Thermaltake Toughpower 750 or Corsair TX 750?

[MontanaFX]

Now I am just confused. Information overload *Explodes*

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by screwballl

Usually the TX/VX is an extra 20-50Watts because of the standard (non-modular) connections. VX is multi-rails and TX is single rail, TX has 2x 8-pin pcie connectors and the VX has 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin. The TX has more amps on the 12v rail, and the VX has a little better efficiency. The HX is modular.

Well, the HX series were the first ones to the market, followed by the VX, then TX (the HX1000W came afterwards too). The VX series seems to be the more budget oriented line, but they feature a single, high powered 12V rail, not multiple 12V rails. In fact, the only Corsair PSUs that claim to have multiple 12V rails are the HX620 and HX520.

Corsair's PSU products page breaks them down nicely.

[screwballl]

cool thanks blake, I was looking for that page but missed it

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by Capper

no, single 12V rails are better than multiple rails, IMO.

Please allow me to clear up a few things....

There is no clear cut, cut and dry "single +12V is better than multiple" or vise versa. It TOTALLY depends on the unit.

First off, most multiple +12V rails are derived from taking one +12V rail and splitting it up.

And this is done for a reason. If too much power is allowed to travel to one connector, such as in the event of a short, the current can be great enough to melt the insulation on that lead and start a fiew.

Most power supplies divide the connectors up and cap off the rails at a current limit that's about 50% more than what you would ever load the connectors on that rail up to. Beyond that, you're loading the connectors on that rail beyond what those connectors were made for.

Pretty much everything bad you've heard about multiple +12V rails is FUD. Both good and bad. They don't "improve system stability" or "provide cleaner power", but also there typically isn't any "trapped power" or "load balancing". All they do is provide a fail safe against shorts when the resistance of the short is more than what the short circuit protection would notice.

That's not to say that multiple +12V rails is necessarily always better. For example: The OCZ 700W only has two PCIe connectors and those connectors are on their own +12V rails. To add more connectors, you have to use Molex to PCIe adapters. NOW you're putting the load of a graphics card (or cards), probably the greatest power consumtion in your build, on a rail it's not designed for. This could, in some cases, cause the PSU to shut down during serious gaming. Keep in mind, this particular unit is the exception and not the norm. A 700W unit should be able to power a pair of 8800 GTX's without issue, but because of the connector configuration on this unit, it can not.

But if the PSU has all of the correct connectors, etc., built for a gaming rig (as opposed to a server, for example) there should be no issues.

As for the ES-800 in UK: The problem here is that EU vendors buy their product from BFG FOB Hong Kong, unlike the US where it's warehoused in Illinois. Despite this, this doesn't prevent vendors from picking the product up. They just make sure to "load in" big quantities at longer intervals to ensure they get the most po for the pound on their shipping costs. Despite the fact that there's 1000 units sitting in BFG's Hong Kong warehouse, UK may not see the product until the beginning of May.