I'm putting the finishing touches on my Plex build now. First time using unraid and first time building a PC/server in a decade. The final big component I need to decide on is the PSU. Below are my components and their max wattage:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-9400 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor (65W)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (10W)

Motherboard: ASRock B365M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (60W)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 CL16 Memory (11W)

Storage: Eventually, up to 15 Western Digital Red 12 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (15 x 15W = 225W)

Case: Fractal Design Define 7 XL ATX Full Tower Case

Case Fans: 4x 120mm, 1x140 (5 x 5W = 25W)

Total: 396W

I'm considering the Seasonic FOXUS GX-650 80+ Gold. Fully modular with a 12V rail at 54 amps, which should be plenty for my drives. My max wattage needs are just about 60% of the 650W so that feels good. Does anybody have experience with this model or one similar, and is it a good fit for my system? Additionally, is there any issue connecting my HDDs in series to the PSU using the SATA power cable Y-splitters? Thanks!

Hi, 

 

Power supply looks fine, it has 4 outlets for peripherals.

 

I'd aim for 4 to 6 drivers per outlet. 6 Drives @ 15W is 90W on a single conductor wheras the 3 conductor PCI-E cable is rated at 75-150W so the load adds up.

In reality WD specs the 12TB drives at average 6W read/write but others are closer to 8W, it just the start up current that can be high.

 

If you think you may add a mid range GPU at some point, it would be worth looking at ~850W.

 

I have a semi modular seasonic core gold in a desktop PC, I wouldn't recomend that for your use as it only has 2 peripheral outputs so the load would be too high.

 

 

2 hours ago, Decto said:

If you think you may add a mid range GPU at some point, it would be worth looking at ~850W.

 

 

Thanks for the advice. I do plan on upgrading to a two-in-one gaming machine in a couple years. Will get a nice mobo/graphics card and a more powerful CPU as well when that happens, so I'm going with the 850. Why do you say midrange? Even if I get top-of-the-line GPU/CPU/motherboard that would probably only put me at 70-80% of an 850. I wouldn't be growing the system much beyond that. 

6 hours ago, kwatz said:

Thanks for the advice. I do plan on upgrading to a two-in-one gaming machine in a couple years. Will get a nice mobo/graphics card and a more powerful CPU as well when that happens, so I'm going with the 850. Why do you say midrange? Even if I get top-of-the-line GPU/CPU/motherboard that would probably only put me at 70-80% of an 850. I wouldn't be growing the system much beyond that. 

The soon to be released high end RX3080 / 3090 have TDP of 320W/350W respectively. 

The still very powerful RX3070 (supposed 2080Ti performance) is a more reasonable 220W.

AIB cards can be higher than that, some of the current Radeon 5700XT are hitting 300W and likely it is similar of the OC versions of the current Nvidia cards.

 

The current high end Intel CPU's are hitting  200W+ for the turbo period, or continously if the Turbo timer is deactivated in BIOS. Same with AMD where the 125W CPU's hit ~170W in the short term boost. You mostly won't see this when gaming as it tends to be GPU bound but there are likely to be peaks.

 

I'd expect this is only an issue if you are gaming when you have all 15 drives spinning. E.g. during a parity check or rebuild.

A parity check with a mix of 4 and 8GB drives takes me around 17 hours.

 

850W is a good balance, I was planning for 850W but due to Covid releated supply issues and pricing, a 1000W from a high street retailer was cheaper than any of the 750W - 850W models I was looking at on any of the common online retailers and platinum vs gold. Only downside was it's 200mm long.

Pricing and supply looks to be getting back to normal so may not be such an issue now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, Decto said:

The soon to be released high end RX3080 / 3090 have TDP of 320W/350W respectively. 

The still very powerful RX3070 (supposed 2080Ti performance) is a more reasonable 220W.

AIB cards can be higher than that, some of the current Radeon 5700XT are hitting 300W and likely it is similar of the OC versions of the current Nvidia cards.

 

The current high end Intel CPU's are hitting  200W+ for the turbo period, or continously if the Turbo timer is deactivated in BIOS. Same with AMD where the 125W CPU's hit ~170W in the short term boost. You mostly won't see this when gaming as it tends to be GPU bound but there are likely to be peaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah I probably won't be going for the absolute best of the best GPUs anyway but it's good to keep all that in mind. I went with the 850 for now (seems like I got the last one on Newegg). It should be a couple years before I am interested in upgrading to a gaming rig and if I need to get a bigger power supply so be it. Appreciate the help! 

I have two Seasonic focus+ PSU, both perform excellent, CPU power cable have capacitor at mainboard end, so you can't bend at that region.

 

As you plan using SATA power spliter, due to SATA have 3.3v, WD disk could be in disable state. This is not the fault of PSU or splitter, you can cut the orange wire at splitter for fixing.

 

From my experiences, SATA power plug have better connection then molex plug, but it also more easy to burn out and cause trouble. The best solution is you build disk power delivery system.

 

I always DIY

 

 

Edited September 16, 20205 yr by Benson