The Test: Enermax Liberty 500w powering WHAT?

[Ace-a-Rue]

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

[NickS]

Haha nice

[perkam]

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

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

[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.

[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.

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

[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.

[perkam]

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.

Blasphemy !!!

:p

Perkam

[kuhla]

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

[NickS]

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

Yup, the whole point

[HiJon89]

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

Can't forget the legendary PCP&C 510W SLI
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.

[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.

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.

[HiJon89]

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.

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 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

[NickS]

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

@ 12v they're tame so meh.

[G.Foyle]

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.

[Super Nade]

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.

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?

[cky2k6]

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...

[dinos22]

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 and make this sucker screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam

anyone think it won't be able to do the test

[apexracing]

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

[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.

[dinos22]

*shakes*.

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

[Nazu]

*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.

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.

[aolforbroadband]

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 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

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.

[lowfat]

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.

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

[Xion X2]

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.

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.

[NickS]

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.