Seasonic PSU's and powering ASIC's

[mistfpga]

Hi all,

I have a couple of bASIC's on order and thought I would share an email I got from seasonic regarding their 1000w platinum psu

Dear Steve,

Thank you very much for your mail and I am glad you have found the issue in your system.

As for the Platinum 1000, it can run continuously at 1000 watts and it meets the 80PLUS Platinum efficiency level at that power output.

The OPP, Over Power Protection is set at around 20% over so it can spike up to 1,200 ± for short bursts without any problems.

If you have further questions, please let me know.

Thank you again,
Walter
-------------------------------------
Walter Sun
www.seasoniceu.com

follow up  email

Hi Steve,
Maybe the below information will help.
Regards,
Walter

 
1.      18AWG wires used on the peripheral connectors has current limit of 15A
2.      SATA terminal (pinout) current limit: 1.5A
3.      Molex terminal (pinout) current limit: 7A
4.      SATA housing max temperature: 105C
5.      Molex housing max temperature: 85C
6.      Power Supply's connector's 6 pin terminal (pinout): 7A
7.      Power Supply's connector's 6pin housing is max 85C

Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of Seasonic Electronics Co., Ltd.

I bolded the part of his sig that is relevant.

So it would seem that the sweetspot for this psu will be 900-1000 watts for best efficiency

Anyway if you are going to power your ASIC use a seasonic or a rebadged seasonic.  They are the best in the industry.  I have had 3 psu's blow all due to my own fault (water, blocking the fan, and some metal filings). two were rebadged seasonics (corsair tx 650 running at 625) and they saved all the other components from frying.  my one non seasonic, (OCZ, it was a gift) blew and took the board and two gpu's with it.

check out who makes your psu...

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=PSU_Manufacturers

and a massive database of the technical details of the psu's

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page541.htm

enjoy.

steve

[AndrewBUD]

Channel well and Seasonic seem to make the best PSU's available....

[mistfpga]

Channel well and Seasonic seem to make the best PSU's available....

I dont rate CWT all that highly... they used to make some shoddy devices with over powered 3.3v and 5v so they could put a higher wattage on the product (so they label it as 650 watt when it can only give 400watts on the 12v rail [i made those numbers up as an example])

really seasonic is the only psu to buy. (maybe delta, never owned one but i hear positive things about them)

[AndrewBUD]

I have had great success with Thermaltake  Toughpower PSU's which are CWT....

[mistfpga]

I just took a look at the toughpower series,

http://www.thermaltake.com.au/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001564

That actually looks quite nice.   It has a good review too, I don't own one, but if it does run at 650 continual (like the specs state it does) then we can assume the ripple isnt a problem.

looks like that psu is solid. Maybe CWT have sorted themselves out or maybe Thermaltake demanded higher specs. who knows.

Still the old cwt's are crap. and if in doubt, buy seasonic

[kwoody]

quite glad to see this thread, i was questioning which psu to purchase to power my incoming bASIC devices. how do you feel about rosewill, newegg's in-house brand? i assumed they were garbage, until i saw:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182261

15 reviews, 14 5-star, 1 4-star, not a single complaint about the unit.. gold certified 450w, $60 after promo code... any ideas/estimates on power consumption of the bASIC units? will need a psu that will safely and efficiently power 2 54's and 1 27. thanks for the 411.

[mrb]

Tom said a 1000W PSU should be able to power 8-10 bASIC units.
This means that those who bought a round amount of 10 units who want to be absolutely sure that a single PSU will be sufficient need to have a 1200W PSU or higher.

For that reason I recommend the Corsair AX1200. Every reviewer absolutely raves about it. Its only inconvenient? It is a bit expensive. Oh wait... someone is selling 20 units here for only $200

[cheebydi]

Hm, this thread is making me reconsider using my OZC 1250W I used for a 3x5970 1x5850 rig.

Damn, off to ebay with it and seasonic or corsair it is then.

[bcpokey]

Seasonic is definitely one of the best, if not the best maker of PSU around. Corsair has a number of lines that are rebranded Seasonics, which is good, since Corsair has consistently had possibly the best customer service stories around.

As with most things however, I recommend you don't just take a "brand name" and think "oh this is teh awesomez", do a quick review on the SPECIFIC MODEL you are thinking of purchasing. If you can't find reviews, that is often a bad sign.

Rosewill for example makes a number of lines of wholly inferior worthless PSUs, and they have a number of spectacular performing models, that can save a chunk of dough off brand name. Thermaltake has a line of junk, and a line of good performers (I myself own a ToughPower series which I used on my mining rigs, an 850W that I picked up for $60 on sale). CWT, Delta, Antec, OCZ, they can all be hit or miss (some do miss more often than others ofc).
I would possibly only universally badmouth a company HEC, which makes fairly across the board sh*t.

Glad to see some people are finally taking power delivery seriously. There is definitely a lot more to PSUs than just pushing a number of Watts down a cable.

[mistfpga]

quite glad to see this thread, i was questioning which psu to purchase to power my incoming bASIC devices. how do you feel about rosewill, newegg's in-house brand? i assumed they were garbage, until i saw:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182261

15 reviews, 14 5-star, 1 4-star, not a single complaint about the unit.. gold certified 450w, $60 after promo code... any ideas/estimates on power consumption of the bASIC units? will need a psu that will safely and efficiently power 2 54's and 1 27. thanks for the 411.

