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need new psu for a much older system

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drewthomas14

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2002
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
system is in my sig. today i found out my sparkle 550w died on me, so i need a bang for the buck psu for my system. i dont really need the best of the best because i gave this system to my family when i moved away to college. i do however want something quality.
 
Thanks for the link RollingThunder, I just ordered the Corsair ;)
 
thanks! i was hoping to keep the psu ~50shipped. im out of the computer game for good, the only thing i use my system for is music and surfing anymore, which is why i didnt bring it to college, have computer labs there.

was looking at these. i don't really know the difference between them, they all seem pretty similar. my mobo used a 20pin connector, but these have a 20+4 or so they say, so im guessing they can be used with a 20 or 24. i have an adapter but i dont really want to use it as it takes up more room.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104935
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104953
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104032
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189005 read it was good in the psu faq, leaning towards this or one of the fsp's listed above)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171018( im not too sure about, the faq on psu buying says coolermaster is good, plus it's 29.99 after rebate, but a lot of ppl on newegg are having problems with the fan)
 
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thanks! i was hoping to keep the psu ~50shipped. im out of the computer game for good, the only thing i use my system for is music and surfing anymore, which is why i didnt bring it to college, have computer labs there.

was looking at these. i don't really know the difference between them, they all seem pretty similar. my mobo used a 20pin connector, but these have a 20+4 or so they say, so im guessing they can be used with a 20 or 24. i have an adapter but i dont really want to use it as it takes up more room.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104935
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104953
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104032
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189005 read it was good in the psu faq, leaning towards this or one of the fsp's listed above)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171018( im not too sure about, the faq on psu buying says coolermaster is good, plus it's 29.99 after rebate, but a lot of ppl on newegg are having problems with the fan)

Drew,

Ok, I should have asked if that board was 20 or 20+4. That board is older than I remember. If what you listed is like your dead Sparkle, you're good to go except for that Coolermaster.
 
well my board is has a 20pin atx, but it also has an extra 12v 4-pin for the cpu. so the cooler master is poop, then?

whats the differences between all those fsp psu i listed? im thinking of just getting the one for 39.99 as they all seem to be the same. dont really want the fancy blue one anyway. that or the xclio.
 
well my board is has a 20pin atx, but it also has an extra 12v 4-pin for the cpu. so the cooler master is poop, then?

whats the differences between all those fsp psu i listed? im thinking of just getting the one for 39.99 as they all seem to be the same. dont really want the fancy blue one anyway. that or the xclio.

Drew,

I don't know the physical differences aside from the mfg's specs. As EW stated above, I would go with the Fortron that has the most on the 5v rail. Most all of the power supplies today have the 20+4 pins, I just fold it back and tie wrap it alongside the 20 pin.
 
The NF-7 is a 12V oriented board - a dual 12V unit will do fine.
 
Yes. Like I said, a dual 12V unit will do fine since P4's run off the 12V ;)

sorry im asking so many questions, but the psu buyer guide sticky says that for the older p4 setups, it is recommended to have a single 12v, instead of a dual 12v. is this not the case with me, i know it's not a p4, but it uses 12v like it.

also, that enabling wolf guy mentioned to get the one with the best 5v, does this apply to me?

also, would a refurb fsp550-pln-b be a bad choice?
 
sorry im asking so many questions, but the psu buyer guide sticky says that for the older p4 setups, it is recommended to have a single 12v, instead of a dual 12v. is this not the case with me, i know it's not a p4, but it uses 12v like it.

Doesn't matter. ATX 2.0 was created with P4's in mind. The CPU would have to overdraw 12V2 for it to be a problem, and an AXP won't do that (nor will an old P4 for that matter).

drewthomas14 said:
also, that enabling wolf guy mentioned to get the one with the best 5v, does this apply to me?

Doesn't apply - he's referring to older 5V based boards, which yours isn't ;)

drewthomas14 said:
also, would a refurb fsp550-pln-b be a bad choice?

Not at all - one of FSP's best units, past or present. There is a single 12V version of it that goes by the name FSP550-60PLG or FSP550PLG-SLI. Kind of an old one though, and not very efficient. Noise is a common complaint with them, but they're not quite as noisy as a PC P&C Turbocool 510W would be.
 
Doesn't matter. ATX 2.0 was created with P4's in mind. The CPU would have to overdraw 12V2 for it to be a problem, and an AXP won't do that (nor will an old P4 for that matter).



Doesn't apply - he's referring to older 5V based boards, which yours isn't ;)



Not at all - one of FSP's best units, past or present. There is a single 12V version of it that goes by the name FSP550-60PLG or FSP550PLG-SLI. Kind of an old one though, and not very efficient. Noise is a common complaint with them, but they're not quite as noisy as a PC P&C Turbocool 510W would be.

thanks for clearing that up, my unit that just died was actually a SPI 550-60PLG, it had a 36a single 12v line, still don't know why it died.

also, how is the dual 12v split? do you have to have all 24pins of the atx connector plugged in? i have a 20pin on my board and one 4pin 12v, so by using a dual line psu, i would be left with one 12v unplugged on my setup. or does it not distibute power like that?
 
Usually 12V2 is for the CPU only, and 12V1 is for the rest. Splitting is usually done through overload protection in the PSU, with the power originating from the same source.
 
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