Just another noob with a question... :)

[Giveup]

Hiya!

1st… Thanks JG and everyone else for the great site and honest reviews. 2nd… Thanks for looking at this and hopefully sharing your thoughts.

OK, it’s been 3 years and I’m putting my P4 to pasture and building a C2D. So, I’m doing my bi/tri-annual of staying up late, reading way to many reviews, and generally flooding myself with information to get caught up on current technology. 3 days ago I was all set to plop down $115AR for the OCZ 700w at ZZF.com then I made the fatal mistake of reading way, way to many reviews…..

Ok so my WAB (wife approved budget) leaves me with $130 for a supply. I’d like to get some advice from the collective opinions here.

My build plans:
E6600 (mild OC.. maybe 3.0 or so)
Evga 680i
8800 gts to start and another when they drop to $300 or so.
Plans for a GPU or PPU when/if they take off
4g of mem
5 120 fans (more likely just 3)
4 HDs (3 raptors, 1 storage if it matters)
1 optical (maybe a floppy… heheh)
Fan controller and cardbus reader
Couple usb devices
XFi card
OH… and in a antec p180… not sure the zeus would even fit?!?!

Option 1: The OCZ seems to fit my build nicely. I’ve read JG review and many… many other ‘expert’ opinions. It’s funny… a few months before Jonny found the ‘ripple’ this seemed to be the dollar for watt favorite and afterwards it was suddenly garbage. (Figuratively speaking of course… this is how it looks as a noob from outside looking in at various forums.:o ) I’ve yet to read or hear of anything bad happening due to this ‘ripple’. Some suspicions of poor OC performance, questions of build quality, but no ‘blue smoke’ releases or anything such. It seems to me any decent MB should be able to filter the ripple just fine for the limited time this supply will see near full load. At least that is my rational, which may just equate to my ignorance! :D At it’s current price and watt/amp output it stills seem the budget leader (if you can overlook the ‘ripple’) and will be relatively future proof. Plus it looks be rather efficient, a nice bonus.

Option 2: On the other hand, 5+ years ago I coughed up $100 for an Enermax (that was a chunk for a PS then) and it’s still going strong. It has lasted me through 2 PC builds, and pretty much been on 24/7 for 5 years. It hurt like the dickend to drop $100 on a supply when they were a dime a dozen (literaly) but it has been worth every penny. SO… for double my budget or $230 it looks like I can grab a ST85ZF. There seems to be little question of this units pedigree. The question is will this supply last me 5 more years? Will it fit the P180? And the fact that it isn’t very efficient at light load kinda sucks:( . And at least right now it seems sort of overkill. But so did my Enermax 5 years ago....

My line of thought is to buy something future proof again. Spend the money and get a good supply. But my concern is will the ST85ZF still be a ‘enough’ supply in 2+ years? At the rate Vid cards are sucking it back we will need to push our dryers aside to steal the 220 outlets! It’s impossible to predict the future and EASY for you guys to spend MY money;) . But in all reality, what would you buy? Spend $115 and consider it disposable supply good for 2 years or kick out $230 and hope for some life out of it?

I’ve considered the ST56ZF, it’s about the same price ($115) shipped as a replacement for the OCZ…. But I’m concerned it wouldn’t be able to handles 8800GTSx2 and a PPU/GPU if and when. I’ve also considered the Corsair 620 as middle ground… but I figure if I’m at $170 then I might as well kick out $50 more. ;) I guess it boils down to this. The ST85ZF seems like a kick ass supply for the price, but in the next 2 years is it gonna be just as obsolete as the OCZ or Corsair or one of its little brothers? Thoughts, opinions, name calling… let me hear ya, Thanks.

Dam this post ended up long winded…. Sorry for that. :o

[Oklahoma Wolf]

The Epsilon/Gamexstream design does indeed have a ripple issue, but not so much so that it should be avoided at all costs. I consider it a decent budget high power unit. There are two variants that look to be a little better constructed - the Zalman 600W and the Gamexstream 850W... both of these look to have more substantial filtering on the output side.

My suggestion would be to consider the ST75ZF as well... cheaper than its big brother, and at least as future proof as the OCZ would be. Definitely a better unit than the OCZ also. The Corsair is an excellent option as well - it's actually a single 50A 12v rail design.

I think the ST56ZF could possibly handle SLI with 8800's, but it would be pushing it pretty good. There'd be little headroom left if it did work.

What would I buy? ST75ZF or a Zippy 720W Gamer unit (we can get them in Canada at NCIX) ;)

Edit - forgot to mention, the Silverstone units will likely have you pulling that fan out of the lower compartment of the P180 to get them to fit. Not sure how long the cables are though.

[Bbq]

In a P180, that lower middle fan isn't really useful. HDD temps for me dropped a whole degree when i took it out.

[Giveup]

Thanks for the info guys.

I'm not gonna lose any sleep over the lower fan being gone. From the sounds of it I can modify it and slip a 120 in front anyway if I want to. The important thing is it fits. I would have to imagine the cables are plenty long enough... I thinkg JG or one of the other reviews I read mentioned they were above average.

I thought of the ST75ZF also. Seems like a great supply and most definately better than the OCZ. But for only $50 more the 85 gives me 10amps/100watts more to play with. Tough call... either one will put me over my WAB. :cool: SO I might as well break it good. :)

[CAD4466HK]

I had to yank the fan and the chassis out to fit my Zeus in my P180:p
Like Bbq said, it's not that useful unless you have a PSU with anemic airflow;)

[Praxis1452]

well I think antec designed the P180 maybe with a passive psu in mind? I mean the antec 500W would work well.

[Skott]

Have you seen the new P-190? Not yet released but some pics have already leaked out. Lotsa cooling and comes with two psu. Pricey though. Google it for pics.