The Test: Enermax Liberty 500w powering WHAT?

I'd like to take this chance to explain to you all clearly and simply, you over rate computer hardware power consumption and you all need to learn a thing or two. Especially you, perkam ;).

This test will include..

• Detailed specifications of the rig..
• Power consumption @ wall..
• 12v, 5v Rail Readings..
• Overclocking, benchmarking..
• ..and more

The specs of the rigs are..

Intel Core 2 Xtreme QX6700
ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi/Ap
2x1GB G.Skill 2GBGA (D9GMH) and 2x512MB Corsair 8000ul (D9 Fatbody's; for benching.)
eVGA 8800GTX 768MB; vmodded.
Creative Labs X-Fi XtremeMusic
Many-a-fan
AquaXtreme 50z Pump
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
NEC SATA DVD Burner

Thanks to fhpchris for generously letting me borrow the CPU, video card, and Corsair RAM.

I will be doing some overclocking, hard benchmarking, etc. The most I've drawn so far from this PSU is 493w from the outlet without wincing. Testing will continue tonight, pictures will be taken, and most of the results if not all will be up by tomorrow. Please stay tuned, for the sake of all future PSU recommendations!

493w and you haven't calculated it with the effiency? I agree with you that most users here at XS recommend psu's that are WAY overkill for the rigs that the people use and they can and could manage with a lot less wattage psu's (430w-500w). With bigger wattage psu's the effiency at low load levels are usually not so good as with the smaller wattage version of the same psu.

Yup yup. Draws 402w from the wall @ 3.3Ghz 1.392v dual orthos small FFT in Vista Ultimate :)

The advantage of a large power supply is future protection, if you look at the trend of graphics cards and CPU's over the last two years, power consumption has gone up, and investing in a quality unit, such as a PC Power and Cooling PSU will ensure that you can use it down the road.
Also, my next rig will have at least two pumps, and 20-30 fan's, so for the real enthusiast out there, too much for now, and enough for later is not a bad ideology to follow.
What do you think?
-Yan

PS- What are other quality PSU makers?

For most people, quad core + gtx is the max they'd have.

You guys must remember, ATi vowed that R600 will be the most powerful (power wise) card they're ever going to make, and future gens will be much more efficient. CPU's are more efficient now too. 45nm quads should draw what 65nm duallies do.

Should be interesting...though I've changed my views on "few good 500W PSUs"...not that many people have actually gotten the logic behind my firm approach towards minimum power limits.

If you're going to spend $3000 on a computer, skimping on the powersupply will have consequences, and unfortunately, those who come with the intention to prove that low wattage PSUs can power high end rigs indirectly give credence to those who find it weird/impractical to buy more than a 500w PSU for a quad core + SLI/Crossfire, thinking "it'll be enough".

Perkam

Considering efficiency and all, the computer is drawing no more than 420W from the PSU...
And companies have stated that they will try to increase efficiency. There is a good reason ;)
So it IS safe to say a 650 +/- watt supply is enough for qx6700 and 8800gtx sli, and it IS safe to say a 500 is good enough for most other setups...
Here, Nick's system is not close to maxing the PSU out. Hence 500W IS enough.

QX6700 @ 3.8GHz and a 8800GTX @ 650/1100 and I was drawing ~400w in 05.

Man, people really overestimate their power usage.

get a meter and check what happens when the 12v gets loaded.

The issue with low-power PSU's is that the spikes from idle to load can be enough to harm components over time. Never mind that once the capacitor starts holding some juice, it deteriorates. This means "ripple" will increase, as well as those idle-load spikes.

higher Wattage PSU's typically have larger amps available, and have regulation that spreads the load. As your system gets closer to the max a line can handle(12v most often), the larger the dips between idle and load, and the more other voltages provided by the psu can vary as well, thereby putting other components at risk.

