Need Futureproof PSU

[JPeitzman]

As I am starting to peice together my long term future rig I am drawn to the issue of the PSU, without much of a doubt, one of if not the most important component in a PC. I am looking for something that is powerful enough to handle a quad core or higher with 2 G80/R600's or beyond. It will be something that will have to last 5+ years. These are what I am thinking, but I have a few questions.

PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1kWatt or Quad SLI version (will I need 4 PCIe's)
Zippy PSL-6850P 850watt or G1 Gamer version if I can find one
SilverStone Zeus ST85ZF 850watt
Tagan TurboJet 1100watt
Enermax Galaxy 1000watt Modular

I am woundering if it would be better to try to find a single huge 12v railed PSU. I assume that the PCP&C TC 1kWatt will handle a pair of G80/R600's even with split rails, and I think a Zippy will, but will the SilverStone, Enermax, or Tagan. Also is the 750watt PCP&C Silencer fairly future proof with it's huge 12V rail, and I assume quality since it is a Seasonic design. Any other suggestions or input are welcome. BTW does anyone know for sure if there are plans for either a PCP&C Turbo Cool 1kW with a single huge 12V rail? Also does anyone know any plans of any killer Enhance, Zippy, Etasis, or the like, 1kWatt+ PSU's on the horizen? I would love to see a 1000watt Zippy with a single rail. Finally size is no issue mind you, I am building a very nice custom case that will be with me for a while, baring any major damage.

I am wanting to build this system to last me through the end of college and a ways into the future. I would really like to focus on upgrading the guts and not have to worry about the PSU crapping out as I throw more and more new stuff at it. Also it would be nice to spend $300-$600 on something that is really quality and not have to worry about it for a long time. I know $600 is a lot to think about for a PSU, but if Zippy makes a 1000watt+ unit, it could go that way. I hope Zippy, Etasis, Enhance, and company are watching these forums and the like, then say hey, lets give the people what they want, 1000+watt's with 80A 12V, and little/no noise/ripple (ie extremely high quality).

[perkam]

Zippy Zippy Zippy there's an itch in my TUMMMY,
I'm gonna GO out and playeee !
Zippy Zippy Zippy the rails are just YUMMMY!!
If not then your computer's gonna payeee !!!

:p

Perkam

[AzraelDarkangel]

Zippy Zippy Zippy there's an itch in my TUMMMY,
I'm gonna GO out and playeee !
Zippy Zippy Zippy the rails are just YUMMMY!!
If not then your computer's gonna payeee !!!

:p

Perkam

ROFL!!! I'm putting that as my new sig!

[JPeitzman]

That is awsome Perkam, I love it!

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Also does anyone know any plans of any killer Enhance, Zippy, Etasis, or the like, 1kWatt+ PSU's on the horizen?

Enhance just released two of them - 35A x2 and 18A x4 1kW units. Pretty sure Zippy will have one too, but not sure how long it'll take them... they don't rush their units into the market before they're ready. Ditto Etasis.

Seventeam will have something soon too, if they don't already. Problem is finding them in North America.

[vudoodoodoo]

Zippy Zippy Zippy there's an itch in my TUMMMY,
I'm gonna GO out and playeee !
Zippy Zippy Zippy the rails are just YUMMMY!!
If not then your computer's gonna payeee !!!

:p

Perkam

AHAHAHHAHAHA :clap:

[perkam]

That is awsome Perkam, I love it!lol thx...its what happens when you keep saying the same thing over and over again...you just creative after a while :p:

Perkam

[Terru]

Hahah, Perkam my man you really have a thing for those Zippys, and I can't blame you. But the noise man! What about the noise? Think of your poor ears!

[thunderstruck!]

The downside of the Zippy is they use very loud, powerful fans. VERY LOUD. If you are watercooling, the last things you want is a loud PSU. I would go with the PCP&C 1KW. The brand and PSU is phenomenal.