As PSU's go that one is not to bad, it is a rebadged super flower

http://www.super-flower.com.tw/products_list.php?class=2&sn=1&page=1&lang=en

here is a review of the Capstone 550M

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Rosewill-CAPSTONE-550M-Power-Supply-Review/1584/1

There are two issues I can see,

(550watt)
It has two seperate 12v rails of 274 watts max each.  but comes with only one modular molex cable.  This means you would need to connect all bASIC devices to this one rail.  on a 450 watt this will draw too much power.  it would draw too much on a 550watt.

The second issue is that all the 12v will be drawn from 1 modular connection pin, 250 watts will in likleyhood melt this pin.

The good news is that you can use an adapter on the pcie to make it a molex (check that this is okay with your ASIC vendor) and spread the load.  If tom says it is fine to use a pcie->molex adapter then I would power each 54ghs device from the pcie and use the molex on the 24 ghs version. you psu will be very happy with this config.

or get another modular molex connector and run one 54ghs off one and the other two devices off the other rail.

I had never heard of super flower before, the psu's look alright. nice find.

[Unacceptable]

Maybe Cablez can make a female 6pin & 8pin PCIE cable with multiple 4pin molex connectors 

So you can use the PCIE cables to power your units.

Where are you CABLEZ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cablez]

I am already looking in to adding a bASIC specific cable using the 4p molex connector. I will have something soon but am being held up by the lack of details on the device.

[Unacceptable]

Just like Superman,he hears screaming many miles away 

[Cablez]

Just like Superman,he hears screaming many miles away 

Faster than a gimped turtle, stronger than a cheap piece of paper..........its Cablez!  lol

[Meatball]

All PSU's can, and will, pull current above their rated maximum due to efficiency loss.  A 1000 watt PSU that is 80% efficient means it is rated to push 1000 watts at full load, but will actually be drawing 1250 watts from the wall.  Cheap PSU's won't stand up for very long under those conditions, whereas better quality (and more expensive) PSU's can handle it better.  

A general rule of thumb I like to use is to never push a PSU beyond 85-90% of it's rated value, so for a 1000 watt PSU, I'd never want more than a 850-900 watt power draw on it, regardless of efficiency ratings.

Go out and buy a Killawatt meter and check your power draws from your wall if you really want to see how much power your PC is using.

[navigator]

I just wanted to throw my vote in for the Corsair cx430. I have had a cx400 that is made by seasonic and the new cx430 which is cwt. These psu's can handle 400w all day long without breaking a sweat. Sometimes the cx430 is only $17 at newegg. It's currently $25 after rebate(edit: $20 after rebate and $5 promo code). I definitely recommend if you don't need a lot of power and don't want to spend a lot of money like these crazy people buying the seasonic 1000w @ $230. I know it's platinum and it looks like a badass psu. But if you're on a budget, $60 for 1200w(1550 max before it trips) for 3 cx430's sounds like a deal to me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Corsair-CX430-V2-Power-Supply-Review/1284/9

[crazyates]

All PSU's can, and will, pull current above their rated maximum due to efficiency loss.  A 1000 watt PSU that is 80% efficient means it is rated to push 800 watts at full load, but will actually be drawing 1250 watts from the wall.  Cheap PSU's won't stand up for very long under those conditions, whereas better quality (and more expensive) PSU's can handle it better. 

You want to share your math? My napkin says that an 800W PSU that's 80% efficient would only pull 1000W from the wall, not 1250W. If a 800W PSU was pulling 1250W from the wall, that'd mean it's only 64% efficient.

[MrTeal]

All PSU's can, and will, pull current above their rated maximum due to efficiency loss.  A 1000 watt PSU that is 80% efficient means it is rated to push 800 watts at full load, but will actually be drawing 1250 watts from the wall.  Cheap PSU's won't stand up for very long under those conditions, whereas better quality (and more expensive) PSU's can handle it better. 

A general rule of thumb I like to use is to never push a PSU beyond 85-90% of it's rated value, so for a 1000 watt PSU, I'd never want more than a 850-900 watt power draw on it, regardless of efficiency ratings.

Go out and buy a Killawatt meter and check your power draws from your wall if you really want to see how much power your PC is using.

A 1000W PSU that's 80% efficient is rated to output 1000W, using 1250W input.

[Meatball]

All PSU's can, and will, pull current above their rated maximum due to efficiency loss.  A 1000 watt PSU that is 80% efficient means it is rated to push 800 watts at full load, but will actually be drawing 1250 watts from the wall.  Cheap PSU's won't stand up for very long under those conditions, whereas better quality (and more expensive) PSU's can handle it better.  

You want to share your math? My napkin says that an 800W PSU that's 80% efficient would only pull 1000W from the wall, not 1250W. If a 800W PSU was pulling 1250W from the wall, that'd mean it's only 64% efficient.

Ah, yeah, that should say it is rated to push 1000 watts at full load, I did my original calculation with 800 watts, but changed it to 1000 watts to match the example listed previously and didn't update that second reference to 800 watts.  A 1000 Watt PSU running at 100% load needs to push 1000 Watts to the computer, to do that, it needs to pull 1250 Watts from the wall.  (1250 * .80 = 1000 Watts)

[LiteBit]

I'm partial to our PCP&C 950W Silencers.  They're consistently 1080W out of the box and you can get them close to $100 at some places online.  Portable, Single Rail.  I love it!