Looking for a PSU and HDD total under 250$

[conanthecanadian]

My current system was running an AMD X3 720 with the 4th core unlocked, overclocked to 3.6-8(Don't quite remember), and an overclocked to the max 5870. I had a 500w power supply that seemed to be doing fine with the pair, but after about 8 months, it's near died. I need to keep it all running stock to keep everything running smoothly.

That being said, I also need another hard drive, because the latest Steam sales have taken my little 1TB and filled it to the brim.

I'm looking to pick up a power supply, at least a 750w, preferrably modular, and a 2TB hard drive, preferrably running at 7200rpm. I've found a 750w modular Ultra PSU at Tigerdirect, and a 2TB HDD running Intellipower speeds for rpm, and this totals 246$.

Now, I haven't bought any parts in over a year, so I'm a bit rusty on which sites have the best deals, and I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me out. Thanks.

[ilya]

Ultra has made some pretty pathetic power supplies ever since after the X3 series. I speak from personal experience.

With that kind of budget I would get a Seasonic X-750 or X-760 (both fully modular, 80 plus gold, one of the best on the market) and then buy 2x1TB WD Blacks or Sammy F3's or Hitachi Deskstar's. If it's mostly for storage, get a 2TB WD Green. You should be well under budget and you won't be disappointed by the PSU or the HDD, as long as you pick the right drive for your needs.

[_dangtx_]

howdy and welcome. first of all, stop using that psu right now.

and then, either as per above, or perhaps m12d? when in special, as regular price is tru the roof. or maybe look for antecs? very very quiet, will go in the budget.

2tb green all the way for storage. keep programs on your black.

[conanthecanadian]

Originally Posted by ilya

Ultra has made some pretty pathetic power supplies ever since after the X3 series. I speak from personal experience.

With that kind of budget I would get a Seasonic X-750 or X-760 (both fully modular, 80 plus gold, one of the best on the market) and then buy 2x1TB WD Blacks or Sammy F3's or Hitachi Deskstar's. If it's mostly for storage, get a 2TB WD Green. You should be well under budget and you won't be disappointed by the PSU or the HDD, as long as you pick the right drive for your needs.

That power supply definitely seems doable, but if I got it, I'd be out of my price range for the hard drive. I need to pick up both parts in a 250$ budget. Limiting, but it's all I'll be able to manage for a few months.

The new hard drive is going to be for games, but if need be, I can handle slower load times, as long as it's a 2TB hard drive.

[JD]

Are you stuck to only buying from TigerDirect? Can you order online? In-store only? Need to know that kind of stuff first.

Anyways, here's some decent choices:
Corsair HX 650W Modular Power Supply at Memory Express Computers
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...6&promoid=1276
NCIX.com - Buy XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular ATX Power Supply ATX12V 52A 24PIN 80PLUS Bronze - P1650XCAH9 In Canada.

I don't think you really need 750W, but that's up to you to decide. 600W is definitely more than sufficient for this PC.

If you must go with the higher wattage, then:
Newegg.ca - CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
NCIX.com - Buy Seasonic M12D 850W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply Active PFC 80PLUS 8PIN PCI-E 120MM Fan - M12D-850W In Canada.

[ilya]

Originally Posted by conanthecanadian

That power supply definitely seems doable, but if I got it, I'd be out of my price range for the hard drive. I need to pick up both parts in a 250$ budget. Limiting, but it's all I'll be able to manage for a few months.

The new hard drive is going to be for games, but if need be, I can handle slower load times, as long as it's a 2TB hard drive.

Sorry if I didn't clarify, a 2TB non Green/low RPM drive can be had for about $80 atm, load times won't be too slow, but the performance hit will be noticeable. A 2TB performance drive is around $150 atm, not many sales on those. The minor performance gain really isn't worth nearly double the cost. You're better off buying 2x 1TB Samsung F3's or 2x1TB Hitachi's, performance will pretty much be the same. The Hitachi's can be easily had for ~$50 a piece.

As for the PSU, I looked at your system specs and TBH, you don't need a 750W PSU, just a quality 500W+ unit. An unlocked triple core+5870 isn't that taxing on a PSU, even at full load.
You could get the X-750 for ~$150 if you want to Crossfire in the near future, or you could go with a cheaper X-560 or X-650 for ~$120-$140.
Or as dangtx mentioned, the M12D gets dirt cheap on sale, if you can wait for one. There's also a few new Antec's that are pretty nice.

So how you go about doing it will define how much cash you save.

[AkG]

"Intellipower speeds" means you are looking at WD Greens already. Decent drives for their intended purpose: low power, low noise, low cost storage. BUT your game load times will suffer somewhat. IF game load times are important (maybe Im reading to much into your steam comment but it sounds like you want a HDD for steam) you may want to look more towards WD Blacks, Seagate XT, Hitachi 7k100.c's, etc. You can usually get a 1TB 7200rpm for about 80-90 bucks. This leaves you with about 160 for the PSU.
My personal favs are Corsair, Seasonic, XFX.
The seasonic M12D 850 is on sale for 150 over at ncix.
THe XFX 850 is on for 92 after MIR at ncix (i use this in my own gaming rig, it powers 9hdds, 1 ssd, 1 burner, gtx 580, sound card and a 6 core 1090T overlcocked to 3.8ghz its a Seasonic rebadge and VERY good)
The Corsair HX750 and HX850 are on sale at ncix for 132 and 156. Also good psu's.