Although components are designed to deal with this, they cannot withstand major transients for long. It's this that concerns me the most...and why I suggest highly-overrating a psu. Never mind psu's are more efficient the further they are from max load. Please keep in mind that a 1000w PSU does not draw 1000w...it is jsut capable of doing so if needed, and only draw the power the sytem consumes, plus the losses from switching power from AC to DC. Over-speccing a PSu does absolutely no harm...so I fail to see why it's an issue.

I'll bust out my DMM later :)

Drawing 423w the 12v rail was solid @ 12.02 from 12.07 idle @ 273w.

Liberty 500w pwns.

LOL. You did not have my 620w liberty, that blew the 30a breaker I had it - and only it - plugged into. reset the breaker to watch a flameout(not supposed to happen @ all!) and had to shut off the breaker manually to prevent worse from happening.


System was A8N SLi, X1800XL, 2GB Redlines, on 80gb hdd, dvd burner. System is still up and running...only PSU was toast. So defiantely PSU at fault.

N-E way, that IS pretty good....but load up prime95, and then maybe a DX10 demo. Start "ping -t" to something local. Leave it sit for a few weeks, if it lasts that long. THEN check the idle-load characteristics.

LOL wow. I plan on running dual Orthos + 03 later to see if I can suck 600w from the outlet :)

How about he plays a CD, transfers files between the HDDs, dual orthos, 3d03, ping, play back music, and run memtest?


:explode:

Or instead of orthos, use WCG. :D

I think where people get confused is if you add up the peak draw of every component in your system, you would find you need over 1000W! Of course, not everything is drawing peak at once (ever).

I'm definitely interested in more testing results as I'm building a Quad-core rig with 8800GTX and would like to know the actual realistic power consumption under various typical high load scenarios.

BTW, what is a good but inexpensive meter to measure the AC power draw at the wall socket?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by virtualrain

I think where people get confused is if you add up the peak draw of every component in your system, you would find you need over 1000W! Of course, not everything is drawing peak at once (ever).

I'm definitely interested in more testing results as I'm building a Quad-core rig with 8800GTX and would like to know the actual realistic power consumption under various typical high load scenarios.

BTW, what is a good but inexpensive meter to measure the AC power draw at the wall socket?

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Yep and this is what the most of the power calculators do, they measure every components peak power draw. It's sad that some people actually believe those online power calculators and based on that they buy the psu (which is almost in every case way overkill).

what is the allowable vdroop for the 12 and 5 volt rails that allow the hardware to still function at their specifications?

is 12 volt the most critical rail?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ace-a-Rue

what is the allowable vdroop for the 12 and 5 volt rails that allow the hardware to still function at their specifications?

is 12 volt the most critical rail?

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+-5% fluctuation is allowed by the atx spec in the 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails, though I don't know which are the limits for hardware to stop functioning. For todays computers the 12v rail is the most important cos the crucial parts like cpu and videocard draw power from it.

So after a long night of benching, some 4GHz Pi 1M runs, tons of 3d, and more.. the PSU is alive and fine. Over the course of the night I drew about 475w peak from the outlet, with the 12v rail never dipping below 12.00v.

The most power draw I saw was Deep Freeze in 3D06, which was about 471w.

Conclusion: You can overclock the balls off your QX6700 & 8800GTX and maintain a stable, powerful computer with a good quality 500w PSU.

Two right off the top of my head would be..

Enermax Liberty 500w
Corsair HX520w

And pictures.. (click thumbs to enlarge).

http://upload.nickfire.com//files/13...0002_thumb.jpg

http://upload.nickfire.com//files/13...0003_thumb.jpg


http://upload.nickfire.com//files/13...0008_thumb.jpg

Now, which 12v line was that?:lol2:


:cord:


:lol2:

The label says two but the PSU is one ;)

I'd be willing to bet my PCP&C Silencer 470 could handle an overclocked QX6700 and an 8800GTX with no issues. ;)

Maybe. All depends on 12v Rail, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickS

http://upload.nickfire.com//files/13...0002_thumb.jpg

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same light pole that i have along with same type bulbs...great minds-great ideas!;)

Haha nice :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickS

Conclusion: You can overclock the balls off your QX6700 & 8800GTX and maintain a stable, powerful computer with a good quality 500w PSU.

