new PSU

[AshkenAZoNi]

hey everybody,
I would like to overclock my PD805 and E6600 with LN.
what PSU you think would best suit me?
quite and cheap as possible, below 200$, the closer to 100$ the better :D
i saw in the deals section the CTG 850 for like 140$ i think, and also the OCZ GameXtream 700 for like 120$. thats kinda sweet, and the 700W should do shouldnt it?

well what do u think is best for my needs?
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dont be shy :D
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Please reply soon, i need it before wednesday.
10x.

[AshkenAZoNi]

really sorry about the double posting but i must have the PSU by wednesday the latest...
please please reply, i will be most greatful.

thanx.

[JPeitzman]

The OCZ GX 700watt should be just fine. It is an amazing PSU, strong/powerful. Otherwise you could look at something like the Enhance ENP-5150GH 500watt or Corsair 520HX 520watt PSU. The Enhance can be found for about $69 and is by no means a cheap PSU, it is extremely powerful and stable. The Corsair is $116, modular, and a monster.

Corsair:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/HX520W/
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=117785
http://www.atacom.com/program/print_html_new.cgi?cart_id=6738281_69_194_146_36&Pagecode=SEARCH_ALL&Item_code=POWS_CORS_HX_52&USER_ID=www
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139001

Enhance:
http://www.enhanceusa.com/product.php?f=new
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-E5150GH

Otherwise the GX 700watt should be more than enough. I will give you one more though to consider, the SilverStone ST56ZF 560watt PSU. It is one of the Etasis made models and very powerful, stable, clean, and it is rated for 38A on a single 12V rail.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/ST56ZF/
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-56zf.htm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163111
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=160&products_id=3864

Lastly here is Jonny's review of the OCZ
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/GameXStream700/

[AshkenAZoNi]

1st of all thanx alot.
2nd, If you had my needs, what would you buy?
The Corsair strikes me as the best and present great value.
The Enhance seems like a nice PSU but for Extreme Overclocking I would prefer something with a bit more power, and I dont know **** about its stability [maybe if I saw a very convincing review].
The Silverstone is a freaking monster with its 38A but is more expensive than the corsair.

now, I wanted to ask, if all are stable and I would probably not need more amperage than the GX could supply, wouldnt it be best to get him for the extra wattage?
The PD805 sure is a hungry little fellow.

any more suggestions?
thanx peitz and everyone.
Please reply soon im really short on time.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I will give you one more though to consider, the SilverStone ST56ZF 560watt PSU. It is one of the Etasis made models and very powerful, stable, clean, and it is rated for 38A on a single 12V rail.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/ST56ZF/

I'll vouch for that one... that very PSU (literally - it's review sample #2 in the review) is laughing at my X2 3800+ system under 24/7 use. It's not dead silent, I can still hear it a little bit over the stock AMD cooler, but more than quiet enough for me.

[JPeitzman]

Well if you can get a GX for a fair price then I would get it. It is a very strong unit, it has a bit of a problem with ripple, which Jonny saw, but it didn't really get bad until it was heavilly taxed. Otherwise I would say that the SilverStone Zeus is the next best unit for the price. Though if you look at the Performance-PC link for the SilverStone Zeus and the link for the "PSU Deal of the Month" for the Corsair they are about the same price. Otherwise it would be a close tie for the Corsair. They are both powerful units, the Corsair is very efficant comparied to the SilverStone, but the SilverStone is with little doubt more powerful, though not by to much. The ripple was low on both, they are both rock stable, the Corsair is cuter...lol. The SilverStone is half-sleeved and not very pretty.

In your position I would get the GX or the SilverStone Zeus, they are the two most powerful units, with the Corsair a very close third.

BTW here is a review of the Enhance:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/Element500/
It is a SilverStone, but it uses the inards of the Enhance ENP-5150GH. Jonny seemed to love it, the performance is out of this world; pretty much always above 80% efficiency execpt for the 79% dip at a very low load, 50mV ripple or less, 36A total on the 12V rails, all this and it stays very cool and can do SLI and Crossfire. For SLI and Crossfire though it shouldn't be used for the very top end, but it should have no problem with a single 7950GX2 or X1950XTX.

You also mentioned the CoolMax CTG-850.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/CTG-850/
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=360937
You get quiet a bit of power for such a price. The rails are soild as hell, even though the PSU got very warm in testing. The real downsides where efficiency and noise, it seems that it is very loud, and at most it is 77% efficient. Not a bad PSU at all if you can stand the noise, I havn't heard it for myself so I can't attain to how loud it is.

You could also think about the 600watt version of the GX. The 805 is hungry, but I have seen people that are running OCed Core 2's and AMD X2's with 7950GX2's and X1950XTX's on the Corsiar PSU's with no problems, which means the SilverStone, and OCZ's should have no problem at all.

I hope that helps a little, even though I didn't really outright say get this, I would lean towards the OCZ GX 700 or the SilverStone Zeus.

