[Data]

Took the plunge and ordered my Corsair PSU today, modular 850W. 

Man, if my PC took 850 watt to use I don’t think I would be turning it on very much, the electric bill would go through the roof.

850 Watt @ 90% efficiency = 935 Watt  (GULP) Lets just say 1000, its close enough.

My PC running games, with overclocked cpu and GX card takes 290 watt, I know because I have a watt meter attached to its plug.

Yes a nice PSU but way, way over engineered for your rig Freddy, a psu like that can power 3 very hungry geforce cards in SLI. That’s really what its made for.

I’m sorry Freddy and Mav but that’s how I see it, to me it’s like an American V8 lots of power for the sake of it, because we can.

[lrh9]

Power supplies only provide power to meet the demand the computer components draw.

If you have components that draw 500 watts of power, you wouldn't be wasting 350 watts of power by having a 850 watt power supply. That extra power just wouldn't get drawn.

[Data]

I agree Irh9, but would you want a computer to take 850 Watt? I wouldn’t so I would have no need for that size PSU, Yes its good to over engineer the PSU but at what point do you say stop, If your PC, like mine is taking 290watt, (overclocked don’t forget) wouldn’t a 600 watt PSU with 100% over engineering be good enough?

[Freddy]

Hehe, well the thing is about my decision was I am looking Waaayyy down the line, in fact seven years ahead (because this comes with a 7 year warranty).

When I went to Asus and used their application that lets you figure out what size PSU you need, I filled in the form as if I was running a high end machine, including but not limited to :

• two 5850's in crossfire (not on this board)
• three or four hard drives, raid etc
• 3 and more USB devices
• 3 CD/CDRW/DVD (already have and use lol)
• and anything else I could think of that I might want to plug in.

The final result was that they recommended a minimum 850W PSU.  So that gave me a rough idea.

But you are right it probably is overkill at the moment, but like I said I am planning ahead here - I don't have to worry about a new PSU for at least seven years now.  And as LRH says it will only supply demand.

The other thing is that this current PSU I am getting concerned about, for some reason it's taking a while to power up which makes me think it is on it's way out.  And really i can't risk losing my new CPU and memory if she decides to blow.

I would never have got it if I hadn't been in credit with the Water Board lol, so I just went for the best.

But in any case, there's no need to apologise as it is slightly mad. 

[Freddy]

Just doing some maths.

Okay so this beast of a thing cost me £130.00

Say it lasts 8 years.  That' cost me £16.25 a year.

In the past four years (probably less) I have spent I estimate about £80 on PSU's as I upgraded from a simple Celeron, to AMD, to Intel Duo and now Quad Intel.  Actually I think I may have had three PSU's in all that time, so it may be a bit more than £80, but lets stick with £80.

Okay so £80 divided by four years is £20 a year and that's on bog standard PSU's that I never should have bought because it's a false economy.

Now I bet those PSU's only came with a couple of years guarantee.

So in comparison I am spending less per year, on something with an excellent warranty and is superior technology.

To me the warranty is worth paying more for itself, but with the performance too... well it seems worth it in the long run.

I'm not mad I tell you I am not 

But I agree totally that if my PC ran at 850W all the time I would probably only turn it on at the weekends for about half an hour !

[Data]

Freddy your mad  .

Ok those other power supplies you got were they, wait for it, value, unbranded? (not very good)…

Hmm, 2 X 5850’s, you must be a full on gamer Freddy
I have yet to find a game that my HD4890 can’t play at 1920 x 1080, including Crysis and GTA4.

I think I would just get one of the next gen cards eventually for Direct X 11 games, will probably be faster and take less power than 2 X  5850’s, and my mobo doesn’t support X fire anyway.

If I get some money from the Water Board. how lucky was that?, its going towards an SSD, which incidentally take less power than HDD.

I’m a tight wad and have to spend my money wisely. hehe.  And my 650watt, 4 year old, branded PSU is still working and if I remember correctly it cost me about £50.

Moving on, now maybe. 

I have played the Witcher twice; it’s a good game and well worth playing, but Im at the moment playing Assassins creed 2. Have a look at it.

[Freddy]

  Yes I am officially mad !

Two of the PSU's were value ones, one of those is still working fine in my Mum's PC though.  The one I have now is probably also classed as 'value' it's a 500W Color-IT one.  The guy at the local PC store said they were good and that a lot of the rigs they made ran fine on them.  They have gone bust now though lol, so.... yes hmmm...

2 x 5850's are in my dreams, but they will get cheaper eventually.  I would probably be satisfied with one as I always have been so far with respect to graphics cards.  Like you say in a couple of years an individual card is probably going to be wiser anyway.

I'm a tight wad too, I just had a blip of madness and thought sod it, just get something you know is going to work and work for a long time and you won't have to think about it again for  years to come.

Assassin's Creed 2 looks nice, great graphics there.  Why do the people glow sometimes with electricity ?

[Data]

I hope you get your dream of 2 x 5850's, it’s a good dream 

The electric effect happens when you merge in with the crowd, one of the ways to avoid detection.

I would say this about AC2, if you are fed up with game play in most games (I am) then get AC2, it is a new approach to gaming, AC1 was too but this new one is even more so.

I just love the acrobatics and sneakiness of it and the way it’s so open ended, do what you want when you want and go wherever you want.

I personally rate it right up there with GTA4.

[Freddy]

Yeah you have to love that free roaming, that's what I always liked about the GTA range.  I'm looking forward to Guild Wars 2 for the same kind of reason, plus I really like RPG type games.

Here's another one worth a look at : http://www.apb.com/

[Freddy]

You know I haven't seen One around anywhere for a while now - I wonder where he disappeared to.   

[Data]

APB looks interesting and Guild Wars 2, I like RPG type games too so when I’ve finished AC2 I will look at getting one of them.

You know I haven't seen One around anywhere for a while now - I wonder where he disappeared to.   

Yes, Come back One, we need your witty banter 

[Arakus]

Wow, Freddy still around and mad, good to see

also nice seeing some of my old Creations still floating around the net

hmmm, what am I up to?!?
Still playing NWN of course, building my own Mod/Server, hosting it, and playing/testing, guess that's about it as it takes up just about every waking minute..

[Duskrider]

Oh my gosh
Arakus, is it really you?
How long it been?   four?  five years?
I gotta go tell Mark and Nige.
Yes, creations still in use, we love them.

Welcome Home

[ALADYBLOND]

dusky told me you were back i thought we were dead.lol

[Art]

Arakus! Don't tell me...You're going to use the old, "Rumors of my death have been exaggerated" routine!!

Nice of you to drop in and dust off some cobwebs after what...4 or more years? Maybe 5 / 6?

Anyhow, Hope life is being good to you!! Don't be a stranger!!