is it good enough?

Discuss cases, PSUs, and various cooling techniques in here.
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skier
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is it good enough?

Post by skier »

so i have a Q8300 at 3GHz, GA-G31-ES2L (energy efficient series), rocketfish cooler w/92mm fan, a 120mm & 2x250mm case fans and one or two HDD's(one being a 74GB raptor) 2GB stick of 800MHz DDR2 RAM and no video card(might slip in the gt240 thats in the dell)

now this system pulls 330w under wprime 4threads(with my TX750 it pulls under 200W) and the PSU is rated for 450W with 18A on the single 12v+ rail

would this be good enough for long term use?
-Austin
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Screamin' BCLK: Image
775 System (Overclocking Platform): Q8400/Q8300/E8400/E7400/E7500 - GA-EP45-UD3R v1.1 - 4GB (2x2) OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 1066 CL5 2.1v Corsair TX-750w
Gamer: Asrock Z77 Extreme4, i7 3770K @4.6GHz, ThermalTake Armor A90 modded, 2x4GB GSKILL RipjawsX DDR3 2133 CL9, Corsair HX-750w, MSI GTX660 Twin Frozr
Server2012: Q9300 - 8GB DDR2 - Asus P5QL Pro - Corsair CX430 - Mirrored 2TB Seagate's with 2TB WD cav for fileshare backups, 1TB WD for OS backups
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skier
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by skier »

okay just made a HUGE discovery about PSU efficiency, will upload a video showing it shortly
-Austin
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Screamin' BCLK: Image
775 System (Overclocking Platform): Q8400/Q8300/E8400/E7400/E7500 - GA-EP45-UD3R v1.1 - 4GB (2x2) OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 1066 CL5 2.1v Corsair TX-750w
Gamer: Asrock Z77 Extreme4, i7 3770K @4.6GHz, ThermalTake Armor A90 modded, 2x4GB GSKILL RipjawsX DDR3 2133 CL9, Corsair HX-750w, MSI GTX660 Twin Frozr
Server2012: Q9300 - 8GB DDR2 - Asus P5QL Pro - Corsair CX430 - Mirrored 2TB Seagate's with 2TB WD cav for fileshare backups, 1TB WD for OS backups
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Major_A
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by Major_A »

Isn't it better to get a power supply closer to what the PC is actually pulling? In terms of efficiency aren't brand power supplies actually more efficient at 80% load than 30%-40%?
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by hnzw_rui »

Major_A wrote:Isn't it better to get a power supply closer to what the PC is actually pulling? In terms of efficiency aren't brand power supplies actually more efficient at 80% load than 30%-40%?
Actually, I think efficiency usually peaks around 40~60%. After that point, higher temps tend to lower efficiency. The 80 Plus certification tests PSU's at 20%, 50% and 100% load. Ideally, the build will idle at 20% of the PSU's wattage. If you go below 20% of the power rating, then you can get efficiency as low as 60%. Fans on power supplies usually start ramping up at 50% load so if you want the PSU to stay quiet, you don't want to push it past 50% of its power rating.
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by hnzw_rui »

skier wrote:now this system pulls 330w under wprime 4threads(with my TX750 it pulls under 200W) and the PSU is rated for 450W with 18A on the single 12v+ rail
What power supply is that? I'd be more concerned about quality of the power supply rather than the wattage.
File Server/Media Encoder/PVR PC
Antec P182 / Corsair 550VX / Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R / Core 2 Duo E7200 @ 2.53 / Wintec AMPX 2x2GB DDR2 800 / Sapphire 100233L Radeon HD 3450 / WD Caviar SE16 750GB x3 / WD Caviar GP 750GB / Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7190A x2 / XP Pro SP2

unRAID Server
Antec 300 / Corsair 520HX / Abit AB9 Pro / Celeron 430 @ 1.80 / Kingston ValueRAM 2x1GB DDR2 667 / ATI Rage XL / Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB x9 / unRAID 4.3.3
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skier
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by skier »

okay, was going to combine the videos but windows movie maker won't download so i just compressed and uploaded

heres the skinny:

test system in question:

Core2 Quad Q8300 3GHz
Gigabyte GA-G31M ES2L energy saver mATX w/G31 Integrated Graphics used
1x2GB Corsair XMS2 800 @800
WD Raptor 74GB
WOOO SOYO CHIPSET FAN from a skt A board!
WOOO SOYO CHIPSET FAN from a skt A board!
IMG_3334.JPG (144.5 KiB) Viewed 4874 times
CORSAIR-6.jpg
CORSAIR-6.jpg (174.33 KiB) Viewed 4874 times

Coolmax 400W unit same age as TX750
Coolmax 400W unit same age as TX750
IMG_3337.JPG (125.99 KiB) Viewed 4874 times


final numbers
measured: TX750/AP-450
idle: 75w/230w
load: 130w/330w
off: 0-1w/25-26w

HOWS THAT FOR EFFICIENCY
-Austin
Image
Screamin' BCLK: Image
775 System (Overclocking Platform): Q8400/Q8300/E8400/E7400/E7500 - GA-EP45-UD3R v1.1 - 4GB (2x2) OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 1066 CL5 2.1v Corsair TX-750w
Gamer: Asrock Z77 Extreme4, i7 3770K @4.6GHz, ThermalTake Armor A90 modded, 2x4GB GSKILL RipjawsX DDR3 2133 CL9, Corsair HX-750w, MSI GTX660 Twin Frozr
Server2012: Q9300 - 8GB DDR2 - Asus P5QL Pro - Corsair CX430 - Mirrored 2TB Seagate's with 2TB WD cav for fileshare backups, 1TB WD for OS backups
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by geokilla »

How good is the Coolmax in terms of efficiency, etc. That difference is huge!
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Major_A
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by Major_A »

Just another reason to buy a power supply that won't eventually blow up in your face. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the TX750 is a little overkill for that setup.

*EDIT*
There I fixed Coolmax's label issue.

Image

*EDIT 2*
I've bought this PSU for a few builds and have had great results with it. It runs quiet and has an adequate amount of connections. The only thing I've noticed with it though is the 12V rail is usually a tad on the high side.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817171031
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skier
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Re: is it good enough?

Post by skier »

well for standard builds im gonna go Corsair 400W from now on, $50 and a single 30A rail is solid for any mainstream graphics not to mention its corsair.

(yes i know it says $64 and $15 off, but its been at $49.99 since the first time i saw it)

and yes the 750 is overkill even for my current setup when i run a 260-250 combo(pulls 450w when both fold) but its the only decent unit i have and it was my first review back '08 so it was free ;)

i'll update with the numbers from our dell's 305W unit if i ever get to run it
-Austin
Image
Screamin' BCLK: Image
775 System (Overclocking Platform): Q8400/Q8300/E8400/E7400/E7500 - GA-EP45-UD3R v1.1 - 4GB (2x2) OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 1066 CL5 2.1v Corsair TX-750w
Gamer: Asrock Z77 Extreme4, i7 3770K @4.6GHz, ThermalTake Armor A90 modded, 2x4GB GSKILL RipjawsX DDR3 2133 CL9, Corsair HX-750w, MSI GTX660 Twin Frozr
Server2012: Q9300 - 8GB DDR2 - Asus P5QL Pro - Corsair CX430 - Mirrored 2TB Seagate's with 2TB WD cav for fileshare backups, 1TB WD for OS backups
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