What I think we should do.

[Skiing Squirrel]

Alright we all know that Antec, sparkle, enermax, ext. are the best. But they are also the most expensive. Most of us dont have 80 dollars to pump into PSU's. Many people are afraid to go and try cheaper not well known PSU's. I propose, some of us venture into the unknown, buy a now well known PSU, test it out, and tell us about it. I believe IronHawk and I talked about this a few weeks ago. So, I'll start off. I went to newegg today, and bought an Allied psu. 400 watts for 36 bucks. Not bad, but we will have to see. I will post the first review and see how it holds up. I also have a generic Compusa 250 watt PSU that has served me well. I know that compusa psu power supplies are not the best, but they hold up their own. Expect a review of the allied psu in about a week. So how does this plan sound? Any voleenters?

[{PMS}fishy]

Yeah sounds good. I have a ghetto 400w something that I could test. Time depending of course.

[nikhsub1]

I have said this till I'm blue in the face, A PSU is the most important component in the system, choose a good one. The fact is that almost EVERY PSU has a 5% regulation on the 5V, 3.3V and the 12V lines. This SUCKS. Would you be happy with a 4.75 reading on your 5V? And get this, even at 4.75 the PSU is in "Spec". Now, the Antec True Power models have done better, they are at a 3% regulation, anything UNDER 4.85 at the 5V will mean RMA time as it is out of spec, assuming you measure at a molex connector with a multi meter. Now the reason why PC Power & Cooling PSU's are the best and so expensive is the fact that they have a regulation of 1%. Your 5V will not (should not) drop below 4.95 EVER. If it does, RMA here you come. People are WAY too concerned with wattage, anything 400W or above is generally enough power. 550W PSU's are a waste as that much power is not needed. I run 4 HD's, 2 CD Drives, Floppy, 5 120mm fans, 4 PCI cards, and my OC is a 1600 @ 2V, 1.9G my 5V at load is 4.95 via MBM, 5.0 via multimeter. Idle is EXACTLY the same, no deviation. THAT is what makes a good PSU. I run the PCP&C Turbo Cool 450W. Enermax is junk with 5%. True Power's are the best bang for the buck PSU's available right now, our AntecRep has said Antec is looking into producing a 1% tolerance PSU, this would be VERY smart if they did. I know I would buy one and pay a premium over the 3%'er. Think about it.

[Skiing Squirrel]

Yea... Your totally missing the point. I dont want this to make this into a flamewar either. There *might* bear with me *might* be some really good psu's out there, that are not super expensive and have the antec label on them. We are doing an experiment with various psu's to see which ones are good, and which ones are not. Who knows, we may find a great psu that has great lines, and is very cheap. No one would have discovered america if no one ventured into the unknown...

[nikhsub1]

Originally posted by Skiing Squirrel
Yea... Your totally missing the point. I dont want this to make this into a flamewar either. There *might* bear with me *might* be some really good psu's out there, that are not super expensive and have the antec label on them. We are doing an experiment with various psu's to see which ones are good, and which ones are not. Who knows, we may find a great psu that has great lines, and is very cheap. No one would have discovered america if no one ventured into the unknown...
I'm certainly NOT trying to start a flamewar! Although your efforts are valiant, there will be no consistency to the end result. If every PSU you test has a 5% regulation, you may find that 1 that is spot on where the majority of them will not be. All you need to do is look at the SPECS of the PSU. It is sorta like telling someone EVERY XP 1600 AGOIA "Y" is GUARANTEED to hit 1.9Ghz on air. It is just not so. I hope you understand my point.:D

[Skiing Squirrel]

So your saying that this experiment is a hopeless cause and I should close the thread? If a mod could do this, that would be great.

[nikhsub1]

Originally posted by Skiing Squirrel
So your saying that this experiment is a hopeless cause and I should close the thread? If a mod could do this, that would be great.
Not hopeless, I commend what you are trying to do, don't get me wrong, but, the results won't mean anything. It's like ram, you have 2 samsung 2700 chips, one will do FSB 200 on turbo and one will only do FSB 180 Turbo. Why? No one knows, production, the silicone used whatever. PSU's will be the same. You may get a GREAT no name brand PSU with excellent lines, but the next one may have a 5V of 4.7 at load. My fear is that you WILL find brand X PSU that works great for you, then joeblow goes out and gets the same thing, thinking it will work exactly the same for him as it did for you and most likely, it won't and he will have just wasted X amount of $. With PCP&C, they WILL be the same, or very close to it with 1% regulation.

[Skiing Squirrel]

Err... Yea, thats why people would voleenter. Have one or two different mobos using the same psu, and see their results. But good job, I think you scared them all away. All I was asking for was volteenters not comments.

[nihili]

I think the idea is a good one, but it should be supplemented with a database of multiple instance of the PSU.

For example, I've got a 250 watt Enhance that is doing a fine job. Nikhsub1 is perfectly right that my success doesn't say anything about the brand in general. It would be interesting to see how other 250 Watt Enhance PSUs are doing. It may be that I got lucky, or it may be that Enhance generally builds better than average supplies. The only way to tell is with some sort of database. (Yes, I know enough statistics to realize that even a database isn't a perfect answer.)