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Still defies common sense though...why would u buy a $1000 processor and a $600 GPU, only to "prefer" to buy a $100 psu.

Perkam

Because it's stupid money. Just because you have a lot of money doesn't mean you need to blow it on stupid stuff.

Plus, the nice thing about this is, I now realize I'll never need a new PSU.

Future chip & GFX card designs will use less power. ATi has already vowed that R600 will be its last power chugging GPU they make, and future ones will be more efficient.

i always doubted when people tried to convince others that you needed a $200+ PSU to run a high end system...i used an Antec 400W supply (over 7 years old) to power up an Asus P5WDG2 WS Pro with a Q6600...i got all the way up to 350 FSB...but...i wasn't using any high end VC and it wasn't loaded down with drives....still, a good accomplishment, at least in my mind.

i did switch that supply out with a OCZ 520W supply and the results was the same for FSB with the Q6600.

On Driverheaven.net they did a similar test last week. Ran a QX6700 @ 3.6, 8800GTX SLI all on a Cooler Master 510W PSU. Never had a single hiccup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lowfat

On Driverheaven.net they did a similar test last week. Ran a QX6700 @ 3.6, 8800GTX SLI all on a Cooler Master 510W PSU. Never had a single hiccup.

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Blasphemy !!! :eek:

:p

Perkam

I like tests like this. Just goes to show how few people actually need 650+ watt psus.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kuhla

I like tests like this. Just goes to show how few people actually need 650+ watt psus.

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Yup, the whole point :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickS

Conclusion: You can overclock the balls off your QX6700 & 8800GTX and maintain a stable, powerful computer with a good quality 500w PSU.

Two right off the top of my head would be..

Enermax Liberty 500w
Corsair HX520w

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Can't forget the legendary PCP&C 510W SLI :worship:
I actually decided to pick up a 700W PSU for a E6600 build I'm planning, but before you flip out, I went with a 700W PSU because I'll be swapping out the fan for a much slower one (1200RPM) so I wanted the extra head room.

No problem Jon ;). Funny thing is, my Liberty is still silent with this QX6700 @ 3.3GHz 1.4v doing some WCG (4x WU's too). Pretty impressive, since I'm drawing about 400w atm.

IMO the PCP&C 510 is overrated, I'd rather have a Corsair but that's just me. I probably wont ever buy a PCP&C. I'd rather have a Zippy if I had that kind of money to blow and that kind of space to spare.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickS

No problem Jon ;). Funny thing is, my Liberty is still silent with this QX6700 @ 3.3GHz 1.4v doing some WCG (4x WU's too). Pretty impressive, since I'm drawing about 400w atm.

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Well I've decided to actually go silent silent for my next build, I figured it's time for a change after 2 years of Denki's at 12V :p: All fans will be swapped out for Silverstone FN121's at 7V (Including PSU fan), HDD's will be suspended in elastic, and the entire case will be coated in sound dampening material. I'll soon find out what these silent fanatics keep raving about :toast:

Very cool! I originally planned a silent build but I realized I couldn't OC with yates @ 7v :p:

@ 12v they're tame so meh.

NickS, I have the same PSU and must agree with you that it rocks. It wipes the floor with Tagan 530 U22. I think that it's best bang per buck in it's price tag.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ace-a-Rue

i always doubted when people tried to convince others that you needed a $200+ PSU to run a high end system...i used an Antec 400W supply (over 7 years old) to power up an Asus P5WDG2 WS Pro with a Q6600...i got all the way up to 350 FSB...but...i wasn't using any high end VC and it wasn't loaded down with drives....still, a good accomplishment, at least in my mind.