[JPeitzman]

So I think the Galaxy is out, it is a good supply, modular is nice, I am not totally throwing it out, but I don't know that it is on par with the others. The Tagan is made by TopPower isn't it? I don't know much about TopPower units, other than the fact that they made the OCZ PowerStreams, which where awsome units. So really I think it is down to Zippy, which is an awsome supply, powerful and stable, but loud and ugly. The SilverStone, which seems to be really good. Etasis is a great company, and it seems they made a good supply. The only downside is the sleeving, which can be fixed, and the efficancy, which...really not a bigy to me. Lastly the PCP&C, great company, great supply, the raining heavyweight champ in my eyes. The price is a turn off, but reviewers have loved it. I would really like to see Jonny do a review of one. Who built the Turbo Cools by the way, I used to know, but now I don't. They have a new 1KW-SR, I assume this is the new single rail version, and if this is the case, it might be my future supply.

I would love to get a hold of a Zippy or Etasis 1000watter, or see a either of the Enhances. I don't know much about SevenTeams execpt that they are hard to find in the states. Something sticks though that MGE/XG uses them, I could be wrong though. Are they good units, and how to they compair to the others. I love the Zippy's, they are about as solid as they come, but I worry a little bit about the noise. I don't think I could load it to where it became unbearable, but I don't know. The single rail PCP&C looks to be the best at this point, the price sucks, but the performance is insane, I would say on par with Zippy. Plus I hear that PCP&C will let you fan mod their supplies if you contact them and still keep them under warrenty. That is a nice 5yr warrenty too. I just wish Performance-PCs would sell the server Zippy's so you could order them and have PPC's sleeve them and maybe even paint them or something.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

PC P&C's Turbocools are Win-Tact. Can't get them anywhere but PC P&C, unless you have the cash to have W-T build one custom.

Tagan has always been Topower - only the 470W and 520W SLI Powerstream/P6 has ever really impressed me. The others have build quality so variable you could make an amusement park ride out of them. Or at least make a fortune taking bets on which will or won't suck. In case it's not obvious, I don't care for Topower ;)

MGE uses a few Seventeam units, but tends to overrate them.

[Helmore]

Yeah wow as you said, check this new PCP&C 1kW PSU (http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=T1KWSR&view=about), it has a single rail at 72A (http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=T1KWSR&view=techspecs). If it only was cheaper, then I would buy it. Although I have a couple of questions about them, how long are the cables and how noisy is it?

[Shift]

Galaxy most def is on par with the others.

[JPeitzman]

Ok I'll rephrase a little bit and try to save face. The Enermax is a great unit, it is strong and capable. I know Enermax builds a great unit, one of the tops, but compaired to Zippy, I don't know. It is not quite apples to oranges, I think it is more like those little Mandrin oranges to a big Florda orange, which is still bad becasue the little oranges are delicious. Zippy makes a monster---a big, loud, inefficiant monster--- but a monster non the less. I think that Etasis and Win-Tact (thanks Wolf I couldn't remember for the life of me), maybe Enhance and Enermax are up there, but I think Zippy is alone at the top. I have seen what Zippys can do and that is level competition, they are rock stable, have gobs of power, and don't really seem to mind the heat.

Now don't get me wrong, people are probably saying "why did he make this thread if he advocates Zippy so much". I say because I don't know for sure, noise is an issue, not huge, but an issue. Also Zippys are kind of hard to find, and for the price I could add another bit to it and get a PCP&C with a single rail, that I trust just as much.

Update:

Tagan is out I think because of what Wolf said, and I trust Wolf. If anyone owns a TurboJet 900 or 1100 and would like to comment or stand up for ToPower, feel free. I don't know much about ToPower like I said.

After rereading Jonny's review of the Galaxy it is back in, but I could go either way on it. Sounds like a strong PSU, I don't know if I like the ripple, and reading further it kind of bothers me. If someone would like to defend this feel free, I am open to anything.

The Zippy stays in, we know Perkam likes it, lol. I like it too, if I could find a G1 at a ok price. My main concern is the SATA power situation on the non-G1 version, ie the lack there of, The other concern is the noise.

The PCP&C stays too, but is replaced with the single rail. That is unless I get a 1Kwatt cheap from somewhere, like ebay, or I magicly find one on my door step.

