Seasonic or Corsair

[t0m3k312]

I'm building a new desktop, here are my specs:

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3
Intel Core i7-2600K
Corsair XMS3 - 12GB - 1600MHz
EVGA - NVIDIA GTX460
ASUS 12X BD-ROM

I narrowed my PSU selection to these two units, but I can't decide on the one to get.

Seasonic X750 Gold or Corsair Pro Series HX750.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[kbohip]

Both of those are excellent, so I'd go with whatever one has the features you like better. Honestly though, for an average system like that, I'd go with a smaller wattage psu and save some money. This assumes of course that you're not planning to go SLI in the future. I ran your build specs through a psu calculator (assumed 2 HDD's and 4 120mm fans) and it came back with a recommended psu wattage of only 407. So anything with 500 watts or more will be fine for you.

Oh and amazingly enough, let's say you buy a Geforce GTX 680 in the future? That only adds another 29 watts to make it a total of 436 watts recommended psu!

Link to the calculator I use:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

[t0m3k312]

Wow, thanks.

I actually plan on having more than 2 hard drives (3 or 4). I run VMs too.

You think I should consider going with a 650W PSU then?

SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold or CORSAIR Pro Series HX650?

[kbohip]

Heh, I just checked the price on the 650 Seasonic X Series and it's only $5 less than the 750. If you're dead set on the Seasonic definitely go for the 750 for that tiny difference. A 650 watt psu would work just fine in your system though.

As for your question? Well, I'll never argue that buying a good psu is a waste of money, I will however say that I've built dozens of systems over 13 years and have never spent $150 on any psu. Matter of fact, other than the psu on my very first build (which was a garbage brand) I've only had one psu die on me, and that was within the first 3 months and was replaced under warranty. The replacement lasted 4+ years until it became necessary for me to buy a bigger psu for my SLI setup.

My last psu came from a brand I thought I'd never buy, OCZ. Upon reading a few reviews though I changed my mind and went with an 850 watt model from them. At the time I got it for $80, and it's been an excellent psu to power my oc'd cpu and video card system. It's total overkill for what I have but at the price I couldn't pass it up. So as you can see, I never pay above $100 for a psu and in all that time I've only had one unit go bad, out of probably 50.

My advice to you is to check out a website called Johnnyguru.com and narrow your choices down from there. They go no holds barred on their tests and if they don't like a psu, you'll know it! They have also found some really great deals for me on brands I wouldn't normally consider.

[t0m3k312]

Thank you.

I'm leaning towards a 650W.
I posted the same question over at JonnyGURU.com forum, I'll check the reviews on the SeaSonic & Corsair units I'm interested in.

[bmaverick]

If you want to commonize the brand in your build, then the Corsair would be the pick. Both the memory and PSU would have the same color scheme if chosen that way from Corsair. Just sayin here.

[t0m3k312]

Yup, it would match the GA-Z68XP-UD3 board.

[kbohip]

Thank you.

I'm leaning towards a 650W.
I posted the same question over at JonnyGURU.com forum, I'll check the reviews on the SeaSonic & Corsair units I'm interested in.

Wow. Looks like you got a lot of help over there! Have you made a decision yet?

[no2guncntrl]

If I recall correctly and that's seldom, Sea Sonic makes the higher end
Corsair's for Corsair. One things for sure, I'll always go with a Corsair
before any else simply due to their CS. I once screwed a new 550 up
and copped to it to Corsair's CS. They told me to pack it up and send
it to them. I didn't hold much chance of getting it repaired because I
really messed up by cutting into the wiring.

Next thing I know about 3 weeks later, I have this package sitting on my
porch. I saw it was from Corsair and just knew they couldn't-wouldn't
do anything about it because of my stupid mistakes.

I opened the box and to my complete surprise, was a brand new 550
PSU with a note. "NO CHARGE, ENJOY AND THANKS FOR USING
CORSAIR PRODUCTS"

Now that is above and beyond customer service and I do all I can to steer
folks towards Corsair products. By the way, that was back in 09 or 10 and
I'm still using the 550 they sent me. In fact I'm writing this due to that same
PSU, and this is gospel.

If you're interested in the 650, Amazon has it for 110.+/- > and ships free.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139012

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Profes...5835945&sr=8-1

[Meridian]

I'd also endorse Corsair: I've used their PSUs exclusively for three years now, after changing from Antec. I ran an 850W Corsair for several months at what was probably slightly more than full spec without a hitch. But... I'm a great believer in buying an over-specced PSU (the 850 was replaced by a 1200) because it gives you extra head-room. It's annoying going SLI and realising that this means a new power supply.


M

[geekkyyy]

the corsair unit is built by channel well, which seems to be a very good manufactuer ...i was sort of surpised not to see a seasonic platform in the corsair...i just bought a tx850 corsair off amazon, and its got a seasonic platform

either are great power supplys, and would do you very well