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Good quality units are usually expensive (but that does not imply higher wattage units are necesary). I don't think I'll need a PSU upgrade in a long long time. ;)

A seven year old Antec! I'd be a bit wary about that unit. Kind of rare to see Fujjhyu's last that long on the secondary side.

Good experiment NickS. Would you mind running that system overnight?

i dont believe antec had the f bomb 7 years ago... this whole fiasco is within the past 2-3 years. i have the liberty and cant say anything negative. the corsair 520 is a better psu, but i dont think it was out, and i dont regret getting the liberty...

i got a Corsair HX620 here to review and i'll be pairing up with a friend of mine hooking it up to SLI 8800GTX setup with a quad core, multiple HDDs :D and make this sucker screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam

anyone think it won't be able to do the test ;) :p: :D

I'm pretty sure the Corsair can take anything you care to throw at it. :p:

*shakes*

Just because you're not maxing the 500W rating does not mean it is safe to run that PSU close to its max specs 24/7. PSUs are not made to run near their maximum wattage on a consistent basis.

You might say this is bunk, but I've seen more than a fair share of guys fry their PSUs by doing exactly what you're attempting to do here. And they were all quality PSU models--no crappy second-rate brands. One was an OCZ GameXtreme and the other was a PCPower&Cooling model. Both were pushed to the max over a period of a few weeks.

Do so at your own risk. I have to say that it's not a very smart move if you plan to keep a heavy overclock on your components on a daily basis. Not smart at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xion X2

*shakes*.

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yeah you should really look at 1200W PSUs just to be on a safe side them LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xion X2

*shakes*

Just because you're not maxing the 500W rating does not mean it is safe to run that PSU close to its max specs 24/7. PSUs are not made to run near their maximum wattage on a consistent basis.

You might say this is bunk, but I've seen more than a fair share of guys fry their PSUs by doing exactly what you're attempting to do here. And they were all quality PSU models--no crappy second-rate brands. One was an OCZ GameXtreme and the other was a PCPower&Cooling model. Both were pushed to the max over a period of a few weeks.

Do so at your own risk. I have to say that it's not a very smart move if you plan to keep a heavy overclock on your components on a daily basis. Not smart at all.

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Ehh? Do you think that the comp draws the maximum wattage 24/7 from the psu? I reckon that very few guys here run Orthos+3Dmark on their comps all day long. Also if you run games on your comp the load on the psu is usually lower compared to running programs like orthos and 3Dmark at the same time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HiJon89

Well I've decided to actually go silent silent for my next build, I figured it's time for a change after 2 years of Denki's at 12V :p: All fans will be swapped out for Silverstone FN121's at 7V (Including PSU fan), HDD's will be suspended in elastic, and the entire case will be coated in sound dampening material. I'll soon find out what these silent fanatics keep raving about :toast:

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I'd probably go with Nexus fans for quiet operation with decent airflow: http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/..._120mm_bw.html

I'm a silent PC enthusiast and they are all the rave...for a reason. :banana:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aolforbroadband

I'd probably go with Nexus fans for quiet operation with decent airflow: http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/..._120mm_bw.html

I'm a silent PC enthusiast and they are all the rave...for a reason. :banana:

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those are almost exactly the same as Yate Loon except more expensive and prettier.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nazu

Ehh? Do you think that the comp draws the maximum wattage 24/7 from the psu? I reckon that very few guys here run Orthos+3Dmark on their comps all day long. Also if you run games on your comp the load on the psu is usually lower compared to running programs like orthos and 3Dmark at the same time.

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I'm speaking in general here. The idea I get from the original poster and several others on this thread is that it's perfectly safe to operate a PSU in the +80% wattage capacity on a daily basis, and I don't agree with that at all.

Power drawn from outlet - ~50-100w = DC Power Draw, generally. So technically, I wasn't anywhere near max capacity. I could've wrung out 600w from the Liberty.

