Power supply for new upgrade?

[supersunbird]

Got a 450w AOpen that has served me well, but upgrading now and old stuff going to moms PC:

Current:
2.7GHz Athlon X2
Asus AM2 nvidia SLI motherboard
2 x 2Gb DDR2
ATI 4670 Graphics card
4 Harddrives

New
Athlon2 x3 - 460 (3.4Ghz) 95w
Asus AM3 motherboard (amd870 + SB850 chipset)
2 x 4Gb DDR3
ATI 4670 Graphics card
4 Harddrives
DVD writer

I think a good 600w will be useful for any upgrade I might make to the graphics eventually, so my 3 options are:
Corsair CX600 http://www.corsair.com/builder-series-cx600-v2-80plus-certified-power-supply.html
Coolermaster RP/RS-600-PCAR eXtreme power http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=5906&category_id=27
Antec VP650P 650w http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?Type=Mw==&id=NzA0NDU3

They all have the similar connecter setups and rail specifications, the Corsair and Antec are around the same price and the Coolermaster is about R100 cheaper.

Any advise?

 

[Pada]

Don't even consider getting that Coolermaster PSU.

You can also consider the Antec HCG520, which would he able to run any single GPU graphics card.

 

[PostmanPot]

Antec High Current Gamer 520w / 620w.

CX600 next on list. 80+ certified. 3yr warranty.

CM EP are not such great PSUs, do the job though. No 80+ certification. 2 year warranty.

VP650P also isn't 80+ certified, but looks to be much better than CM EP. What bothers me is that this PSU is dual 12v rail. Single rail is arguably better. 2 year warranty.

Lower wattage Antec HCG have single 12v rail, made by Seasonic OEM (arguably best PSU OEM), 80+ with high efficiency. Best value for money entry-mid quality PSU. 3 year warranty.

As Pada says, HCG 520 will run any single card on the market, so don't think you need a 600watter. A 600watter would only run slightly cooler & quieter, no other benefit really.

 

[Pada]

The V650P is 80%+ efficient, but it will never get the 80+ certification because it doesn't support 110V input.
I completely forgot that it had a dual +12V rail design, which I really dislike when it comes to high end graphics cards.

The Corsair CX600 costs more than the Antec HCG520 and it can't even deliver more juice. The CX600 does come with a 3 year warranty, just like the HCG520.

If you think you'll upgrade to like an GTX580/HD6970 and if you're concerned about noise/temperature inside your case, then it would be worth while to upgrade to the HCG620 - like PostmanPot said.

 

[supersunbird]

Well, the HCG 520 does fall within my budget. Thanks guys

 

[alternate]

Well, the HCG 520 does fall within my budget. Thanks guys

Please tell me if you manage to find one in stock somewhere

 

[PostmanPot]

Please tell me if you manage to find one in stock somewhere

Stock arriving next year only...

 

[supersunbird]

Forget the PSU, there at least theres options, WTF can I get a motherboard for the Athlon2 x3... some sabretooth thing is all i can get and thats a R1000 more...

 

[Chevron]

Forget the PSU, there at least theres options, WTF can I get a motherboard for the Athlon2 x3... some sabretooth thing is all i can get and thats a R1000 more...

Any Am3 board will take that CPU.

 

[supersunbird]

Any Am3 board will take that CPU.

One with 4x RAM slots, that isn't a all-in-one micro-atx with 2 slots? The only ones I can find in stock is ~R2000 and then I might just as well go Intel..

And why is everything intel so expensive? and all the usefull (fast) processors now seem to have graphics onboard?

 

[Pada]

You really won't need more than 2x RAM slots, especially not with such an entry level CPU (AMD x4 640). 2x 4GB of RAM would be more than enough.

Now is a rather poor time for buying custom PC components, since most of the online PC shops are closed (and most likely their suppliers too) for the festive season.

If you really can't find AMD motherboards, then perhaps look at going for an Intel Core i3 2100 (~R1200) + H61 chipset motherboard (~R600) + 2x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz CL9 1.5V (~R400). Just take note that the cheap H61 chipset motherboards does not have USB3 or SATA III (6Gbps).

Lastly:
All the Intel Sandy Bridge CPU's include integrated graphics processors.

 

[supersunbird]

I expect my build to last me 4 years with a ram upgrade to 16GB (so those slots are needed) and new graphics, just like my previous build did with a ram upgrade and 2 graphics card upgrades..

Maybe I should postpone my upgrade to next year then till I can get the motherboard I want.

The Intel path would just be a R100 more but back when I did build systems I always found my Athlon X2 to be faster than any Intel quad core I built. Booting faster and feeling snappier in the OS.

Whats the benefits of Sandy Bridge except for when your gaming graphics card dies so you have something to work with??

 

[Pada]

How much RAM are you currently using?
If you're not using more than 3GB at this moment, then I highly doubt that you'll need more than 8GB within the next 3 years or so. 16GB of RAM would be nice to have, because then you can create a RAM drive for temporary files, etc.

Overall the Sandy Bridge CPU's are faster and more efficient than the AMD CPU's.

If you're considering to keep your PC for that long, then it would be worth while to spend more on it and go for a Intel Sandy Bridge i5/i7 CPU + H67/P67/Z68 chipset motherboard / AMD Phenom II X6 1055T BE + AM3+ chipset motherboard.