[AshkenAZoNi]

thanx. got your point.
rrrr its a hard question.
But i dont understand something about ripple, if ripple is the fluctuations in voltage, then it should effect my Vcore and that will cause crashes, right?
please correct me if wrong.
and i cant have that while trying to pass the 6GHZ barrier on the PD.
by johnny it seems like the fluctuatuons are 0.15V+- at max, maybe it wouldnt bother me since I can reach higher voltages with the GX.
and if what i say is true, and we will ignore ripple problem, then it is the strongest PSU after the silverstone probably, but has about 150W more - sounds convincing. [especially with the 125$ price tag :D]

please help.
a decisive voice is in need right now.
again, i appologise, but please reply soon, the chance of buying it abroad, where its in my price range is slipping away.

thank you all.

[JPeitzman]

Yes ripple is voltage fluctuation, and to much of it is a bad thing. The OCZ is a little out of spec, we like to see 120mV (I think that is right) or less. For the price I don't know that I would over look the CoolMax CTG-850, since it is solid, 30mV or less on the 12V side and not enough to even count on the 3.3 and 5V side. From what I understand you shouldn't really see a Vcore drop unless you are really loading it and you get a insane amount of ripple. I think that it will just over-work your voltage regulators, causing them to spit out a little more heat. I could be off on this, but I think you would need a lot of ripple to see a Vcore drop. If you are worried about it with the OCZ you could get the CTG-850, if you can stand the noise. If you want stable power you should go with something that is highend server class, like a Zippy. The CTG-850 is a Acbel Polytech, they are good supplies. The thing you have to figure is that with the stability of server supplies come inefficancy and noise. This seems to be a ugly trade off, stability and raw power for noise and efficancy. The Enhance is kind of odd man out, it is stable and quiet, but might be a little on the weak side for what you are doing.

Since you are OCing will you be needing adjustable voltage pots? I don't know that any of these supplies have them, the OCZ might, tucked away inside, but I don't think the others will.

Again on the ripple thing. Over drawing will cause a crash, ripple might if it gets out of control, but mostly I think it will just shorten the life of your voltage regulators. Normally you wouldn't see that come into play on the OCZ since it is loaded at almost 400watts before it finally exceeds 100mV, but in your case that could happen with extreme OCing. This is what I would say:

Of the two you listed

If you can handle the noise, and you might be able to since it is a OC rig, get the CTG-850. It is strong and rock stable, yet inefficant, loud, and a little hot. Mind you, from the tests this supply dosn't seen to mind the heat at all.

If you want something quieter get the OCZ. It is still a great performer, fairly efficant, quiet, and does put out what it is rated at dispite its size. The downside; and it could be huge after a little thinking/revaluating about the fact that you are a extreme OCer, is the ripple. You might be able to stress it enough for that to come into play, it will cause heat, and posiable glitchs/crashes under extreme conditions. Both of these, ie heat and crashes are bad things in the eyes of an OCer.

So here is my new and rethought answer. Of the two you chose, just for stability under extreme conditions, I would get the CTG-850. Out of all the ones listed, just because of the performance vs. price, I would get the Corsair. It is quiet (compaired to others, it was still a little loud), the efficiency was great, it is modular so it will look clean, there was never more than 50mV of ripple (that is .5Volt), and it was able to supply as it was rated. It uses Seasonic internals, so it is quality, and it is nice and compact compaired to the GTG-850. BTW Jonny said that when he reviewed it he never saw more than .12V of ripple or 12mV. I think it would work perfectly for what you are doing, and it can be had for about $115-$120. Of course the Silverstone Zeus ST56ZF is listed at $115 at Performance-Pcs, and that is very attractive for that supply.

We need someone like Jonny or Perkam, or someone of the sort to give a super definate answer, but I say Corsair. But that is a tough one, because if you can find it for a compairable price, the Corsair gets its ace handed to it by the SilverStone, I would go as far as the say it is a better unit than the OCZ as well. I would trust Oklahoma Wolf as well, and he says SilverStone.

Tough decision I know, I am PSU shopping myself. There is so much out there and so much to consider. It is not as simple as just going out and and blindly buying. Everything is a learning process, and thats what sucks...lol.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

The CTG-850 is a Acbel Polytech, they are good supplies.

ATNG actually. Fortunately, better quality than their low end units.

Ripple is an issue with the Epsilon/GXS, but not so big an issue I'd steer clear of it. I consider them budget high power units... they're not really meant to be high end server supplies. Silverstone's Etasis made ST75ZF and ST85ZF blow them away for regulation, as do those Corsair units.

[JPeitzman]

Oh..ATNG sorry, I learn something new everyday here at XS, I love it. I don't know I think for the money I would get the Corsair.

[Helmore]

Another vote for the SilverStone ST56ZF, as having a single rail PSU is a big plus when overclocking a Pentium D.

