WillC

Hey, so a few weeks or so back I decided to grab a Radeon HD4830 for a gift. The problem is that the PSU that he is using won't be able to run it. There was a good priced PSU out there but I didn't realize it was on sale and now it is around $110 as opposed to $60. I made the mistake of not ordering then, but I am still looking for a good priced PSU that can handle the GPU.
His specs are something like 750Gb HD, Athlon 64 X2 3.0GHz, 2 or so gigs of ram, and it should also be able to power a HD4830.

Currently he is using a Thermaltake 450W PSU but the problem is that it does not have the 6-pin connector that powers the GPU so it won't work.

Right now I'm looking at spending about $50 - $70 on a good PSU that can power all of that. I've been looking at 500W 2 - 12V rails but I can't really decide. Since I'm in Canada I was looking at Newegg.ca - Rosewill RG530-2 530W 80Plus Bronze Certified, ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready, Active-PFC Power Supply, UL,FCC,CE,TUV,ROHS - Power Supplies or possibly this here Newegg.ca - COOLMAX V-600 600W ATX12V Power Supply - Power Supplies.

Thanks again.

Judas

the 450watt thermaltake "might" be able to do it... i think the hd4830 only uses the single 6pin doesn't it? (it would need the dual 4 pin molex to 6pin adapter though)

course that isn't a good idea imo...


I don't know much about the psu's you mentioned, they would appear to be "off brand"

just make sure the specs list no less then a 32amp combined dual 12v rail would be my suggestion..... anything higher would be a wise idea though.

The rosewill would be my first choice though IF the actual values for the 12v rails are actually what they state they are

__________________

Matth

You could do a lot better, and a trustworthy 500W would be the equal of many a 550/600

Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply - Power Supplies - with dual 16A, it's not an elite workhorse, but then $62.99 is not an elite price

Newegg.ca - Antec Basiq BP500UB 500W ATX12V Version 2.01 Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies - A 500W Antec for £50.49 - just how basic is the Basiq model?

Newegg.ca - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies - OCZ 500W - and a hot rebate deal


Newegg.ca - PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies - With the rebate, it scrapes into your price range

Newegg.ca - PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies - as does this OCZ


Always worth checking the next price range up for rebate deals, and of course, checking the terms of the rebate, as it's no good if it's going to be difficult to claim.

__________________
Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

WillC

Hmm, I looked at all of them, but those two $88 ones only have a single 12V rail is that bad?
The ones that I've narrowed it down to are Newegg.ca - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies and Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply - Power Supplies.
Just because that have 2 12V rails and are relatively known good brands.

Also, this one that I found Newegg.ca - Rosewill RG530-2 530W 80Plus Bronze Certified, ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready, Active-PFC Power Supply, UL,FCC,CE,TUV,ROHS - Power Supplies, it has 4 12V rails and it seems to have good customer ratings, should I stick to this one? It seems pretty good and has that energy star rating apparently.

mkk

A simple 6-pin adapter will do nicely unless the PSU is of low quality. Many cards come with one in the package.

A single rail is a good thing in practice, as you won't risk having to switch cables around in order to get the full capacity out of the powersupply. Corsair's 450VX is another great product. High efficiency, single rail, low noise even in heated conditions and a quality build that really delivers on its specs. Though I see Newegg doesn't have it.

OldBuzzard

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply - Power Supplies

400W one, but plenty of AMPS on the v12. Also, being a Corsair, it's most likely UNDERATED, and is probably more like a 450W Psu. It should work for that system, but won't allow for much in the way of future upgrades. This one might be marginal, and I don't recommend it as much as the following two.

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

"True" 450W. Will work with no problem, and would allow for a bit of upgrading.

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

550W, and will allow him to upgrade to SLI/Crossfire or one of the ATI x2 cards if he want's to.

When it comes to PSUs, I'm a shameless Corsair fanboi There is good reason for it tho, as with Corsair, there is no such thing as a 'bad' PSU. All of their offerings are at, or near, the top of their respective classes in Quality, performance and effeciency. Go with one of the Corsairs I listed above and you can't go wrong.

They might be a bit more $$ than you are looking to spend, but they will be well worth it, as they won't fail and destroy other components when they do.

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

WillC

What exactly is a rail, is it the amount of bundled power cords for things like fans and drives, or is it something internal inside the PSU itself?

I found one of those converters in my GPU box so I would guess that the 4830 would come with one. However if a HD4830 is a big power hungry step up from a X1650 then I would probably have to buy a new PSU too. I would prefer to not spend $100 more that's why I was looking at that 4 12V rail one thats roughly $70. Honestly I don't think it matters if it is very upgradable for him because he buys almost a whole new computer every 2-3 years. By that time, the PSU that is needed to power is md-range stuff would be about $70 also.

Basically as long as it will run his system with no crashes, power, or heat issues, then it's fine. Sorry I hadn't mentioned it before, it probably could have saved you guys some time!

Btw OldBuzzard, the two links you referred to are the same

mkk

Typically with todays powersupplies the multiple 12V rails really derive from a single rail internal design, and then two or more 12V output rails that are individually limited to deliver a certain maximum amperage. That way the CPU typically gets one output rail for itself the the remaining output rail(s) gets divided between the other parts of the system. That has its technical merits but as long as the PSU is of decent quality there's little practical benefit compared to those that provide a single rail for everything to feed off.

If you want some heavier reading on PSU's then this article seems good for what I can tell: So what's all this rubbish about multiple 12 volt rails?

OldBuzzard

Shoulda been this one

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

WillC

Hmm, ok thanks for the overview mkk. So should I maybe buy him a 2 12V rail PSU for about $70? He won't be using it for SLI, and his next upgrade will probably only be a motherboard for a few years (from micro ATX to ATX) and possibly a case that has better airflow. Re-looking at some of those links above, I think I'd be good buying either one of these two: Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER eXtreme RP-500-PCAR 500W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply - Power Supplies, or Newegg.ca - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies. I like the OCZ because of th $25 rebate, good history, and the warranty.