psu help

[lclark2074]

can anyone tell me if one of these PSU are better than 300w turbollink i use now http://www.str8buy.com/400wap4andam.html
http://www.str8buy.com/300wap4andam.html
http://www.str8buy.com/450wap4andam.html
http://www.str8buy.com/500wap4andam.html
ok when i put a tv in card and it resets it will not boot?
Then i looked at my 5V rail and when the HDD is running it reads 4.91V:(

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Sorry to say, all are bottom of the barrel units... none are worth the money IMO. You'd be much better off with a Fortron/Sparkle 300w and up, or Antec Truepower 380w and up from Newegg. My suggestions would be the new Fortron 400w with 120mm fan or the Truepower 430w units if you plan on the PSU being good for a couple of upgrades.

[tinman5567]

Imho I wouldn't trust any of those in my computer I had a cheap power suppy like those in my computer 2 weeks it lasted and when it blew it took out the cd/rw,ram and hard drive be good to computer and get a good psu like a sparkle 350 or fortron those are some realy good psu's and you wont have worry when you upgrade in the future

[Susquehannock]

Ditto here. :)

These 300w Fortron w/15amp 12v rails were
more stable than two cheap 550w PSU that I tried.
And they had 40 and 45amp 12v rails.

Never mind the fact that the 550w unit couldn't hold within
7-10% ... the guy at "Mr Tech" just ingnored
everything I said and kept reiterating, "It's a 550w unit!" :rolleyes:

Not to mention that those cheap generic PSU likely
have small 22 gauge wires. :(


Quality over Quantity!

[Susquehannock]

Originally posted by lclark2074
> > > > > > > >
ok when i put a tv in card and it resets it will not boot?
Then i looked at my 5V rail and when the HDD is running it reads 4.91V:(

Also ... the ATX standard allows a max 5% variance on the
rails. (10% on +12v for short periods)
... 4.91v is well within that. (4.75-5.25)

[larrymoencurly]

No amp ratings given, and the first one, the 400W Hercules, looks wimpy inside -- small filter capacitors, EMI filter seems to have nothing but that coil with red and white wires wound around it, and the transformer seems too small. It wouldn't surprise me if the 450W and 500W models are just as bad.

You really should check places like www.pricewatch.com , www.directron.com , and www.newegg.com for bargains on PSUs made by Fortron/Sparkle/Powerman/PowerQ/Powertech/Aopen/Trend/Hi-Q. NewEgg has the Hi-Q and PowerQ brands for as little as about $15-20 for a 300-350W model that can probably put out more power than even that cheap so-called "500W" cheapo.