Pick one and enjoy...but 90 bucks for the XFX is almost a no brainer :)

IF you want one of the best psu's out there the Seasonic X750 and X760 are $165 at ncix. IMHO the extra coin for the X750 vs the XFX 850 is NOT worth it as you will NEVER get the savings back in electricity saved. YMMV

90 bucks for the PSU leaves you 160 for HDDs. You could probably get TWO 1TB blacks for that (or close anyways)....which would leave you PLENTY of room for Steam and other goodies. THe xfx 750 is 82 after MIR which SHOULD almost certainly get you 2 7200rpm HDDS. ;)
YMMV but XFX 750 + 2 1TB Blacks = more than enough for your needs.

EDIT:
the 1tb 7100.c Hitachis are only 50-60 bucks....meaning you could CERTAINLY get two of them + the XFX with your budget. :)

[conanthecanadian]

Originally Posted by AkG

"Intellipower speeds" means you are looking at WD Greens already. Decent drives for their intended purpose: low power, low noise, low cost storage. BUT your game load times will suffer somewhat. IF game load times are important (maybe Im reading to much into your steam comment but it sounds like you want a HDD for steam) you may want to look more towards WD Blacks, Seagate XT, Hitachi 7k100.c's, etc. You can usually get a 1TB 7200rpm for about 80-90 bucks. This leaves you with about 160 for the PSU.
My personal favs are Corsair, Seasonic, XFX.
The seasonic M12D 850 is on sale for 150 over at ncix.
THe XFX 850 is on for 92 after MIR at ncix (i use this in my own gaming rig, it powers 9hdds, 1 ssd, 1 burner, gtx 580, sound card and a 6 core 1090T overlcocked to 3.8ghz its a Seasonic rebadge and VERY good)
The Corsair HX750 and HX850 are on sale at ncix for 132 and 156. Also good psu's.

Pick one and enjoy...but 90 bucks for the XFX is almost a no brainer :)

IF you want one of the best psu's out there the Seasonic X750 and X760 are $165 at ncix. IMHO the extra coin for the X750 vs the XFX 850 is NOT worth it as you will NEVER get the savings back in electricity saved. YMMV

90 bucks for the PSU leaves you 160 for HDDs. You could probably get TWO 1TB blacks for that (or close anyways)....which would leave you PLENTY of room for Steam and other goodies. THe xfx 750 is 82 after MIR which SHOULD almost certainly get you 2 7200rpm HDDS. ;)
YMMV but XFX 750 + 2 1TB Blacks = more than enough for your needs.

EDIT:
the 1tb 7100.c Hitachis are only 50-60 bucks....meaning you could CERTAINLY get two of them + the XFX with your budget. :)

I checked NCIX for the XFX you were talking about, but all I could find was an XFX 850 for 144$ after the manufacturer's MIR.

[_dangtx_]

HIS Radeon HD 6970 2 GB Review - Page 27/33 | techPowerUp

i reckon he will be pulling around 250-300 watts on the 12v at load. so, as said/stated before, a decent 500 will do. will it be quiet>? if you chose smartly, yes. bang per buck on the cheap the antecs are hard to beat. the earthwatts or the modular 500 watters are dead quiet, even over 300 watts on said 12v. you may happen to get the one noisy sof out of 10k units lol, but chances are youll be fine

my bro's running a 430 and hes pulling roughly the same wattage, cant hear it over other stuff hes got in there, and its pretty quiet of a box, i might add

as you see, mr conan, dont be afraid to ask, well jump in and blabber our harts out :)

[ilya]

Originally Posted by AkG

EDIT:
the 1tb 7100.c Hitachis are only 50-60 bucks....meaning you could CERTAINLY get two of them + the XFX with your budget. :)

Check the weekly sale AKG :) $50 for the Hitachi's, limited quantities though. They were $40 before and I missed it.
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB 1000GB Hard Drive SATA2 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN Oem - DirectCanada
Same here: NCIX.com - Buy Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB 1000GB Hard Drive SATA2 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN OEM - 0F10383 In Canada.
Both are the same company with a different stock pool. You can probably just pricematch at NCIX and get the price if stock runs out.

Originally Posted by AkG

IF you want one of the best psu's out there the Seasonic X750 and X760 are $165 at ncix. IMHO the extra coin for the X750 vs the XFX 850 is NOT worth it as you will NEVER get the savings back in electricity saved. YMMV

If you can get them for the same price I'd say it's worth it, although the 850W's get as low as $100 after MIR.
If you don't plan on using the overhead of a higher watt PSU: Newegg.ca - Seasonic SS-560KM Active PFC F3, 560W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91, 80Plus Gold Certified, Modular Power Supply
If you want to crossfire later on or reuse the PSU for a more power hungry build:
SEASONIC 650W 80+ GOLD MODULE 12CM SILENT FAN 20+4PIN,ACTIVE
SEASONIC 750W 80+ GOLD MODULE 12CM SILENT FAN 20+4PIN,ACTIVE