How to pick a good ps for an AMD system?

[pkipper]

Hi guys,

I am thinking of getting a new ps to replace my 300W standard ps. I have heard of people saying that its better to get a power that has a long +5v trail, what exactly does that mean. I am not an expert so I would be greatly appreciated if the experts here can give me some pointers on how to tell between a bad ps or a good ps. Eg. What to look for on the specs...etc.

Many thanks.

[Diggrr]

First look at what you plan in the way of fans, lights, etc..

If it's alot, go for something around 400 watts or so. If, not alot, then 300 watts or higher is fine.

Secondly, in it's specs look for the rating of the 3.3 and 5 volt rail's wattage. Get one that is 200 watts or higher. This is the rail that the processor and motherboard will draw most from (especially when overclocking), so the bigger the better.

Also pay attention to how many drive plugins there are...enough for your case/plans?

Brand names are okay to look for too. Sparkle, Enermax, Antec etc...I prefer Sparkle, but I'm not in the advertising business.:D

[klosters64a]

The easy way to choose a good PS is to look at AMD's list of PS's that are approved for Athlons. Many of the listed PS's are one's we'll never see in Canada and the US. This leaves brands that are obtainable.

A catch is that AMD doesn't run all the PS's it approves under 95% load for five years. Really good PS's cost a bit. It's always something.

[Christoph]

You might want to make sure that your PS is listed here (http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_869_1039^1053,00.html) for whichever CPU you're buying.

[Hoot]

Buy as much PSU as you can possibly afford at the moment. It is a far cry better than buying twice. How much money do you have to work with?

Hoot

[pkipper]

Thank you all for the quick reply.

As in how much power is needed, right now its connected to 2 hds, one cd-rom, one cdrw, a nic, two case fans and a custom fan built from a P166 cpu fan.

The CPU is a XP 1700+ overclocked 1623.16 at 146 fsb, with the Vcore set at 1.825V. Right now the system is stable runningi n Windowss and use the web, but once it involves in heavy CPU usage apps (games, video editing), it crashes after a few minutes. However, I really want to get it stable at 146 fsb or higher, and the only thing I can think of is a bad poor power supply.

I checked my power supply a while ago, its a 300W and has a little lable that reads "recommended by AMD". Back then I didn't bother reading all the specs printed on the sticker on the ps because I didn't understand them anyway.

Right now the readings for the Vcore is 1.80 (not sure why), 3.3V is 3.20, +5V is 4.91 and +12V is 12.41. Are these values a little low?

Thank you all in advance.

[jboy]

I dont think AMD "recommended" and "approved" are the same thing. I had a 300w AMD "approved" PSU, (a ChannelWell-made by Sparkle, go figure), that was only putting out 4.8v. and lower on the 5v. rail. Replaced it w/a 350w. HEC from newegg.com, works great, all voltages are where they should be, and I'm running 3-7200 and 1-5400rpm HD's, and have my 1.4 Tbird OC'd to 1.6. $47 delivered.

[Starfoxer]

idea beat me too it

[pkipper]

AMD 'recommended' and 'approved' don't mean the same thing? Um...now I am a bit sceptical about the lable that is printed on my current ps...

Anyway, could anyone tell me if my 3.3V +5V and +12V are too low?

Thanks

[klosters64a]

I think that your 3.3v rail is lower than it should be. The 12v and 5v rails are OK---assuming that the 5v's value doesn't slip any lower than 4.91v. However, I think the present PS is probably OK.

Personally, I'd gather info for a replacement PS. The one you have is not ideal. As mentioned in this thread, SPI Sparkle's are very good PS's for their price. You can do better, but it'll cost a lot more. If your box crashes while running CPU intensive apps--after a few minutes-- cooling may be the culprit.

IMHO, 100 cfm throughput is a must for stock AMD boxes. OC'd rigs demand a more substantial "river" of air flowing through them. A serious HSF is a must, too.

[jboy]

re: my earlier post: Anandtech.com tested a bunch of AMD approved/recommended PSU's, and the only one that passed all the tests was the Antc 300w, though some people on this forum have had disappointing results with this brand. I think you can find the link by going to Google.com and punching in "AMD power supplies". As I said before, somewhere else, there's no guarantee you wont have low voltage trouble with almost any of the supplies discussed on this forum. That plus or minus 5 % spec in the technical specifications allows for a lot of trouble, while still being within warrantied voltage ranges. All I can say is, I'm real happy w/the HEC 350w I got from newegg.com, and of 6 posted reviews all users gave 5 out of 5 stars. You pays your money and you take your chances. Good Luck..

[Daovonnaex]

Originally posted by jboy
re: my earlier post: Anandtech.com tested a bunch of AMD approved/recommended PSU's, and the only one that passed all the tests was the Antc 300w, though some people on this forum have had disappointing results with this brand. I think you can find the link by going to Google.com and punching in "AMD power supplies". As I said before, somewhere else, there's no guarantee you wont have low voltage trouble with almost any of the supplies discussed on this forum. That plus or minus 5 % spec in the technical specifications allows for a lot of trouble, while still being within warrantied voltage ranges. All I can say is, I'm real happy w/the HEC 350w I got from newegg.com, and of 6 posted reviews all users gave 5 out of 5 stars. You pays your money and you take your chances. Good Luck.. Newegg deletes all negative reviews.

[jboy]

You sure about newegg ? Some of their products seem to have low ratings-e.g. only 2 or 3 stars out of a possible 5. I'm still really happy w/my HEC 350..