Older Power supplies - and a Z690

[robert.hette157502d7]

Hello All,

Haven't built a PC in 11 years. Currently running an EVGA x58 classified with 6 gb 1866 Corsair dominator ram, and the i7 - 980x Gulf town cpu. i did break down and have a win10 biuld, but still have a win 7 build for a few older games. This rig has lasted 11 years. I have updated hard drives and video cards, and had to stick in a nic card. But hey its still going, it will actually run F1 2019. I have finally decided to do a new build, since my Gaming requirements have changed quite a bit, and I no longer require cutting edge or over clocking, but do want a system that will last few years, I have decided on the Z690 Tomahawk WifI board - DDR4, and will put the i7-12700KF in it.

My question is about my current power supply, can this work with the new mother board? I am not sure if it meets the power connector requirements for the main board and CPU power. I have a brand new one of these sitting in a box, never expected this one to last so bloody long. I don't mind hunting down a new power supply, but any suggestions as to who is making reliable ones now is always appreciated.

Thermaltake Toughpower 1200w Power Supply W0133RU - These were the good ones they made back then.

Connectors:
20+4 Pin, 4+4 CPU, 8 Pin PCI Express, 8 Pin 12V, 6 Pin PCI Express, 6+2 Pin PCI Express, SATA I, 4 Pin Peripheral, 6 Pin Auxiliary
Voltage Compatibility:
110 V, 120 V, 240 V, 115 V, 208 V, 220 V, 230 V
Form Factor:
ATX
Type:
Power Module
Maximum Power:
1200 W
Maximum Wattage:
1200 W
Cooling:
1 Fan
Modular:
Yes
Maximum Input Current:
15 A

 

[citay]

The problem is, that PSU is from 2006. It had a phenomenal wattage capability for the time. But the electrolytic capacitors in a PSU age, no matter what. If it's constantly in use, they will age faster, but even just sitting around, they'll age. I wrote about them recently here, https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?...cognize-all-ssds-or-hdds.369277/#post-2091649

With a PSU that's actually in use a lot, i would replace even the highest-end PSU after 10 years at the latest. You can't prevent the aging of electrolytic capacitors, not even the best Japanese-made caps, let alone cheaper ones. When it's not in use a lot, you could theoretically keep it a bit longer.

But that's another thing. Back in 2006 (or earlier, when this PSU was designed), they didn't have such high-end components yet as they have now. By today's standards, the efficiency of that PSU is low, it's only 80 PLUS (not even Bronze). Also, the fan control might be quite noisy from what i've read.

What you could do is, try to sell this PSU on eBay or something. There is always some demand for a high-power, but cheap PSU. Then invest that towards a good, modern PSU.

How to find a good PSU:
1) Look for an 80 PLUS Gold specification (or better) with your kind of hardware. The price increase over 80 PLUS Bronze isn't much anymore, and Gold is quite a lot better.

2) Look for a long warranty period (ideally 5 years or more), implying the manufacturer's confidence the product.
3) Check the PSU tier list, which gives an indication of many PSU models' quality, ideal is Tier A or B.

I usually recommend these PSUs because i can vouch for them:
be quiet! Pure Power 11 (CM/FM) or Seasonic Core GM (best-in-class mid-range)
be quiet! Straight Power 11 (Platinum) or Seasonic Focus GX/PX (best-in-class upper mid-range)

Wattage will depend mostly on your GPU. But a good PSU model with less wattage is better than a bad PSU model with more wattage.
With a mainstream graphics card and your system, a 600W or 650W PSU might be plenty, with a high-end graphics card you obviously might need a more powerful version.

One last thing, your Z690 Tomahawk Wifi DDR4 has graphics outputs on the rear I/O, so i would get the 12700K, not the KF. This internal graphics can save you a lot of stress one day. Say your graphics card develops a problem, then you can rely on the internal graphics until you have sorted it out. Or say, when you replace this system with a more modern one in another decade, you can still use this one with the internal graphics for office stuff or whatever. I would always spend those extra 20 bucks or so to have the CPU with the internal graphics, provided your board has the outputs for it.

 

[robert.hette157502d7]

TY for the reply, great point on the internal graphics .. I will do that. as for power supply - looking at: Corsair RMX Series (2021), RM850x, 850 Watt, Gold, Fully Modular Power Supply (CP-9020200-NA). I am also looking a the Be quiet Dark pro 850. As for GPU, right now I'll keep using my EVGA 980 GTX, nothing I do pushes it whatsoever. I haven't played any new games that are graphics heavy in a long time, think skyrim was the last one. lately been running older games in dos box. I'm an old school gamer, my first pc was a tandy 1000 TX, with a 286 processor back in 86. I didn't start building my own till around the time the Kentsfield chips came out. and I built this in 2010, and nothing ever pushed it. I will eventually upgrade the video card, once prices come down from ludicrous speed. But the mother board is now at technology wall, and limiting what can be done. Reading all the bios issues the tomahawk has, getting worried my older GPU will be an issue.

 

[citay]

You will most likely need to update the 980 with this first: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/nv-uefi-update-x64/

As for the Corsair PSU, it's not a bad choice, but i would personally prefer a be quiet! Straight Power 11 Platinum 750W. It's a bit better, and it can comfortably handle any upper mid-range graphics card you could update to, like a GeForce 3060 Ti, Radeon 6700 XT and so on (should they become affordable again).