Parts used:
- Seasonic 600 Watt ATX/EPS12V: Model M12600
The newer power supplies have cables that plug into the power supply and are called modular. The idea is you only use the cables you need and you can get cables that closely match the length and type you need. It is a theory anyway. The Seasonic is a modular power supply and it comes with lots of cables. It has exactly what the motherboard needs, and what the video card needs. It has plenty of standard 4-pin "molex" connectors for things like fans, lights, etc. All of the hard drives and optical drives for this PC have the newer "SATA" interface; they need a SATA data cable to connect to the motherboard and a SATA power cable to connect to the power supply. The Gigabyte motherboard has plenty of SATA connections and came with plenty of SATA data cables. The Seasonic power supply matched that with plenty of SATA power cables.
You can buy really inexpensive power supplies, but, as Robert Heinlein the sci-fi author said: "TANSSAAFL" (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). A well built power supply will provide "cleaner" power to a narrower voltage range and will have other features. The Seasonic is well built and it has things like dual fans (one big 120 mm fan and one small temperature controlled 60 mm fan), active power factor correction, and is very efficient (up to 85% per Seasonic). And it is nicely finished in black which matches the black/aluminum color scheme I ended up with.
Lian Li's attention to detail shows again. A plate is supplied that screws to the power supply which is then slid into the power supply opening. It fits like a glove. The plate is then held down with, as usual for Lian Li, thumbscrews. Even the thumbscrews are well engineered by the way, the heads are threaded for a Phillips head screwdriver, so for something like the power supply which I don't anticipate pulling out very often, an extra quarter turn can be taken with the screwdriver to tighten them up. Also, even when handtightened, the thumbscrews can get "seated" and take a little effort to turn, loosening them with a screwdriver is easy. Lian Li understands the details don't take care of themselves. For example, the black grill on the back of the Seasonic power supply matches the black grill on the rear Lian li case fan. No one but the person that builds the PC would know or care... nevertheless...they match :-)
Seasonic 600 Watt Modular Power Supply.
Power supply installed looking at the back. Note the little on/off switch. It is in "off" of course as a good practice -- even though the power cord will stay packed up until very last. More on this later.
Looking up at the installed power supply.
I finally got around to measuring the actual power used by this computer. Using a Seasonic Power Angel the actual watts were as follows:
- running at Windows desktop = 197 watts
- immediately after starting Battlefield 2142 = 236 watts
- after playing BF2142 for about 20 minutes = 257 watts
Seasonic Power Angel readings.