ hours per day - I know, I don't have a life). The kind of 400W power supplies I'm talking about are just as good as the HX750, and this means that the kind of 400W power supply I'm talking about can easily deliver 400W 24/7 if it were ever needed without breaking a sweat.
The HX750 can deliver 750W 24/7 without breaking a sweat, so it's a huge waste of money. As I said, if you never have more than one video card in your system, then a quality-made 450W power supply is all you'll ever need.
If you're worried about future upgrades, then don't: each new generation of CPUs and GPUs requires less power than the previous.
If you're worried about a PSU's degradation over time, then don't: quality-made PSUs like the ones we're talking about are not affected by this enough to even be considered because they use high quality internal components that are designed to last several years before degradation is really even noticed.
Then there's the matter of efficiency: with the tiny load that you'll always have on the HX750, you'd be lucky to see 80-85% efficiency. So no, you wouldn't get the Gold type of efficiency due to the small load on the PSU:
On PSU Efficiency
PSU "50% Load" Myth
There is one PSU that jumps out in my mind that you would be able to have for several years to come: the 450W SeaSonic G Series. Corsair used SeaSonic G Series units to make the newer Gold-rated HX series PSUs like the Gold-rated HX750.
If that 450W number is still scary, then get the 550W SeaSonic G Series. Sure there are others I can recommend, but I'm just kind of throwing these out there for now.
Minor flaw actually? But yeah, I'm probably gonna end up with choosing the i7-3770K, despite that it might running hotter than what I'm expecting, not that I'm really expecting anything, but never the less, I'm sure I'll be one happy camper.
I don't mean to be advertising Overclock.net too much, but this is a thread that helps make it easier to understand:
[Official] Delidded Ivy Bridge Club
Not at all, I'm looking for information, so any links and what not are much appreciated regardless of what site it is.
Ah, I see. But a question regarding memory modules. I'm aware that lower CL values are better, like CL9(9-10-9) would be better than CL11(11-13-13), but what if you for an example have memory modules that run at 1866MHz with CL9(9-10-9) timings, while the memory modules that have CL11(11-13-13) timings run at 2400MHz, which would be better? To I prioritize CL timings over speed?
With this Samsung "Wonder RAM" that I'm recommending (it's a pet name enthusiasts have given it), this is less of a consideration because they use a smaller manufacturing process of 30nm and that makes them a bit faster.
Yeah I figured you were getting at that, but I think I'm gonna go with the Corsair HX 750W PSU, which should be pretty decent quality if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, but I will keep saying the same thing: it's an unnecessary waste of money. Will you ever have more than one video card? The HX750 would be a good purchase if you plan on having 3 video cards some day, but not if you will only ever have just 1. For a one-card system, a quality-made 400-450W PSU is more than enough, even for "future upgrades".
P.S.(off topic)
As you guys might've noticed, I'm also a complete dingbat when it comes to forums and quoting others posts, so, mind sharing with me how I quote somebody else, BUT also containing information of who's post I'm quoting? 'Cause right now I had to do the @username before quoting so that people are able to keep track of who and what.
Use the two buttons on the bottom-right corner of each post. Treat the Multi button like checkboxes: each Multi button that you activate dictates which posts end up getting quoted. This enables you to reply to each Multi-quoted post in your post. It's like you're selecting each post.
Tip: The order in which you click each Multi button dictates the order in which they will appear in your post.
Tip #2: If you click the "Quote" button on the last post that you want to add, then you will be brought to the reply page with all of your Multi-quotes included with that Quoted post at the bottom. I hope this makes sense because I'm finding it hard to explain. lol
Hehe yeah it made sense, at least I think it did, I'm at least a little better suited at quoting other posts now, thanks!
Again thanks for the help, sincerely appreciate it!
- Drops
You're welcome!
Thought I'd post what I've gotten so far and possibly a few more questions and what not.
Currently my shopping list looks like this:
- Intel Core i5-3570K
- ASUS P8Z77-V LE Plus
- Corsair HX 750W PSU
- XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5
What memory modules I'll be choosing will be decided when I've got an answer to the question I posted earlier regarding speed and/vs. timings.
Also, a question regarding motherboard and RAM compatibility.
According to their website, the ASUS P8Z77-V LE Plus that I'm thinking of buying supports memory modules with the speed 1333MHz and 1600MHz. But they've also listed that it supports 1800, 1866, 2000, 2133, 2200, and 2400MHz, but these speeds have (O.C.) written behind them, does this mean that if i get 2400MHz memory modules that I have to set their speed to 2400MHz manually in BIOS or whatever?
That's correct. As you know, the CPU natively supports DDR3-1333/1600. The motherboard extends this support, but it's above the CPU's native support so I guess it's technically an overclock. Fortunately, you shouldn't have to make any special changes just to get it to work like you would if you were trying to overclock the memory. I mean, everything can be at their stock values and it should work.
I'll by the way be using a Corsair H100i to cool the CPU, and all the components will be going into a Corsair Carbide 500R cabinet that I'm currently using.
Well that's all I can think of for now, as always all answers and help are greatly appreciated.
Hopefully I'll be able to order my components tomorrow or the day after, saving me a few bucks because of sales and what not.
- Drops
If you want to save a few more, then I sincerely recommend seriously considering what I said about the power supply. It will also matter in terms of the PSU's efficiency.
