I have $90 to spend on a PSU, and this is one of those things I wouldn't want to decide for myself because I've heard many horror stories.

I will never use SLI / Crossfire because I don't think it's worth it.

First, is this enough money for a nice PSU? Or should I keep saving?

Second, what PSU should I get? My rig is in my sig.

Oh and I'm looking at this right now, looks like I should be able to order it by Friday:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139001

Do you think it's a little strange that you say you have $90 to spend and the only PSU you linked is $120 before rebates? That doesn't quite compute.

As for the Corsair, I've seen lots of great reviews for the 620, but I'm not sure if the 520 is basically the same or totally different. If I wanted to spend $90 on a PSU, I'd probably get the OCZ GameXStream 600W which is $100 - $10MIR. Also, I'd consider ordering PSU's from ZZF (like in my link) if they have what you want. Free shipping plus their prices are usually at least $10 lower than the egg. Their selection is not nearly as vast, though.

Verran, although he says he has $90 now, I'm assuming he said he would be able to order by FRIDAY which means, Friday is probably pay day.

Didn't know Corsair has PSU's now. For ~$100 to spend, I'd look at OCZ or Enermax. Find the same exact one on both ZZF and Newegg and compare the prices that way...I disagree with Verran that ZZF is often cheaper, even with the free shipping 80% of the time I still find that newegg is the cheaper choice, plus their ground shipping is faster than ZZF's free shipping, at least for NY.

If that's the case and you have a bit more to spend (or are willing to wait until you do), I'd strongly consider the Corsair 620W. It's $145 - $20MIR which is a bit higher than you're looking, but with the reviews I've seen I think it's worth it.


I did my comparisons on the three PSU's that I've been pricing:
Newegg:
Corsair 620W ($170-20MIR)
OCZ GameXStream 600W ($130-10MIR)
OCZ GameXStream 700W ($140-35MIR)

ZipZoomFly:
Corsair 620W ($145-20MIR)
OCZ GameXStream 600W ($100-10MIR)
OCZ GameXStream 700W ($130-25MIR)

Also that doesn't figure in that ZZF is always free shipping, while newegg is not necessarily. Newegg does match the price on the 700W though and I think they do have free shipping on that one.

Also, the Corsair 620W is definitely just rebadged, and I'd assume the others in their line are as well.

I order from ZZF 90% of the time unless NewEgg has a big mail-in rebate. I live in TN and NewEgg taxes me + paid shipping. But that also means even the worst shipping gets here next day because it ships a few blocks from where I live .

But ya, I will have a bit more money by Friday. I guess I'll go ahead and get the Corsair 620W then because I really hate having sooo many unused wires in my case. Thanks for all the super quick replies.

From all reports the Corsair 620 is a very good PSU. (Seasonic OEM).

I would have thought the 520 version would be plenty for single video card systems though.

I guess I rather be ready for the future

If you want to be ready for the future, you would be looking for a power supply with PCI Express 2.0 support, or the 8 pin PCI-Express connector with the last pin being a D shape

Would something like that cost a lot more? And how far into the future are we talking? lol

If you are looking for future use, I wouldn't be looking at 620w PSU lol, maybe like 6200w. I think you'll be fine and happy with 620

I don't mean future like that long now........I mean until Crysis comes out

By the way, I am sticking with the 620w

PCIExpress 2.0 power supplise are starting to rear their heads, a lot of 1kw units have them, and out of those, a few scrwed up and put the wrong connectors Within a few weeks I would expect to see Pci express 2.0 connectors on mid range power supplies.

But yeah that 620 should be enough for a while

Crysis on the X800 will be...tough going. Any plans for a new graphics card either?

If you like the Corsair 620W, I think you're better off with the Enermax Liberty 620W It's around the same price, modular like the Corsair, but with better rails, and the Liberty line has performed well for me and others.

Here's the newegg link:
ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT $150 - $15MIR

Here's the ZZF links:
Enermax ELT620AWT $148
Enermax ELT620AWT-NON ROHS $136 - $25MIR

I don't see any difference between the ZZF ones, so I'm guessing they're just coded differently for the rebate, but I'm not positive.

Get a 1000w and put it on credit.

Better yet, break into Ultra's R&D department and steal thier 2KW one

edit: This is what I meant by the 8 pin pci express connector, there are two in the picture

Look at the reviews on NewEgg for it.....

people on newegg are idiots, so I never go by the customer reviews unless it's clear they know what they're talking about. I used the Liberty 500W model in our mail server (1 Dual-core Opteron) and our web server (Dual Opterons) at work and they've both ran perfectly for over a year now.

Maybe you got lucky, I sure as hell am not going to take that chance. Like 80% of all reviews said they blew up after a certain amount of time. Even the 3 star / 4 star reviews say they worked good UNTIL they blew up.........

Well I'd say most things work fine until they blow up, including bombs...


I trust proper reviews not idiot reviews that have no idea. Newegg is the equivalent to Ebuyer in the uk...and if people can "rate their expertise" who's gonna put the lowest grade?!

anyways. think about this: your X800 is now OLD. Crysis on that? You'll not enjoy it much...

You do see it says (Temp) next to that right? It stands for temporary, I am waiting for about a week before Crysis comes out to get a new video card to fully enjoy that game at it's highest.

heehee. That's basically my plan as well. lol

As for the PSU, well like I said, I used the 500W version, not the 620W. I don't see any reason why it'd be any different, but maybe it is...maybe Enermax used a bad batch of capacitors on their 620's, shrug.

well temp doesnt always mean "temporary"...

and if you are getting a new card...why not get a "newer" PSU as mentioned as well...makes sense really...

I'm kinda confused on why you're actually getting a psu now. Did your's blow? If you don't need one now, wouldn't it make more sense to wait and get one closer to when you upgrade...that way you know exactly what you'll need.

All I need is a new graphics card, and my upgrade is done. I've seen that my vcore goes down to like 1.2 some times and then the lil Asus Probe thing goes crazy (I already turned off alerts to fix that) so I thought that is a problem....

so...this thread is null?

I'm surprised I didn't ask this straight off the bat, but I'm wondering what this new PSU will be replacing now?

I don't think so.....



Thermaltake 480W (can't remember 100% exact)

surely it is if you just said you only need a graphics card?or a psu nearer the time with the graphics card?

Well, I was still getting help if I needed a new PSU to get, and if yes which one.

The graphics card I've been planning to get right before Crysis came out for a long time now......

I'd still think about what roadkill said and consider the PCI 2.0 PSU etc.

What card are you thinking of getting?

Whatever next-gen DX10 card is out around the time Crysis comes out (hopefully ATi will have released their new cards by then).

in which case, i think the general consensus would be to wait and see which card you get to determine what power the PSU is reviews and previews will give you an indication as to the card and its power consumption.