400w? 500w? Not Sure How Low I Can/Should Go

[Serra]

I'm hoping that there are some folks here who have experience with low-power systems that can help me out with a problem that I have coming up. Basically I am building 3 systems for lowish power use and am trying to standardize on a single PSU. Normally I might not mind if I bought a PSU and it turned out to be way too large or too small (I can always find use for a spare PSU), but I don't want to spend incorrectly on 3 PSU's (components will have to be ordered at the same time).

Assuming that for some reason two systems die and their components need to be consolidated into one box, the worst-case specs would look like this:

- CPU: Intel Core i5 2500T (45w part, no OC)
- ODD: 4x DVD-RW
- Mem: 2x 4GB DDR3 sticks (1.25v parts)
- Mobo: Some standard motherboard
- Video: On-CPU video
- HDD: 10x HDD + RAID Card
- Average Utilization: High

I know the ODD's and HDD's are going to increase the draw, but otherwise I'm seeing a large savings on the GPU/CPU and a sip of savings on the RAM. I want to build this system as lean and efficiently as possible. I somewhat suspect a 500w PSU would do the trick, but that's really a complete guess. For all I know I need more wattage or maybe I could get away with a lot less.

Can anyone out there offer a suggestion or educated guess?

Edit: Because we have to take PSU efficiency into account, for the record I'm thinking that for cost reasons I'll go with an 80+ Bronze certified PSU.

[zalbard]

400W high quality PSU will be just fine. Maybe even less, actually...
Mobo + CPU (w/video) + RAM is probably like 100W in total, lol.

[Frag Maniac]

Yeah the built-in video makes low power possible. Not anything like a dedicated GPU at all.

[CrazyNutz]

Hmm, 10X hdd's + RAID card, and 4x DVD. I would go with 500w. Especially If your at high utilization most of the time. You don't wan't to stress a lower watt PSU by pushing it close to it's limit over long periods of time. I build about 10 - 20 systems per month close to your spec, and I use 500w delta's. Never had PSU fail on these in years. Just my 2 cent's

[Serra]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. It sounds like I'm in the right ballpark and will probably have a bit of room to spare. Overall I don't think any one system is going to meet the specs I called out, so I'll find something in the 450-500w space (just to be safe) and feel secure about doing so.

Edit: I'm thinking... XFX Core Edition Pro 450w, any objections? XFX Core Pro series seems to be not too far down on the XS PSU ranking list, so should be a solid 450w at least. Anyone think I should jump up to 500w? I haven't seen any comparably-priced decent 500w PSU's, but maybe someone has a suggestion on that?

Edit II: I just noticed this XIGMATEK ACXTNRP-PC502 500W PSU is on sale for $45... $25 after MiR. I'm guessing that's in the "Xigmatek NRP" series in Tier 2 on the official list, is that the case? If so I'm jumping on this ASAP.

Edit III: Drat, the Xigmatek only has 4x SATA connectors. That'll do for two systems, but I'll need more than that for the one that will have 10x HDD's... hmmmm...

[zalbard]

Here's the review of Xigmatek. It's mediocre at best.
It's up to you, but I'd get something better.
XFX looks a lot better: review.

[Serra]

Hmmmm. Yeah, I just noticed that all of Xigmatek's are NPR-XXXX, so they might have made the list for a unit but not that particular unit/subseries. Damn.

I think taking SATA connector count into the equation I have no choice but to use a different PSU for the system which will have 10x HDD's + a RAID card than for the other systems, which will just have 3-4 HDD's/ODD's total.

Maybe a pair of 450w XFX's for the two systems that won't have 10x drives/RAID card and an 850w Xigmatek for the system that will have the 10x drives (the 850w model has 11 SATA plugs)? That is aggravatingly more expensive and overkill, but out-of-spec ripple just isn't cool. I don't need anything great, just something that's not bad.

[Biker]

I would consider the Seasonic X-460.

It is 90%+ efficient, virtually silent, fully modular and the noise and ripple are second to none.

It is a bit more pricy than the others mentioned but I use these PSU's exclusively in my builds and have yet to have an issue..

[stangracin3]

why not an 850 watt corsair if you are going to go that high? i mean if you are gonna get a nice psu you might as well get a very nice reliable one.

AX850 10% off with coupon code ends 4/21 (12x SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9015&Tpk=ax850

HX850 10% off with coupon code ends 4/21
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9011&Tpk=HX850

TX850 10% off with coupon code ends 4/21
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-009-_-Product

TX950 10% off with coupon code ends 4/21 (12 SATA)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9013&Tpk=TX950

[Serra]

I would consider the Seasonic X-460.