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but I thought it would apply most here, and I dont want to make a new one for it, but..

I'm buying a new PSU this week, Im still unsure whether to get the 520 or 620w version from corsair. See my sig for specs, I'm currently using a antec smartpower 450w and I fear it's gonna fail pretty soonish.
What I want from a new psu is that it will be able to power penryn/barcelona together with a HD2900XT. Will the 520w handle this or should I spend some more on the 620? I personally think the 520w will do fine but one can never be sure enough :<

520w should be fine. 8800GTX = HD2900XT in power usage, probably a hair more.

Penryn will use less power than C2D (45nm).

So yeah, 520 shld be fine.

I would say spend the extra on the 620, I think it's worth it to have the insurance of having enough power no matter what.
Good luck.
-yan

If his budget allows, sure. Though, you seem to think bigger = better.. *glances at your sig.* ;)

JK man, just pickin' on ya a bit.. though, your rig & PSU = case & point in this thread.

I was going to mention that I can't really talk in this thread because of that fact, but I bought my psu in the period when people were promoting high power PSU's.
I'm going to be sucking at least 100 watts on fan's alone when I get around to creating my custom case, plus two water cooling pumps, so its nice to have the insurance; this is why I said the 620w was worth the extra dough.
-Yan

My budget does allow yeah, so I'll order the 620 :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickS

Because it's stupid money. Just because you have a lot of money doesn't mean you need to blow it on stupid stuff.

Plus, the nice thing about this is, I now realize I'll never need a new PSU.

Future chip & GFX card designs will use less power. ATi has already vowed that R600 will be its last power chugging GPU they make, and future ones will be more efficient.

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I think he's just saying it would be wise to drop the extra 30$ for a good 600W PSU over that 500W PSU...

and i happen to agree in that case.

but for me, your review has it's merits. it means I wont' need to buy a new PSU for my next video card and harddrive.

The Enermax Liberty 500w isn't exactly a "bad" PSU, either. it's one of the few units that actually lives up to its claims reliably. I trust my Enermax more than any Thermaltake or those cheap 700w ones.

Perhaps it's one of those things, where if you try very hard to break it by over-stressing it, it can break but, by that time it's already done more than what most people expect of it.

Most people will judge a PSU by maximum amps on the rail or how many rails it has and the maximum wattage. But, can it reliably offer those maximum values? In most cases, I doubt it. This is where the Liberty seems to do its best, as an all-rounder. Don't over-stress it too often and it goes on for ages. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by apexracing

The Enermax Liberty 500w isn't exactly a "bad" PSU, either. it's one of the few units that actually lives up to its claims reliably. I trust my Enermax more than any Thermaltake or those cheap 700w ones.

Perhaps it's one of those things, where if you try very hard to break it by over-stressing it, it can break but, by that time it's already done more than what most people expect of it.

Most people will judge a PSU by maximum amps on the rail or how many rails it has and the maximum wattage. But, can it reliably offer those maximum values? In most cases, I doubt it. This is where the Liberty seems to do its best, as an all-rounder. Don't over-stress it too often and it goes on for ages. :)

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ehh, enermax just takes 550-600W PSUs and underrates them...

I know I've said this before, but a friend of mine ran an OCed e6600 and dual 8800 GTX w/ an Antec NEO HE 550.

I almost got a PCP&C 750w, but I realized I'm quite happy and well within my needs with my Enermax 535w Whisper PSU.

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Originally Posted by SPQQKY

I almost got a PCP&C 750w, but I realized I'm quite happy and well within my needs with my Enermax 535w Whisper PSU.