Notice that's what we do with CPUs. If you want an idea of how the CPU clocks, check the database. It doesn't give you a guarantee, but it does give you a clue.

nihili

[Skiing Squirrel]

It was an ok idea, but nikhsub1 killed it.

[Ridenow]

I have 3 HEC 350s on order, I would be happy to test them and compair them to the Antec 350 I have.

What needs to be done is to create a standardized review process. What should be tested and how? This is like what JoeC does for HSF, he runs the same tests on every heat sink he sees. So, who has time to write up the procedure?

[Skiing Squirrel]

Well, I didnt know it would be as complicated as you think it would(will) be. I suppose you could give us the psu. Mobo. Cpu. How much ram, and how fast, and the vid card. Those are the major power suckers. I guess the only things we care about are the 5v and 3v.

[nikhsub1]

Originally posted by Skiing Squirrel
It was an ok idea, but nikhsub1 killed it.
That was not my intention! I swear:eek:

[tom kruze]

An Allied PSU came with the case i bought at Altex at one time. Thing lasted about 6 months and then died. I also bought a L&C about a month and a half ago and guess what its already dropping 5v line to 4.75 which is causing it to freeze. Not sure if this is what your looking for but just thought i would add my .02.

[Skiing Squirrel]

Ok. Heres the first psu. Antec regular 300 watt psu.
mobo: Msi kt3 ultra
video card:geforce 4 mx 420
ram:Pc-2700, 256 mb
hd:one 40 gig @ 7200 rpms
vcore:1.78-1.79
5v-4.78-4.88
3.3v-3.25-3.30
12v-12.10-12.30

As you can see, the voltages are not that consistant. I just recieved(when I mean just, I mean in the middle of typing this) an allied 400 watt psu. I'll plug this up soon. So, do you like the format this is in? Too much info? Not enough info?

[nikhsub1]

Originally posted by Skiing Squirrel
Ok. Heres the first psu. Antec regular 300 watt psu.
mobo: Msi kt3 ultra
video card:geforce 4 mx 420
ram:Pc-2700, 256 mb
hd:one 40 gig @ 7200 rpms
vcore:1.78-1.79
5v-4.78-4.88
3.3v-3.35-3.30
12v-12.10-12.30

As you can see, the voltages are not that consistant. I just recieved(when I mean just, I mean in the middle of typing this) an allied 400 watt psu. I'll plug this up soon. So, do you like the format this is in? Too much info? Not enough info?
It would be VERY beneficial to measure voltages from the MOBO AND from a multi meter to see how much is lost at the mobo. THis would be an ideal way to test not only the PSU, but the MOBO effeciency as well.

[Skiing Squirrel]

Well, I dont have a multimeter... And, are you just going to troll this thread... It would be nice if you didnt give me crap about this... If your not going to even submit your psu, then you shouldnt even post, unless its to ask a question.

[Skiing Squirrel]

Alright. I just installed the allied 400 watt psu. Kind of loud, but that is expected with a psu with 2 fans. First I booted up. I got the beep-beep, saying that I didnt have a fan on my cpu. I knew that I took one out, it was attatched to the mobo, and took that out. I put one that was connected to regular wires. Man that scared me. Anyway here are the results under full load.

vcore:1.78-1.79
5v-4.92-4.96
3.3v-3.26
12v-12.10

So far, so good. BTW, this is with the same hardware as with the 300 watt.

[Twisted]

i have a raidmax 500W from colorcases.com for 82$ with a xp 1600+ 2 hds and a cdrw and 8 80mm fans. and a gf2 mx200 vc. it works great. the rails seem to be stable. and the 80mm intake on it works well.

[nikhsub1]

Originally posted by Skiing Squirrel
Well, I dont have a multimeter... And, are you just going to troll this thread... It would be nice if you didnt give me crap about this... If your not going to even submit your psu, then you shouldnt even post, unless its to ask a question.
First, relax. I am not "trolling" this thread and I take offense at the suggestion. Second, I am trying to HELP you on your quest and the multimeter suggestion is a good one because voltage readings of PSU's will vary GREATLY from mobo to mobo when taken via software. My PSU would not help the cause as it is a PC Power & Cooling, not exactly a cheap no name.

[TheFrag]

lol, no offense, but the one way flaming was hilariouse.......now, i have a generic PSU taht i will test, but it may not be generic, i'll try to test within the next days

[jadams]

System:
kt7a-r mobo
1Ghz TBird(10x100MHz) @ 1.33GHz(10x133)
GF2Ti
512MB PC133
SB Audigy
Ton-O-USB stuff

Power Supply: Antec 400w (PP412X)
+3.3v: 3.5 didn't change under load
+5.0v: 5.10 to 5.13 Underload it went down to 5.08 then back up to 5.13
+12v: 12.19 didn't change under load
-12 and -5: 0

I have a 300w psu I haven't checked it lately, but last I remember its 5v and 12v were always over 5v and 12v.