First Build!!! Advice wanted

[Sora]

Actually you cannot just add up the rails due to power loosing efficiency. Look at the watts underneath the 3 rails of 540 watts. 540/12=45A on the 12'v.

At that price the 550VX which has 42 amps for only 95 bucks and free shipping AND MIR is a great buy.

 

[900RR]

k but the CM is $79.99 after rebate, free shipping, and MORE POWERRRR

 

[Sora]

Perhaps but I'm not a fan of CM PSU's and Corsair are such well made ones it would be hard not to spend the extra 15 dollars on it. Im not saying the it's a bad PSU I'm just saying that Corsair make better ones and most people me included hate MIR.

 

[Durftard]

just curious. What do yall think about this CPU cooler. I haven't heard anything about it and just saw it.

Techgage - Ultra ChillTEC CPU Cooler

nothing special.

 

[cinaibur]

I found an Antec 900 for $104 shipped on PriceGrabber.com The site has a 5 star rating and has 6700 positive user ratings. Is that a good idea? The website is techonweb.com. The reason I'm looking to find it somewhere besides newegg because I found out earlier today that I live in one of the states that newegg has to charge tax in. So since the case is $119 on newegg, there is $11 tax in my state plus $15 shipping. So it's $145 on newegg for me.

 

[veg1992]

$160 is a lot, but you could just order the case and immediately send off for the rebate, then when you get your $60, put that towards other stuff... who knows how long it would take to get the $60 back though right...

As for the CM 650 Pro power supply, it has 3, count em, 3 12v rails at 19a each, for a total of 57 amps!

you don't add up rail Amperages... and usually its better to have one giant rail over 3 little ones (thats something Corsair and PC Power and Cooling are known for in a lot of their PSU's) e.g: Corsair 520hx and PC Power and Cooling 610Silencer

 

[cinaibur]

The CM 650. the Corsair 550VX, and the Corsair 520HX all run three smaller 12v rails. The 610 Silencer is the only one out of those that uses one large 12v rail. The problem with the 610 Silencer is that even though it has a 49a 12v rail, because of this, it is quite a bit longer than your average 500-600watt PSU. This causes a problem for a lot of people with top case mounted PSU. The 610 Silencer is known for covering the top mount ventilation in those cases. However, I am running an Antec 900 which is bottom mount PSU. So there is no conflict. Is there any real difference between 1 large rail as opposed to 3 mid sized rails? If so, why? Is it for stability?

 

[IBM/PS1]

I asked that exact same question when i was working on my set-up

Taken from Pc power and cooling website

ARE MULTIPLE 12-VOLT RAILS BETTER THAN A SINGLE 12-VOLT RAIL?

With all the hype about multiple 12-volt rails (ads claim that two rails is better than one, five is better than four, etc.), you'd think it was a better design. Unfortunately, it's not!

Here are the facts: A large, single 12-volt rail (without a 240VA limit) can transfer 100% of the 12-volt output from the PSU to the computer, while a multi-rail 12-volt design has distribution losses of up to 30% of the power supply's rating. Those losses occur because power literally gets “trapped" on under-utilized rails. For example, if the 12-volt rail that powers the CPU is rated for 17 amps and the CPU only uses 7A, the remaining 10A is unusable, since it is isolated from the rest of the system.

Since the maximum current from any one 12-volt rail of a multiple-rail PSU is limited to 20 amps (240VA / 12 volts = 20 amps), PCs with high-performance components that draw over 20 amps from the same rail are subject to over-current shutdowns. With power requirements for multiple processors and graphics cards continuing to grow, the multiple-rail design, with its 240VA limit per rail, is basically obsolete.

PC Power and Cooling is once again leading the industry. All of our power supplies now feature a large, single 12-volt rail. The design is favored by major processor and graphics companies, complies with EPS12V specs (the 240VA limit is not a requirement) and is approved by all major safety agencies such as UL and TUV.3

Hope this helps. Having 1 rail with many amps on it seems to be more efficient due to the power that is lost with many smaller rails.

 

[veg1992]

The CM 650. the Corsair 550VX, and the Corsair 520HX all run three smaller 12v rails. The 610 Silencer is the only one out of those that uses one large 12v rail. The problem with the 610 Silencer is that even though it has a 49a 12v rail, because of this, it is quite a bit longer than your average 500-600watt PSU. This causes a problem for a lot of people with top case mounted PSU. The 610 Silencer is known for covering the top mount ventilation in those cases. However, I am running an Antec 900 which is bottom mount PSU. So there is no conflict. Is there any real difference between 1 large rail as opposed to 3 mid sized rails? If so, why? Is it for stability?

the answer your question is 4 posts up from what you just said:

Actually you cannot just add up the rails due to power losing efficiency. Look at the watts underneath the 3 rails of 540 watts. 540/12=45A on the 12'v.

At that price the 550VX which has 42 amps for only 95 bucks and free shipping AND MIR is a great buy.

 

[Vaanish]

The CM 650. the Corsair 550VX, and the Corsair 520HX all run three smaller 12v rails.

The VX550 runs on 1 rail rated for 41 amps.

IF you are planning on going for the PCP&C Silencer 610, keep in mind that cable management in the Antec 900 is a fairly difficult task.