Do # of 12V rails matter?

[Fuganater]

Even though it says 550, I would never put that low of one in. Rage is only rated at like 450 and I have a 750 in it for expansion.

I would prefer an 850W+ and would like to stay under the $150 mark. This is my 2nd build in like 2 months and I want to crank out a 3rd this summer.

[x88x]

I can't really say I would recommend many 850W+ units that are much under $150 (barring sales/etc, of course), but there are a few that are close.

Hovering around the $150 mark, there are these 80+ Silver units:
Corsair HX850 : $164.99 ($149.99 after rebate) : review
XFX 850W Black Edition : $154.99 : review
Cougar SX850 : $169.99 ($149.99 after rebate) : review

Or, if you drop down to 80+ Bronze, this one looks pretty good...except that it didn't quite hit 80+ Bronze efficiency levels in tests...
Kingwin LZ-1000 : $149.99 (Might be on sale? Newegg says it's normally $239.99) : review

There's also this one that does actually come in under $150. Only one I found that I would offer a tentative recommendation for:
Kingwin Lazer LZ-850 : $139.99 : review
I say tentative because I can't find a really in-depth review on it. That techaddicts one is the best I could find. If I had to guess, though, I would guess it's probably about on par with the LZ-1000 in terms of quality and performance. Obviously though, at the current price the LZ-1000 is a much better deal.

Since I only buy a new PSU once every maybe 5-6 years, if that, when I buy one I want it to be the best possible, regardless of price (well, within reason). I would say the OCZ 1000W I linked earlier is well worth the $40 premium over the Kingwin. End of the day though, you're the one buying it, not me.


BTW, just as a side note concerning power usage, after my UPS cut out for no apparent reason yesterday, I hookup up my Kill-a-Watt between it and the wall to see what kind of power draw I had. Turns out my entire desk (system in my drop-down, plus all three monitors, plus speakers and printer) only pulls a peak of 650W...and that's with the CPU and all three GPUs folding. Yeah, probably pushing my TX750 a bit harder than where it's happiest, but still well within its comfort zone.

[Fuganater]

I guess its a toss up between the XFX 850W and the OCZ 1000W.

x88x, do you have a good tutorial or writeup on how to make your own SATA power cables? I'll have to dice these ones up to have enough connectors.

[slaveofconvention]

Don't make your own - cheat lol - get a PSU with unsleeved cables (or de-sleeve it temporarily, and buy some of those simple snap-in extra connectors to go between the ones already on there - most sata power cables have big gaps between connectors - you can easily get 2 or 3 extra in there

[x88x]

Easiest way is to get some right-angle connectors like these and you just have to press the wires in.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=30810

[Fuganater]

Ya 2 or 3 extra. I need almost 10 extra.

[x88x]

My advice, take the SATA modular cable, either snip off the wires a few inches from the plug to the PSU and solder your custom wires on or get new pins and just completely replace the original wires, then take the wires to wherever you need them and use the press-on 90-degree plugs. The work great for stacks of HDDs.

EDIT:
Example of custom SATA power for a stack of HDDs.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...&postcount=112

[Fuganater]

Where can I get the wire? Or should I cutup an old PSU?

[x88x]

Any twisted copper insulated wire (ie, normal wire) works. I would recommend 18 or 20AWG.

[Fuganater]

So I guess these would work then?
Black
Red
Yellow

I have to get it online because I can't get it locally.