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Recommendations - Sparkel or Antec

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lazerblue31

Registered
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Location
Manchester
Cant decide between an Antec 550w or a Sparkle 400w.
Any advise from people who have these is greatly appreciated.
Please check sig for overview of overclocking needs.

Regards
 
Sparkle, always Sparkle. (Fortron is the same thing, if you see one of them)
I love my 400 watter. I'll buy another if by some quirk of fate, this one dies (probably take a lightening strike or something).
 
I'm running a 350W Sparkle PSU & it runs great. It says that it throws 220W on the 3.3+5V rails. I've also heard that they're modestly rated & that the 350W can actually supply up to 425W of power, which means the 400W can probably supply up to 500W of power.

Soy
 
That Antec 550w has alot of features that you won't find on any Sparkle, or any other PSU for that matter. Both are good PSUs with the Sparkle being more value oriented and the Antec having the bells and whistles.
 
cchaos is right, there's not alot extra to the sparkle, if you get the 400w that directron carries under a diff name, it has pfc, that's a good plus, just look for the fsp part name and you know you're getting a fortron/sparkle psu. also look for "noisekiller" on the 400w models. mine is nice and quiet even under heavy loads.

btw...

I LOVE this psu!!!

cheers,
J.
 
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/

check this link out. it will tell you how to measure your system's needs and show you what to look for in a PSU. if you don't want to read it than MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A STRONG 12V. alot of PSU's skimp on the 12V and if you're running multiple hard drives or alot of fans your PSU could be stretched and could cause instability. alot of companies advertise big power supply numbers in watts but have weak 12v and strong 3.3 and 5 volt rails. alot of times the difference between the 400 watt and the 500 watt is like 50% more power on the 3.3 and 5 volt and the 12v rail is still weak. so if a companies 400w unit has sufficient 3.3 and 5v but a weak 12v and there 500w unit has nothing but more 3.3 and 5v you're still going to need more power even though you're running a 500w unit.
 
Was just comparing the 12v rail on the Sparkle 400's with the Antec True 430... the Antec specifies 5a more current on that rail than the Sparkle (20a compared to 15a).

That said I would probably grab the Sparkle anyway based on price, unless I could find the OEM Channel Well version (CWT-430adp) of the Antec for a good price. Actually, Sparkle's site has me drooling over their 550 watt unit, which beats the comparable Antec/CWT by quite a bit ;)

The 12v rail thing got me last year... I grabbed myself a Channel Well 420w unit based entirely on the 3.3+5 rating of 245 watts, and while this unit does a decent 18a at 12v I still need to watch how many hard drives I run on it.
 
I've got a 530watt Fortron and a TRUE480 Antec coming. I'll let you know which I like better when they arrive.
 
lazerblue31 said:
Cant decide between an Antec 550w or a Sparkle 400w.
Any advise from people who have these is greatly appreciated.
Please check sig for overview of overclocking needs.

Regards

Antec or Sparkle- Yes. Both are great supplies. Myself I use and recommend the Sparkle (actually the Fortorn branded versions from directron are the best way to go), but the TP 550W can put out more 12V if you have a lot of drives (like 8). Bear in mind the Sparkle will exceed it's ratings by a bunch though, so the difference is not as large as the spec sheet would suggest. The 350W Fortron/Sparkle makes 454W in reality, so there is no telling how much the 400 version makes. Very stout, very stable, very cheap, and very reliable. Fortron/Sparkle really has their act together.

There are now 300 and 350W Fortron/Sparkle's with a nice quiet 120mm fan... As soon as there is a 120mm equipped 400W model in my mind the perfect power supply will exist.
 
I have a Sparkle 300watt and a Antec True380watt.

Both are awesome powersupplies but the Antec is quieter to my taste. Even though it is quiet the Sparkle costed me way less then the Antec and it worked well for 3 years and still does.
 
I think both will be a good buy. Agreeing with larva, if you don't run a huge amount of power consuming devices on the 12v then I would go with the Sparkle if not go with the Antec. I own an Antec PP412X and it is a great power supply. I have yet to try Sparkle and it would probably be a future choice.

Yodums
 
That PSU is a nice looking one for sure, but at Fortron's website they spec the 12v line at 18 amps - same as my 420w CWT... I'm after the FSP550-60 series next with all its 36 amp 12v glory ;)
 
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