What is a Decent PSU???

[Dj Matrix]

hi there, i was playin on buildin a new comp and i was stuck on wat kind of PSU i need and how much watts it should have...i have narrow it down to a 350-400 watt...but dunno the price or brand...can you guys help out...

[mattspalace]

Antec, Sparkle or Fortron (these aren't in any particular order).
All of them are very good power supplies. Stay away from Enermax and other no-name power supplies. If you're considering a 350-400 watt, then I'd go with 400 watt; always smart to buy more than you think you'll need..plus it'll only be another 5-10 dollars now versus buying a completely new P/S down the road.

Thermaltake also has pretty good powersupplies I hear..

[nikhsub1]

Sparkle or Fortron, both made by Fortron... I usually get the 400W Sparkle for my machines, $63 at newegg. 2nd one from the bottom: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=58&manufactory=1389&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

[mattspalace]

Just curious... who sells PC Power & Cooling besides the PCP&C website?

[nikhsub1]

Originally posted by mattspalace
Just curious... who sells PC Power & Cooling besides the PCP&C website?
http://directron.com/turbocoolps.html

[R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3]

Originally posted by mattspalace
Antec, Sparkle or Fortron (these aren't in any particular order).
All of them are very good power supplies. Stay away from Enermax and other no-name power supplies. If you're considering a 350-400 watt, then I'd go with 400 watt; always smart to buy more than you think you'll need..plus it'll only be another 5-10 dollars now versus buying a completely new P/S down the road.

Thermaltake also has pretty good powersupplies I hear..

Enermax is a no name supply? I don't know why everyone here thinks they aren't as good as Antec, Sparkle/Fortron. Their combined voltages are lower and they are more expensive, but they seem like they are of great quality. Amp ratings are very very strong compared to competitors, they held the most stable rails in a review by anandtech compared with Antec TruePower, Vantec, and Thermalright, also one of the most quiet, only antec was slightly more quiet in that review. Seems like a lot of reviewers choose to use them for test rigs, and they always use the best stuff...lots of reserved power too(puts out much more power than rated), similar but not as extreme as the Sparkle/Fortrons. Some people swear by them since many Antecs die out of nowhere, I've seen it, but I'm sure that's just a very small percentage since so many people buy them. Never seen or heard of an Enermax dying though Larva claims so. The only drawback on Enermax are their prices I think, I got mine on NewEgg refurbs for about half-price tho. :p

[Rocko[DPC]]

Enermax is definately not no name. Their power supplies are as good as Antec's.

Basically just like everything else, you get what you pay for. If you buy one of those 400 watt power supplies for $13 shipped, chances are its going to be a pile of crap.

[mattspalace]

I'm only going from my experience, as I had an Enermax at one time, which died on me after three months of normal use. I don't think Enermax is near as good as Antec, but that's just my opinion. Before buying ANY power supply, you should always do your homework and read previous purchaser's experiences with the particular model you're considering.

[Randy]

I am on my third Antec tru power 430. I have had to return for replacment 3 times now due to low 12v (11.70) and 5V (4.79)
under load measured with a good quality multi meter at the molex conn. I have an older Enermax EG360P dual fan that has been real good and has a higher reading on the 12V and 5V rails than my antec. My next PSU will be a Sparkle/Fortron my buddy has em in all his rigs and gets some amazing O/C's and stability with the Sparkel 400 watters. Can't beat em for the price/performance IMHO.

[R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3]

Randy, can you post some results from the multi meter for the enermax and sparkle/fortrons if possible? thx

[larva]

The 350W Fortron/Sparkle will do fine, as will the 400W model. Even th 300W Fortron has the same 12V output as the 350 or 400, and the heaviest load is typically on the 12V these days. With the 80mm fan equipped Fortron units you sometimes have to change the fan to a quieter model, but there is a spiffy new 120mm fan equipped 350W available from XPdirect.