[AshkenAZoNi]

ok, since im an Overclocker I decided to rule out the GX, 150mv ripple is out of the question, With a C2D rig I shouldnt notice it but it would probably annoy the PD and future highly consuming rigs. seems annoying anyhow.

now I see three options:
1) the Enhance - will definitley suffice for a C2D rig [overclocked], great++ value, but wouldnt suffice for the PD. If I buy this, I will not try to OC the PD for a record because of obvious reasons. but after selling my current PSU it will be almost like I didnt pay for the new one :D

2) The Silverstone - I think it is better than the Corsair since they are priced alike, I dont care for appearance and it is stronger. also the Corsair is noisier. :D
Again, notice i cant OC the PD well with this amount of wattage.

3) CTG - I think this is the option I currently like the best.
What I can do is:
Not sell my current PSU which will suffice my needs for the near future, and use the CTG only when I need it for Extreme Overclocking - It will also suffice for any rig I would probably acquire, including WR OC for the PD :D
Most obvious cons:
Noisey and will cost me the most money cause im not selling the current PSU.

What do you think of the above?
And also are there anymore surprise options? :D

I thank all of you Xtreme Helpers :D
I would really like to see perkam or johnny also replying in this post :P
and special credit for wolf.
and extra special credit for peitzman :D

Your help is truly greatly appreciated.
====edit:
After reading the posts posted while i wrote this 1 [:D] im leaving the GX as a 4th option, I need to hear something Decisive about the influence of the 150mv ripple.

Im trying to make it for a contest so please answear as soon as possible, dont mean to be not polite, sry.

[JPeitzman]

Hmmm... true I am ruling out just how power hungry that little 805 is. Suprise options...ya Zippy, bar non. There is no compition once Zippy steps onto the feild, but they are pricy and you have a budget and time, time is the big constraint. I think the CTG-850 for that price is a good deal, it seems to have the highest power rating out of the lot, and it is stable. I would pick that if you can stand the noise, which I don't really know exactly how bad it is.

As for the OCZ 150mV seems like a lot becasue it kind of is. You whould have to talk to some OCers or if someone like Wolf or Jonny would like to comment on what it might do to a system if it hits 150mV+ or ripple. I think it would be heat and component life span shortening, but I don't know, could see Vdrop with that much ripple.

If you are OCing for a WR or any record then power is what you need, the last thing you want is your PSU crapping out when you are 100MHZ away. For this reason I would get the CTG-850. Just to make you mad though I will throw one more at you real fast, ignore it if you like. The SilverStone Zeus ST75ZF 750watt. It is stable, has great power regulation (stable, my bad, stated it twice kinda), it has gobs of power, and is pretty quiet. It is just inefficent.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/ST75ZF/index3.htm
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=160&products_id=4447
It is $180 so it is more than the CTG-850, but is build by Etasis, and is a great supply.

Ripple is an issue with the Epsilon/GXS, but not so big an issue I'd steer clear of it. I consider them budget high power units... they're not really meant to be high end server supplies. Silverstone's Etasis made ST75ZF and ST85ZF blow them away for regulation, as do those Corsair units.

Ok my quote thingy didn't work right, this is a quote from Oklahoma Wolf

Just another thing to consider, sorry. I think though you put it good, and in the situation you are in with time, I think I would get the CTG-850, unless anyone else says otherwise or comments on the OCZ namely the ripple issue.

edit:

Got to add one more thing, good luck at your contest / WR OC with the PD

[Oklahoma Wolf]

It is $180 so it is more than the CTG-850, but is build by Etasis, and is a great supply.

One more thing to note - the 75ZF, 85ZF, Corsair, and Coolmax all have independant regulation of all three main rails... the OCZ units do not (nor does the ST56ZF actually).

This'll help some with stability under high loads and will make them much more resistant to crossloading. Not that crossloading will be a problem unless you decide to power a P3 or something else 5v oriented with it.

[perkam]

Silverstone 750ZF...Makes my life as mod of this section SO much easier.

Perkam

[AshkenAZoNi]

Silverstone 750ZF...Makes my life as mod of this section SO much easier.

Perkam
h3h3 :toast:
Ok, but do note that it will cost me 50$ more, something like that, unless someone can find it at a real cheap price, i will certainly search for it.
but anyhow could you explain why do you think it is the best option?

and also explain alittle bit on the affects of the ripple?
I like buying when I know stuff about what i buy :P
details is what I like :D

Thank you very much perkam, wolf, peitzman.

[AshkenAZoNi]

If ripple affects only in long term I have no problem buying the GX.
right now CTG seems like the best option...
I cant find a definitive reason to buy the expensive silverstone..

I need more help plz.. :s

Thanx everyone.

[AshkenAZoNi]

somebody save me :D

thanx.
===edit-
sry thought it was a diffrent post...
didnt intend to tripple post... :S