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So nice for you !!! :up:

:rolleyes:

Perkam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by perkam

So nice for you !!! :up:

:rolleyes:

Perkam

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Is that sarcasm or is it that you think I should have spent the $200? It's a lot of money for me, being divorced and with two kids, I honestly don't think I need the extra power.
:stick:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SPQQKY

Is that sarcasm or is it that you think I should have spent the $200? It's a lot of money for me, being divorced and with two kids, I honestly don't think I need the extra power.
:stick:

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Just playin :p

I get surprised at some of the comments made here and how they would sound when applied to other pieces of hardware :)

For example:

WOOT ! I get to keep my 1gb of Ram !!!

or perhaps

WOOT !! I get to keep my old cpu !!!

With every piece of hardware, the decision not to upgrade should be accompanied by a renewed confidence in the hardware's ability to handle future applications (be it hardware or software)..as the type with previous gen CPUs or GPUs being able to handle current games due to a driver update, or it is determined that a new game is heavily optimized and doesn't require an upgrade.

This applies to PSUs as well...only when you are confident that the current hardware can handle future hardware in the near future should a decision not to upgrade be taken.

The "one psu powers all" approach, or any other approach for that matter that is applied exclusively to one piece of hardware...annoys me to no end.

That's all :) Not doubting your whisper can handle ur rig...just my thoughts on the whole thing.

Perkam

Well, that's why I decided to keep my money and the Enermax. I will probably never go SLI, though it's not a totally impossible path. But I have a low power Opty and even when I do decide to get a new vid card, I still think I am way within my limits.

And I do not even classify a PSU in the same ballpark with a video card or cpu. Delivering clean, sufficient power is totally different than a video card being able to handle a new game or a cpu being able to keep up with todays software. My video card may not have hardware support for DX10 games, but my PSU has support for a card that can.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SPQQKY

Well, that's why I decided to keep my money and the Enermax. I will probably never go SLI, though it's not a totally impossible path. But I have a low power Opty and even when I do decide to get a new vid card, I still think I am way within my limits.

And I do not even classify a PSU in the same ballpark with a video card or cpu. Delivering clean, sufficient power is totally different than a video card being able to handle a new game or a cpu being able to keep up with todays software. My video card may not have hardware support for DX10 games, but my PSU has support for a card that can.

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Which is a good thing. Your 535w isn't the best unit Enermax ever made but I'm confident it'd handle an OC'ed C2D rig w/8800GTS well :)

Nice review:clap: How did you calculate the power draw from wall? Which instrument you used :p:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickS

QX6700 @ 3.8GHz and a 8800GTX @ 650/1100 and I was drawing ~400w in 05.

Man, people really overestimate their power usage.

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Bump!

Running near max capacity is not advisable imo. I'd aim at something like 70% max (even lower if noise if an big concern) of the unit capacity. After that point, output quality, noise, temps, efficiency, regulation etc starts going downhill. There are exceptions of course but it usually works this way.

Nothing wrong in recommending an 550W for an rig like this. Specially when price differences are so small.

3D mark runs only tell you so much. We should be prepared for the possibility of higher peaks. Better safe than sorry.

One more point is, cheap power consumption measuring devices like killawatt and powerangel are not accurate. They get lower readings compared to proper equipment due to latency issues. The difference is not big but its substantial, so its worth noting.


EDIT: lol, i just noticed this is an old thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by virtualrain

I think where people get confused is if you add up the peak draw of every component in your system, you would find you need over 1000W! Of course, not everything is drawing peak at once (ever).

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You are 100% right. And it's extremely rare for a component to hit its peak power requirements - most of the time it doesn't even come close.

Still nice to have a little extra power so you don't abuse your PSU too badly... but 900-1000+ watts is going to last a very long time.

i have an enermax 465w psu that i've been running since i built my first socket a pc with an unlocked barton (not the mobile.) i'm currently running an e4300 @ 2.4gz (270x9) on an asrock 775-dual vsta and a 7900gs, a 20gb ide drive, a 120gb ide, a 160gb sataII, and about 5 fans and a combo drive. i don't have the tools to measure how much power i'm drawing, but i'm wanting to upgrade my motherboard to a gigabyte GA-EP45C-DS3R and overclock my proc to ~3ghz and get an 8800gt. opinions on whether or not my psu will handle it or now, or how long?