Bang for buck award goes to the 350W 80mm Fortron from newegg -$36 shipped. Enough for about any PC in reality.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewprodu...=17%2D104%2D985

Nice 120mm fan version, adequate output for hard usage, $48 +shipping.

http://www.xpdirect.com/35sparpowsup.html

As far as more powerful supplies go, there is the new Fortron 530W. Big power, $75 shiipped, capable of full output on all three lines simultaneously:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewprodu...=17%2D104%2D996

The 430 or 480 Antec True Power supplies would do nicely also; True Power 430 runs a few dollars more, $88.90 shipped

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewprodu...=17%2D103%2D908

[larrymoencurly]

Amp ratings are very very strong compared to competitors, they held the most stable rails in a review by anandtech compared with Antec TruePower, Vantec, and Thermalright,

Under what amp loads were those voltages taken? I'm sure they listed them because any reviewer with something as fancy as an oscilloscope would have taken amp readings with a clamp-on probe, unless they were just a rich kid playing with a toy they didn't know how to use properly.

Do quality power supplies have a jumper wire in place of the AC thermistor? My 250W Enermax did, and two of its high voltage transistors shorted, but I can't blame this on the lack of that thermsistor.

[star882]

"Do quality power supplies have a jumper wire in place of the AC thermistor? My 250W Enermax did, and two of its high voltage transistors shorted, but I can't blame this on the lack of that thermsistor."
The thermistor is to turn off the PSU in case it overheats(and sometimes for fan control).
All the good PSUs(Dell, CWT, Delta) have the thermistor, while the bad ones don't have the overheat protection circuit.
BTW, in the case of the Dell PSU, you can measure the PSU temperature with software(because the link between a Dell PSU and a Dell mobo is an I2C connection, and you can send many types of data over the link(if the PSU has the right sensors, you can measure the power usage and AC line voltage)).
As for getting a good PSU, all I can say is:
http://www.zmoz.com/pics/AntecTruepower.JPG

[Cereal Killa]

Originally posted by star882

As for getting a good PSU, all I can say is:
http://www.zmoz.com/pics/AntecTruepower.JPG

OK !!! My PSU will be an ANTEC !!!

[R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3]

from everything i've read, Enermax does have that function of turning itself off if the load or temps are too high, none of the reviews i looked at took a 250w model tho, i've never even seen one for sale, if you look at psus that old from the other brands, you might find the same results or worse i think - i think enermax always ensures quality, and i'm sure they have to back up what they label on their models, any good reviewer would test it anyway

Under what amp loads were those voltages taken?
i'm not sure what you meant by that in response to my comment, i think there would be a standard they'd have to use, but the reviewers at anandtech used all the necessary equipment when comparing the supplies i believe, and Enermax was on top along with Antec (very close results) in every arena compared to Vantec and Thermalright

[bafbrian]

LOL, I think that my next PSU will be a Antec too.

[R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3]

actually, if i didn't have such a great deal from newegg refurbs, i woulda gone Antec too ;)

[larrymoencurly]

I'm referring to the high-power, low-resistance thermistor that almost all PSUs have in series with one of the AC lines to reduce the turn-on surge caused by the big filter capacitors, like the one labelled NTCR1 in the upper left of this schematic.

My Fortron/Sparkle, Antec, and Delta also have small thermistors for fan speed control, but I don't know if they're also used for overheat protection. My Sparkle has a missing thermistor next to a heatsink that connects to the small circuit board that contains the KA3511 regulator chip, but I can't tell what it does.

I looked through Enermax's website for specs of several ATX PSUs and found mentions of protections against over voltage, under voltage, short circuits, and overloads -- the usual stuff, but nothing about thermal protection, unless you count fan control. I also noticed that their MTBF ratings are at 70% full power, not 100% like some other brands.

I didn't find anything in the Anandtech review to show that they took amp measurements. They did was test with the mobo at min and max power, but they didn't list amp draws, probably because they didn't know them.