Is this psu good enough?

ArseLtd

I bought a psu the other day and im abit worried about it. Here it is: http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/3973697/art/mad-x/mps-magma-680w-pc-power-s.html

It doesn't say how many amps on the 12v rail there is on the site, but i thought if its 680watts it must have at least 35 amps. I kinda wanted to go down the cheap road with this psu. :pac:

I think i just codded myself because when i took it out of the box it says "+12v1 10 A", "+12v2 10 A". Is that sh!te? Where are the 680watts? Its a dell motherboard, q9400 processor, 2 pieces of 1gb memory, 1 harddrive, 2 dvd drives. Will it run a HD 5770 if i get one?

Fabritzo

I'd go for a quality lesser wattage psu, a hamster in it's wheel could supply what you're asking for there. Dunno about the radeon though :P

Ironbar

According to your specs you wouldnt even need 680W. Only if you want to have a crossfire system you would need more power.Also you have to know that the manufacturer can put on the sticker whatever they want.

680W might be only 300W combined power, because thats the important one.I would stay away from noname brands they can be very loud when they get hot and have bad efficiency.

Corsair,bequiet,cougar,cooler master,seasonic are good ones.I have a Corsair HX650W myself.

Here's a watt calculator if you want to find out how much power you need: http://www.antec.outervision.com/

ArseLtd

Ironbar wrote: »

According to your specs you wouldnt even need 680W. Only if you want to have a crossfire system you would need more power.Also you have to know that the manufacturer can put on the sticker whatever they want.

680W might be only 300W combined power, because thats the important one.I would stay away from noname brands they can be very loud when they get hot and have bad efficiency.

Corsair,bequiet,cougar,cooler master,seasonic are good ones.I have a Corsair HX650W myself.

Here's a watt calculator if you want to find out how much power you need: http://www.antec.outervision.com/

Yeah my idea was that if i did go crossfire later that i wouldnt need another power supply. Its actually fairly good, really solid build quality and i cant hear it at all.

Thanks for the link, it said i would need 375watts including a hd 5770. My friend has a 4850, i'll see if i can get a lend of it to try it out tomorrow.

I still cant understand the amps though, my old psu was 200w and that did 12 A on the 12v, although it was only one 12v rail. And if it was only 10A, why would they put two 6+2 pin pci-e power plugs in it?

Ironbar

The manufacturers of no name PSUs often just add the max power of all output voltages. The combined power is usually smaller than the output voltages added.

It might be enough to fire up a Quad core and a 5770 but you might get stability problems later when you want to upgrade your pc.

I'd say the efficiency is not good either. It doesnt seem to have an 80+ rating. That says basically that the PSU has a certain percentage of output under a certain load. For 80+ bronze it needs to have over 80% efficiency at a load of 20% to 100%: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_PLUS

Which means less power goes off as heat, the PSU stays cooler,the fan doesnt have to spin all the time and you save money by saving energy.

Solitaire

Let's be realistic here people. If it even really has a total of 20A on the 12V rails a quad and a HD5770 would push it hard. More likely it wouldn't even be able to handle that much and would inevitably melt and/or explode in the way that dreadful no-name PSUs invariably do. Meanwhile for just a couple more euro you could have bought a Corsair CX400, which while having a shiny "400" on the box instead of "680" can actually provide 400W sustained and can provide 90% of that - a whopping 30A - on its single 12V rail, as opposed to the 20A the "bigger" PSU alleges to have :rolleyes:

Ironbar

May I recommend this:

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/29_PSU/01_PSU/productdetails/15591634/COUGAR_Power_400W_Power_Supply/COUGAR400_R/default.aspx

or this:

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/29_PSU/01_PSU/productdetails/10020274/CoolerMaster_Silent_Pro_M500_Power_supply_%28/RS500-AMBAD3-EU/default.aspx

or this:

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/675269/art/corsair/cmpsu-450vxeu-pc-power-un.html

I know theyre a bit more expensive but good.

Solitaire

... Or the aforementioned CX400, unless you've set some ungodly biblical-scale overvolt to OC that Q9400...

TerrorFirmer

God, just looking at the picture, the rear grill looks as thin as paper....Pixmania stock some horrifically cheap brands of power supply, a bit like Maplins in that way. They have a brand called Advance, with 400w units as low as 12 euro. Surprisingly, I managed to find a review on one of them after quite a trawl (sheer curiousity), and a after a google translate, was not in the least bit surprised to read how it failed every single test possible, including at ultra low draws.

Back to your own model....Mad-X MPS MAGMA...something so generously entitled generally means that it's useless. Marketing for the masses!

Realistically though. 680w. 2 8-pin PCI-E connectors. 35 euro. It gets said a lot, but oddly, rarely heeded....if its too good to be true...well, you know.

Solitaire

Aww shucks... you don't think... its that time again? Time for the Corsair vid again? The one with the exploding Raidmaxes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTVEtr14FEA

VenomIreland

Solitaire wrote: »

Aww shucks... you don't think... its that time again? Time for the Corsair vid again? The one with the exploding Raidmaxes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTVEtr14FEA

Awesome vid, but then I found this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB0vkBgFdFI

TerrorFirmer

Ah 5v....who cares

ArseLtd

Thanks everyone, i think i know what needs to be done. Im sending back that cheap ass psu and think ill get this : http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/674941/art/corsair/cmpsu-650txeu-pc-power-un.html

Indeed, a hamster wheel could run my computer but if in a years time im upgrading it would be handy not to have to buy a new psu. Also, im planning on some ungodly biblical scale overclock on the Q9400, so i think its sufficient. :P

What do you think of this one? It says 2 x 8 pin PCI Express power, i presume they are 6+2? Im pretty sure a 5770 needs 6 pins ... Also "4 PIN internal power", is that molex?
And will it be easy to send back to pixmania? Im buying from them again because they accept laser. Id like the modular but what do ya do.