I used to run my Q6600 at 3,8 and vmodded 8800GTS from a Liberty 500.. had to change PSUs because DFI boards don't work with the Liberty, so I was using a Corsair HX520 for the time. The Liberty was running clsoe to its limit, emiting lots of heat too (I swapped the fan because its stock fan sucks). The Corsair handled it better, but the Liberty lasted 1,5 years and still works fine, even though I ran 24/7 with 350-450W continuous (nongaming/gaming).

I'm not a big fan of oversized PSUs either, but I just upgraded to a 650W FSP because I plan on getting a 4870X2 soon. Seeing as my CPU alone eats 250W loaded, I'm gonna need all of 600W :D

i have started a killa-watt thread if you guys wouldnt mind posting your results there.
i would like to start a sticky for anyone interested in seeing what various systems are pulling for power to help them gauge what psu to buy.

I agree that a good 500w can handle a quad + 2xG92, but not much OCed. Considering that this is the XS forum, it seems funny to me to say PSU is doing alright while running Orthos, because there is no real load to the gpus! I am writing this, because I was OCing a Q6600 yesterday and while running Linpack at 4GHz my 530W unit went to its knees. It took 420W from the socket and that's with a lame 7300GS card. It is somewhat short-sighted not to divide applications like xtreme OC, slight OC or stock and just say that a 500w can handle it all. So to anyone runnin near the units capacity and saying it's completely fine, try this - run F@H on every gpu and Linpack (Intel Burn Test) on the cpu and watch your PSU turn into smelly fireworks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aerosupra

I agree that a good 500w can handle a quad + 2xG92, but not much OCed. Considering that this is the XS forum, it seems funny to me to say PSU is doing alright while running Orthos, because there is no real load to the gpus! I am writing this, because I was OCing a Q6600 yesterday and while running Linpack at 4GHz my 530W unit went to its knees. It took 420W from the socket and that's with a lame 7300GS card. It is somewhat short-sighted not to divide applications like xtreme OC, slight OC or stock and just say that a 500w can handle it all. So to anyone runnin near the units capacity and saying it's completely fine, try this - run F@H on every gpu and Linpack (Intel Burn Test) on the cpu and watch your PSU turn into smelly fireworks

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Seems like your 530W unit is utter crap then. If it pulled 420W from the wall and went down, I'd throw it out of the window. A decent 500W unit like the Corsair HX or Enermax Pro82 series (according to your sig, you have one) can hold at least 600/700W respectively.

not talking about the rig in my sig, it was a Tagan unit. Seems it may have its best days over, since its 3 years old and has been folding since. I tryed an even greater stress on my Seasonic S12 Energy+ 550W. Q6600 @ 4GHz 1,45V, 2x2GB DDR2, P45 mobo, OCed 9600GT @ 900/2400 1,4V/2.2V, 320gb hdd, lots of fans and a WC pump. This 80+ efficient unit pulled about 450W, 40-45W less power than the Tagan, and its 12V line went from 12,06V to 12,02V. Mighty impressed after all

Sure, it's no problem for decent PSUs. Tagan usually aren't...
Your PSU should be Seasonic, FSP/Fortron, Enermax or CWT based these days.
I say based because lots of good quality PSUs use these, like the Corsair HX uses Seasonic etc.

I would also like to say that my Liberty 500watt is powering:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ @ 3.5Ghz
2GB DDR2 @ DDR2-1000
Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe WiFi
eVGA GeForce 9800GTX overclocked around 10%
Triple 250GB SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache Hard Drives (2 Maxtor & 1 Seagate)
Creative X-Fi Platinum w/ Front Panel
DVD-Rom and DVD Burner
and about 4 120mm fans

I have be able to play UT3 while converting a movie on the other core without any problems.