I think for now the SilverStone stays as well. It seems kind of out gunned compaired to the others, but it is an Etasis, it can hold its own. Besides with the price and the performance it cranks out it is edging its way to the top. Less than $300 for a solid supply that can put out lots of power, yet stay quiet while doing it, 10 in my book.

Thanks so far to everyone, and comment/critisize/suggest/discuse/flame (actully don't flame, it is mean) all you want, please.

[Nosfer@tu]

knos it is only 750 watt.

But is is SEASONIC :D
http://www.seasonic.com/pdf/datasheet/01PC/SS-750JS.pdf

[perkam]

The downside of the Zippy is they use very loud, powerful fans. VERY LOUD. If you are watercooling, the last things you want is a loud PSU. I would go with the PCP&C 1KW. The brand and PSU is phenomenal.People who buy Zippys usually have secondary rigs/secondary PSUs for regular computing. Just the other day PCCriminal was running X1950XTX Crossfire on a 500W Zippy...these aren't regular PSUs that you buy for regular use.

If you're getting two G80s in sli, the noise is the LAST thing on your mind.

Perkam

[thunderstruck!]

If you're getting two G80s in sli, the noise is the LAST thing on your mind.

Perkam
Not if you watercool.;)

To the OP. Your dream has been answered. PCP&C just released a 1000W PSU with a SINGLE 12V Rail with 72AMPERES!!!!

http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=119925

[BlaqMale]

that 72A pc P&c psu sounds like the shi.. that's my vote, i got the 49A one coming

[One_Hertz]

that 72A pc P&c psu sounds like the shi.. that's my vote, i got the 49A one coming

Thats my vote too. I switched from a PC&P to the galaxy and was dissappointed at how much less stable the voltages got. Don't get the galaxy...

[JPeitzman]

Ya I am really likeing the PCP&C 1KWatt single rail, I am not likeing the price, but you get what you pay for. I would say that even the SilverStone will last me for years, unless G90 (that is 9900GTX :D ) ends up drawing like 2 hundred thousand watts! The SilverStones price is also much more attractive, but because of the units listed I am not budget shopping. I might have to eBay something though to hold me until Feb or Mar until I buy one of these behemoths, I know my PSU now won't handle a G80. I am really wishing Zippy or PCP&C would send me a little Christmas present though ;) ;) or even if Enhance could send me one of those new 1000watters :D . I could do a nice little review of it :D , it would be a wounderful Christmas. Oh well, I don't think that will happen, I think the probability is about as high for that as it is for that 8800GTX and K8L ES showing up under my tree as well. To think, all the wasted Christmas cards to nVidia and AMD :D .

True though, noise isn't a huge issue, but it would kind of negate the water cooling. Seeing as I am water cooling mostly for noise, I would like the OC head room, but I don't really OC much, and yes I know that is a sin here at XS. Since this is the case, maybe the SilverStone or the PCP&C are the better choices, seeing as the Zippys are a bit loud.

Nosfer@tu...ya I have looked at the Silencer, I was woundering about it too. It is a fairly powerful until, and beleive me, compaired to the PCP&C the price is very very attractive. It has one massive single rail, which is nice, atleast to me, and yes it is Seasonice made and PCP&C backed. The other reason it is attractive it this; origanally I was going to get the Silencer with a Lian Li PC-A10B, but now that I am building a case I have affectivlly saved $230 or so. I decided to pump that into the PSU, unless something else grabs my eye...like a G80. You see this rig is going together over my college break (Christmas), and will sit in my old case with some old parts until the new case is done. I am buying the minimum to start with, being as I am poor, then upgrade as I go. If I still got the Silencer I will have that to spend on anything.

This is my plan, come break I will spend about $600 or so to get a mobo, CPU, DDR2, and maybe some other stuff like HDD's, I might also pick up something like a 7900GTO or GTX (hopefully cheap because of G80). Then in a month or so after, when the case is hopefully done comes the monster PSU. Lastly by the time I get out for the summer, that will be time for K8L or quad core Intel, and after a couple weeks of summer work, a DX10 card.

