PSU Recommendations

PwnFrnzy · 20 May 2011

Hello, I have a large amount of money saved to make the ultimate machine, I have everything and I'm not sure of the PSU due to being unsure about mow much juice I will need to power this beast.

Computer parts selected:
MOTHERBOARD
Intel BOXDX58SO2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

PROCESSOR
Intel Core i7-970 Gulftown 3.2GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor BX80613I7970

RAM
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 24GB (6 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9T2-24GBRL

CASE
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

HARD DRIVES
Seagate SV35 Series ST31000526SV 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
(Might add 1 or 2 more hard drives for storage)

GRAPHICS CARD(S)
EVGA 02G-P3-1559-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
(Consider a second graphics card, because I'm thinking of running an SLI)

DVD/CD BURNER
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support

DVD/CD READER
LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDS118-04 - OEM

CARD READER(S)
Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB Port / Extra Silver Face Plate

CPU FAN/HEATSINK
CORSAIR CWCH50-1 High Performance CPU Cooler

SOUND CARD
HT | OMEGA eClaro 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card

You can basically copy/paste the full name into the search bar at Newegg.com to see more info of the part.
I put some additional info under the names of the parts for things that may happen when thinking of a PSU to power this thing. Any good recommendations?

And one more thing, will the CPU cooler work well with the i7 processor I chose?

Thank you.

iseeuu · 20 May 2011

PwnFrnzy said:

Hello, I have a large amount of money saved to make the ultimate machine, I have everything and I'm not sure of the PSU due to being unsure about mow much juice I will need to power this beast.

Thank you.

There are numerous web sites like this one:

Antec Power Supply Calculator

that allow you to input your choices and add up the power needs. Not perfect, but gives some idea of where to start!

Cheers!
Robert

PwnFrnzy · 20 May 2011

Thank you Iseeuu, It seems I will need a little over 1000 watts, so I picked a Antec 1200 watt PSU to have some extra breathing room in case I missed something.

iseeuu · 20 May 2011

PwnFrnzy said:

Thank you Iseeuu, It seems I will need a little over 1000 watts, so I picked a Antec 1200 watt PSU to have some extra breathing room in case I missed something.

You are welcome! It is probably a good idea to add 10 - 20% when specing a psu. Never can tell how many USB devices we might want to plug in at some point?

Cheers!
Robert

bobkn · 20 May 2011

If you don't already have the parts, I suggest getting an I7-2600k with a P67 or Z68 motherboard. The combination will cost less than the I7-970 alone, and outperform it in most applications. (Example: AnandTech - Bench - CPU) If you want a gaming system, the performance difference will be greater. (Most games will not be able to exploit the 6 core I7-970.)

You'd be limited to 16GB of RAM for the moment. (The P67 and Z68 boards are spec'd at 32GB of RAM, which would require 8GB DIMMs, not yet available.) It would also be dual-channel memory rather than triple, but the memory controller on the "Sandy Bridge" CPUs has better performance than that on the "Gulftown" processors. Specify DDR3-1600 memory, and you'd recover most of the performance difference (relative to DDR3-1333)

If you want an "ultimate" machine, spend the money on the graphics card instead. I'd suggest a single high-powered card in preference to lesser cards in SLI.

Other things:

Get an SSD for your OS drive. 120-128GB is adequate.

I've had some Lite-On drives die early deaths. I haven't had that problem with other brands (Asus, Samsung/Toshiba, NEC, Pioneer, etc.). Maybe it's just me.

For the case, check amazon.com. They offer free shipping on cases that they sell directly (including the Antec 900), so you'll save a few bucks there. (I like NewEgg, but not so much as to use them exclusively.)

Here's a case I'd suggest over the Antec for a high-end system:

Amazon.com: SILVERSTONE RV02B-W 0.8 mm Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case (Matte Black): Electronics

(It's a full tower case, with its advantages and disadvantages.)

For the CPU cooler, the H50 is probably OK, but an H70 might be slightly better. I believe that neither one outperforms a high-end air cooler, but perhaps they fit better in a mid tower (Antec 900) than a large heatsink/fan.

I'm not sure which 1200W Antec PSU you've picked out, but two Antec models are certfied by nVidia for SLI with three GTX-580 cards.

Build an SLI PC - Certified SLI-Ready Power Supplies

That suggests that it's more than you need if you aren't using three 300W cards.

Have I muddied the waters sufficiently?

PwnFrnzy · 20 May 2011

Thank you Bobkn for all the recommendations, I took all of your advice and basically changed most of the major components. I also changed the disk readers/burners to ASUS, they got good reviews. I did not go for the SSD though, sure a lot of them had good reviews, but there were people who had them brick to death or go to full corruption, I also feel I should stick with the current case I have already selected as well. I did take the RAM and max it out at 16GB, hopefully they will step-up the mobos to go higher soon. I went ahead and picked a GPU with good reviews, having been played at max settings on Black Ops which is more than enough with the games I might be playing on it, and no SLI will be used neither.

Also did the math and I'm actually saving a good $200.00 with the new setup too.

essenbe · 21 May 2011

I just went through what you are doing. After researching and reading hours of reviews, it became clear to me that Sandy Bridge is the best choice like bobkin said. Unless you do heavy video rendeing and coding for a living, Gulftown is not necessary and overpriced. Many sites have compared the two and found that the i7 Sandy Bridge will do most anything the Gulftown will do, it just does it faster and about $700 cheaper. So, I agree with bobkin, if you want performance- it's Sandy Bridge.

pparks1 · 21 May 2011

Unless you do go with SLI, you don't need 1000 watts or more. I would highly recommend a modular power supply as you can keep your internal wiring much more neat and tidy with this type of PSU.

Agree completely on going with Sandy Bridge over Gulftown. And I don't think going from 24GB to 16GB will cause you any issues. It's HIGHLY unlikely you would need that extra 8GB of RAM. It's unlikely you will really need the 8GB increase from 8 to 16GB. I understand the desire to add the RAM since it's somewhat cheap, but there is a limit to how much gain you will get from adding more.

If you really want a beast of a machine, I'd seriously reconsider the SSD. That's the biggest bang for the buck upgrade I have done in years. I have an Intel 80GB in my desktop and work just sprung for an 80GB Intel 320 series SSD for my work laptop. The people who I know with SSD's aren't have problems with drives failing. And with everything in life, you need to backup your system and using a system image utility is just plain smart for a variety of reasons.

PwnFrnzy · 21 May 2011

Pparks1, I took your advice and decided to get a 128GB SSD that has an outstanding number of 5-egg reviews on new egg along with a 160GB Western Digital hard disk as a back-up for the SSD.

SSD:
Newegg.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

WD HDD:
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

One question, I have a third drive that is a 2TB Seagate, will having a WD and Seagate drive have any conflicts between each other?

jebuchanan · 22 May 2011

No they shouldn't. I use a Seagate as my boot drive, and several WD drives for backup and multimedia uses. No conflicts or issues between them.