It is 90%+ efficient, virtually silent, fully modular and the noise and ripple are second to none.

It is a bit more pricy than the others mentioned but I use these PSU's exclusively in my builds and have yet to have an issue..

I love the product, I just can't afford it for these builds. The goal here is "cheap but solid". For a PSU my goal is to find the cheapest product I can that delivers fully in-spec performance without any noticeable detractors like an extremely noisy fan. Just enough so that I can sleep at night without worrying about attached hardware.


Edit: @Stan - Same as the above, but thanks for hunting up the PSU's/links... if I were building a personal desktop I'd be very interested in those.

These are not going to be performance/OC builds... just 24/7 workstations that I'm hoping will have a nice long useful life that requires no intervention. Station 1 is going to be running applications that will benefit the general house and ease my tech life, station 2 (the one with the storage) is going to be a media server, and station 3 is going to be a scratch system that I can use to test out various OS/application configurations and set up non-critical application demos for clients.

[zanzabar]

what about the ocz modxstream pro, i know its a 500W so a little overkill but u can run 4 sata setups from the back of it (if u call them and get more cables) then u wont need addapters for the drives
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341016

its the cheapest modular that i would buy on newegg ATM, and i got my dad a modX and its nice and stable with voltage and quiet and ive built 4 others with them and all running strong.

[Biker]

I love the product, I just can't afford it for these builds. The goal here is "cheap but solid". For a PSU my goal is to find the cheapest product I can that delivers fully in-spec performance without any noticeable detractors like an extremely noisy fan. Just enough so that I can sleep at night without worrying about attached hardware.

All understood.

I have also been using Antec 400W High current gamer PSU's since their release for relatively cheap solid solutions for budget builds.

Looking at your spec you will be drawing 150-225W at the wall per machine and these little guys could easily handle that

They are 80+ bronze, the current noise and ripple is acceptable and they are genuine 400W output units.

Not modular but decent cabling and lots of connectors for your drives.

I have used 20 of these in low end budget builds and a few crunchers and they are fine and quiet under 50-75% constant load...

Newegg has them on special with free shipping and a rebate too $44.99!

[stangracin3]

All understood.

I have also been using Antec 400W High current gamer PSU's since their release for relatively cheap solid solutions for budget builds.

Looking at your spec you will be drawing 150-225W at the wall per machine and these little guys could easily handle that

They are 80+ bronze, the current noise and ripple is acceptable and they are genuine 400W output units.

Not modular but decent cabling and lots of connectors for your drives.

I have used 20 of these in low end budget builds and a few crunchers and they are fine and quiet under 50-75% constant load...

Newegg has them on special with free shipping and a rebate too $44.99!

it will idle at more than that with 10 HDD's
i had 4 in my file server with a 45 watt athlon 2 and 1.5 v ddr3 that idled at 200 with 4 hard drives 2 of them being samsung F4's which are 5400 RPM

[Biker]

it will idle at more than that with 10 HDD's
i had 4 in my file server with a 45 watt athlon 2 and 1.5 v ddr3 that idled at 200 with 4 hard drives 2 of them being samsung F4's which are 5400 RPM

HDD's of this variety pull down around 10w max each so I suspect something else is causing the high power draw.

[Serra]

Alright, I think I have a solution path figured out, and I want to thank everyone for their help on this. I officially owe you all gold stars.

For the two systems that will have just 3-4 drives total (including optical), I'm going to go with either the XFX Core Pro 450 or Antec HCG-400 - final choice to be made next week and will come down to whether the Antec is still on sale and includes free shipping or not (or whether the XFX goes on sale/gains free shipping). Lowest final price of those two at time of purchase wins.

On the system with the 10x drives + RAID card I was able to come up with a bit of a different solution... I got a real boon out of left field for it. While spending some time looking for a USB cable in my tech closet earlier today I re-discovered an 80+ Silver Coolermaster UCP 900w PSU that I had thought was long gone. It only has 9x SATA connectors, but I'm going to just slap on a Molex->SATA adapter on for the optical drive and call it a day (I wouldn't want to do it to an HDD as adapters mean more noise, but I'll feel comfortable with it being on an ODD).

what about the ocz modxstream pro, i know its a 500W so a little overkill but u can run 4 sata setups from the back of it (if u call them and get more cables) then u wont need addapters for the drives
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341016

I just want to quote this separately because it's a great idea. If I hadn't rediscovered the PSU that I had lying around I would definitely go this route... much less expensive because I can still get a 500w unit instead of an 800-900+w and less cable clutter to boot. When I go to build a proper desktop for myself again I'll likely re-purpose the UCP-900 and replace it with a modular one as you suggested.