None of the above really matters at all, seeing as this is the PSU section, so I will go ahead and tell MYSELF to stay on topic to save a mod the trouble. Now I will turn the floor back over to everyone else.

[Praxis1452]

idk 72 amps is a decent amount but for god's sakes at $550 I couldn't reccomend it to anybody.

[perkam]

Ya I am really likeing the PCP&C 1KWatt single rail, I am not likeing the price, but you get what you pay for. I would say that even the SilverStone will last me for years, unless G90 (that is 9900GTX :D ) ends up drawing like 2 hundred thousand watts! The SilverStones price is also much more attractive, but because of the units listed I am not budget shopping. I might have to eBay something though to hold me until Feb or Mar until I buy one of these behemoths, I know my PSU now won't handle a G80. I am really wishing Zippy or PCP&C would send me a little Christmas present though ;) ;) or even if Enhance could send me one of those new 1000watters :D . I could do a nice little review of it :D , it would be a wounderful Christmas. Oh well, I don't think that will happen, I think the probability is about as high for that as it is for that 8800GTX and K8L ES showing up under my tree as well. To think, all the wasted Christmas cards to nVidia and AMD :D .

True though, noise isn't a huge issue, but it would kind of negate the water cooling. Seeing as I am water cooling mostly for noise, I would like the OC head room, but I don't really OC much, and yes I know that is a sin here at XS. Since this is the case, maybe the SilverStone or the PCP&C are the better choices, seeing as the Zippys are a bit loud.

Nosfer@tu...ya I have looked at the Silencer, I was woundering about it too. It is a fairly powerful until, and beleive me, compaired to the PCP&C the price is very very attractive. It has one massive single rail, which is nice, atleast to me, and yes it is Seasonice made and PCP&C backed. The other reason it is attractive it this; origanally I was going to get the Silencer with a Lian Li PC-A10B, but now that I am building a case I have affectivlly saved $230 or so. I decided to pump that into the PSU, unless something else grabs my eye...like a G80. You see this rig is going together over my college break (Christmas), and will sit in my old case with some old parts until the new case is done. I am buying the minimum to start with, being as I am poor, then upgrade as I go. If I still got the Silencer I will have that to spend on anything.

This is my plan, come break I will spend about $600 or so to get a mobo, CPU, DDR2, and maybe some other stuff like HDD's, I might also pick up something like a 7900GTO or GTX (hopefully cheap because of G80). Then in a month or so after, when the case is hopefully done comes the monster PSU. Lastly by the time I get out for the summer, that will be time for K8L or quad core Intel, and after a couple weeks of summer work, a DX10 card.

None of the above really matters at all, seeing as this is the PSU section, so I will go ahead and tell MYSELF to stay on topic to save a mod the trouble. Now I will turn the floor back over to everyone else.The term is G81...not G90.

Perkam

[TheMaster]

Think about Seasonic S12/M12?
I'm really glad to have one. Very quiet and delivers 4*12V Rails, each with 18A, all over 48A for all 12V Rail by the 600W Modell.

[Xion X2]

I would like to see more address the multi-rail issue. I have personally witnessed, on 3 different occasions with 3 different setups, multi-rail PSU's fail under load in systems they shouldn't have.

These were the setups they were tested on by me and two friends:

(All AMD chipset)
Asus A8N5X / Athlon 64 4000+ @ 2.8gHz / 1900XT / Crucial DDR400
Asus A8N-E / Athlon 64 4000+ @ 2.8gHz / 1900 XT / Crucial DDR400
MSI K8N Diamond Plus / Athlon X2 4400+ @ 2.6gHz / 7900GTX / Crucial DDR400

The PSU's, in order from top system to bottom:

Cooler Master 600W dual-rail / 12v1: 18A; 12v2: 18A
Thermaltake 680W tri-rail / 12v1: 13A; 12v2: 33A; 12v3: 15A
Antec TruePowerII 550W / 12v1: 19A; 12v2: 19A

All of these PSU's failed on the above systems with heavy overclocks. Symptoms were random shutdowns, lockups, and overall system slowdown (The Antec, under full load, slowed all case fans down and resulted in lower SuperPi scores. The Thermaltake resulted in lower 3dMark scores by 1,000 points compared to a single-rail that was swapped in after.)

