Corsair HX520 dilemma

P

purplemonkey

New member
Just purchased a Corsair HX520 but I'm thinking for future proofing I should have gone for the 620 version...

I've got a 9800GTX+ at the moment but in around a year i'll be looking to upgrade to an I7/I5 system with a beefier graphics card

What should I do...????

I haven't opened it so I could send it back...

Thoughts Ideas???
 
For an i7 I'd indeed recommend going 700w+. The HX620 can however take a lot of load without becoming bad so you could've been fine with it.

You made your choice though, and there's no point in feeling bad about it ;) For this rig you have an excellent psu and upgrades tend to be pushed forward anyway.
 
With an i7 + GTX295 you'd probably be pushing your luck with the 520w, yes. Your best bet might be to see if you can get the HX520 returned and then pay for something a little higher.

The HX620 should do the job OK, but if you can afford to go higher then let us know your budget and we'll pick out the best ones for you to choose from.

My personal fave at the moment is probably the HX1000. Its a killer PSU at a v.nice price.
 
id agree with your idea and go for the corsair 620, I thought and done the same. Realistically for i7 and gtx295, it will cope fine. People get carried away with high wattage psus and think they are powering NASA!
 
name='HazzyP' said:
id agree with your idea and go for the corsair 620, I thought and done the same. Realistically for i7 and gtx295, it will cope fine. People get carried away with high wattage psus and think they are powering NASA!
Click to expand...

funny you should mention NASA:

http://www.popsci.com/node/31716 THE SHUTTLE'S COMP ONLY HAS 1MB OF RAM
 
Nothing wrong with having headroom. Fact is an over powered PSU isn't going to cost you more electricity wise as the hardware is drawing exactly the same amount on each one. In fact having an over powered one might be cheaper due to it being more efficient when at half load or so.

That said, no need to go ott :)
 
i think i'll stick with the 520 for the moment...

Hopefully in a year the prices will drop and tech will increase and I'll be able to flog the 520hx on ebay :D

thanks for your thoughts though much appreciated!
 
name='Bungral' said:
Nothing wrong with having headroom. Fact is an over powered PSU isn't going to cost you more electricity wise as the hardware is drawing exactly the same amount on each one. In fact having an over powered one might be cheaper due to it being more efficient when at half load or so.

That said, no need to go ott :)
Click to expand...

So true. Plus if you're running a 1KW PSU at only 50% of its capacity it's not going to have to spin up the fan anywhere near as much as a 600w unit running at 90% capacity.
 
name='Jim' said:
So true. Plus if you're running a 1KW PSU at only 50% of its capacity it's not going to have to spin up the fan anywhere near as much as a 600w unit running at 90% capacity.
Click to expand...

Yeap, not to mention most PSU's run at their best efficiency somewhere around 50%.

I always check http://www.80plus.org for a general idea on the PSU I'd like then go check out the reviews on them :)

Just to give you a general idea, my Q6600 setup with a 9800GTX pulled about 350w under load and idled on 200-220w. Quite alot of fans and a pump running too. If only someone with i7 had a watt meter :D
 
name='moogle' said:
Just to give you a general idea, my Q6600 setup with a 9800GTX pulled about 350w under load and idled on 200-220w. Quite alot of fans and a pump running too. If only someone with i7 had a watt meter :D
Click to expand...

That'd be W3bbo who just happens to be testing Dual GTX295's on a heavily overclocked i7 rig at the moment!

C'mon w3bbo give us some figures :p

EDIT: and another thing to remember is that your readings are before taking into consideration efficiency loss by the PSU. So if you're pulling 350w from the mains at load, and your PSU is 80% efficient, then your system is really pulling:

350w x 0.80 = 280w
 
name='Jim' said:
That'd be W3bbo who just happens to be testing Dual GTX295's on a heavily overclocked i7 rig at the moment!

C'mon w3bbo give us some figures :p

EDIT: and another thing to remember is that your readings are before taking into consideration efficiency loss by the PSU. So if you're pulling 350w from the mains at load, and your PSU is 80% efficient, then your system is really pulling:

350w x 0.80 = 280w
Click to expand...

Yes lets see those figures! I'm guessing 500w load :D

Yep the readings I had will vary for others, I was using an 80%+ PSU at the time so that might have been the actual value it was using.
 
See I almost felt silly buying the Toughpower 1.5KW PSU from Swale the other day as the power is stupid. That said I'll probably be using around 40% of that at peak so it should stay cool and nice and silent. From what I've read, they can't be used upward of around 1.2KW as they start to get seriously hot.

At £80 quid though, it would have been rude not to!!
 
name='moogle' said:
Bungral buy a power meter!!!!

You can't be using 600W :o

Unless your sig is old :D
Click to expand...

It is.... And I did say peak, as in spike when benching.

Bench this power hungry 65nm quad at 3.8GHz and will have the GTX295 highly overclocked along with the watercooling.

name='nepas' said:
so do you fancy selling that CM then Bungral?
Click to expand...

I will be indeed, but that isn't for this thread :)
 
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