Can anyone address whether or not they have fixed this issue with multi-rail PSU's failing to pull off the second 12v rail? Because I'm really wary about purchasing one of these again, and I'm also looking for a PSU to go with for my water-cooled Conroe setup in my sig below. I need at least a 750 watt'er. I would go with that PCP&C 750W single-rail silencer right now, but since I plan to go SLi / GPU physics, I'm thinking I also need one with at least 4 PCI-E connectors since the G80/R600 appear to use 2 power-connectors on each card. That PCP&C 750W single-rail looks like it only has two PCI-E connectors. That would only support a single G80/R600.

[JPeitzman]

Sorry G81, a refresh of the G80 or a whole new arc...I guess we will have to see since G80 isn't even out yet, lol.

I am kind of thinking about Seasonic in the PCP&C Silencer, but you are right, the M12 is a strong line.

As for above ^^^...I would have to say one thing to look at would be the quality of the PSU's. I can't commnet much on the Antec or really the CM. It seems like recently Antec has had some build quality issues, but I don't know. As for the Thermaltake, wern't they not that great untill the new refreash. Until recentlly I can't remember anyone saying I recommend you a Thermaltake. This is my opnion, but I would say that aside from a few eceptions, single rail is the way to go. There is no circut that is going to shut it down if you over draw one of the rails, it is nice to know you have this much power and exectly this much. I stand by this as long as it is a high quality PSU, because that makes the difference. The eceptions I would say are the strong ones that have shown what they can do, ie... SilverStone Zeus ST75ZF and 85ZF (Etasis), the Seasonic M12's (including the Corsairs), The Win-Tact PCP&C's (the 850 and 1000watt versions since the 510's are single rail), most of the Enhances, and most of the Enermax's. That is my list, I know there are more, but this is my opnion. As for your 4 PCIe connectors, this is a two part issue: 1. The pictures of the G80's are referance designs, they may be reduced to one connector, though if the power draw is as big as they are saying I don't know how they can. 2. Get the SilverStone or a 1000Watt PCP&C! They have 4 PCIe connectors, even though the SilverStone is multi-rail it is a very rock solid PSU. I think the PCP&C 1Kwatter is the only 4 plug single rail. You could also get something like a Zippy or the Silencer and get a adapter. You could get the Galaxy, but seeing as the cost is close I would get the SilverStone, it is what I might end up going with, I don't know yet. Tagan also has PSU's with 4 connectors, but the general concensious seems to be that although good, Topower is kind of hit or miss.

Lastly thanks to all for the feedback, thanks to Wolf for some insight, thanks to Perkam for some corrections and the awsome Zippy comment (LOL). In closing I have to agree with Praxis1452, it is hard to consider the single rail PCP&C with such a outrageous price tag, but it is a tempting PSU. Oh and thanks to all for puting up with my 9 page posts, lol, post on, or not, your choice.

[Praxis1452]

Wait for G80 to come out. Check the real power draw from the reviews and then make a decision on a psu. Wait for others to do it first. :-) when your going to spend $400 make sure it works.

[Xion X2]

Get the SilverStone or a 1000Watt PCP&C! They have 4 PCIe connectors, even though the SilverStone is multi-rail it is a very rock solid PSU.

Which Silverstone?

[Xion X2]

Wait for G80 to come out. Check the real power draw from the reviews and then make a decision on a psu. Wait for others to do it first. :-) when your going to spend $400 make sure it works.

I know this is the more sensible route to take, but do you know how hard it would be to have my two GTS's laying around while I wait on a PSU to arrive? :)

I'm also a little worried about PSU shortage once these cards hit. I can just see my two GTS's collecting cobwebs for a month or so while I wait on a good PSU to run them with.

[JPeitzman]

@Xion X2: Sorry I should have mentioned that, the SilverStone Zeus ST85ZF 850watt.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=160&products_id=20436

http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/ST85ZF/