[efini]

Nothing is worse than waking up to a failed prime95 being tested on a rig in progress. Well, how about waking up to a computer that is completely off and that will not boot up? thats exactly what happened to me this morning. I pushed a cheap $10 raidmax psu to the limit and it finally coughed its last breath. Fortunately after popping in another psu from my main rig, I found out that was the problem.

I'm not upset since I know I got what I deserved for buying something so cheap. Its time now for me to purchase a new and decent power supply for my AMD. Do you guys have any suggestions for a PSU that will be around $50-60?

-efini

[modenaf1]

Go to www.pricewatch.com

[efini]

There is a store called pixelusa.com and they are located close by for me to locally pickup. I came up with a list of power supplies that I would be in my price range:

$63 Antec SL400 ATX 400 watt power supply
$58 Antec True330 ATX 330 watt power supply
$68 Antec True380 ATX 380 watt power supply

Do you guys think the regular Antec 400 would suffice? My current power consumption setup is simply a sunon 80mm, hard drive, cdrom, floppy drive, and 92mm case fan.

I would also like to point out that my motherboard does not have the extra 4 pin atx connector for the cpu.

thanks,

-efini

[hitechjb1]

Originally posted by modenaf1
Go to www.pricewatch.com

pricewatch won't suggest what to buy??

[efini]

Sorry about that, I should edit my post to now ask for 2nd opinions on the choices I posted since I would prefer a local pickup.

-efini

[Pla]

Antec is very good choice.
Their power is combined on all lines - they don't have limitations on the separate lines. Also they have separate regulators on 5V and 12V. So when the load on the 5V goes high you 12V remains stable. Normal PSU has limitation of the 5V output to not exceed some value which is way bellow of the max rated value.
I have 480W and it's very good. My previous generic 400W PSU couldn't boot every time. With this one it botts every time.

If the price difference isn't much - go with 480. The PSU will stay after your next upgrade.

[hitechjb1]

Originally posted by Pla
Antec is very good choice.
Their power is combined on all lines - they don't have limitations on the separate lines. Also they have separate regulators on 5V and 12V. So when the load on the 5V goes high you 12V remains stable. Normal PSU has limitation of the 5V output to not exceed some value which is way bellow of the max rated value.
I have 480W and it's very good. My previous generic 400W PSU couldn't boot every time. With this one it botts every time.

If the price difference isn't much - go with 480. The PSU will stay after your next upgrade.

At full overclock frequency, I wonder what is the voltage fluctuation on the PSU rail (either 5V or 12V) that generates the Vcore.

If you have the numbers from MBM or any probing program, I would like to know.

Also do you have the 5V and 12V rail voltage when the CPU is running a much lower frequency, say 1.8 GHz or 2 GHz.

[sandman001]

I would go for either 400 or 350 watt forton/sparkle power supply.

[Wiz4rd]

Fortron 530w

[JungleMan]

Fortron is also a very good brand.

I just got the Antec SL400 for my other machine and it's completely awesome. Voltages are dead-on where they should be but I think I need to test that with a DMM.

I am thinking of swapping my True430 in the main machine, Antec's SmartPowers are SO much better than the TruePowers, and they redesigned the SmartPowers to a dual fan design and a switch on the back unlike the PP412X. There's also a 450w model now which is cheaper than Newegg's True430, and is rated slightly better on the 5v and 3.3v.

BTW, you're not alone on the "I fried my PSU" boat. I have been OCing for a while now and I just did it a couple of weeks ago to a Deer clone 350w on my second machine (which is the one that now has the SL400). Stupid pieces of junk that will teach me never to buy cheap again.

[Pla]

Originally posted by hitechjb1
At full overclock frequency, I wonder what is the voltage fluctuation on the PSU rail (either 5V or 12V) that generates the Vcore.

If you have the numbers from MBM or any probing program, I would like to know.

Also do you have the 5V and 12V rail voltage when the CPU is running a much lower frequency, say 1.8 GHz or 2 GHz.

You can see the vcore at the second post here

You can see the max/min at the top of the image. The graph is zoomed only for the vcore.

The vcore min/max is 1.78/1.89 which is a lot.
The 5V rail is 5.00/5.00 which is stable.
The 12V rail is 11.86/12.04.

[mattspalace]

If you get an Antec, get the True Power line. I have the SL400 currently, and I'm a little disappointed in it - which is why I have a 550w True Power on the way.

[hitechjb1]

Originally posted by Pla


You can see the vcore at the second post here

You can see the max/min at the top of the image. The graph is zoomed only for the vcore.

The vcore min/max is 1.78/1.89 which is a lot.
The 5V rail is 5.00/5.00 which is stable.
The 12V rail is 11.86/12.04.

Thanks for the info.

I asked because wanted to see how does a TP480 perform. It looks like your mb is using 12V to generate Vcore. Does your mb have a 4pin 12V socket. And the 12V varied 0.18V which is within 0.36V (3% of the 12V). But the Vcore fluctuated a lot, 110 mV which is just outside the AMD DC % of +-50mV for Tbred and Barton.

I have a TP430, and the 5V line swings as much as 190 mV which is outside the PSU spec of 150 mV, when running the 1700+ at 2.5 GHz 1.9V, at which the current is higher than your Barton running at 2.3 GHz, 1.8+V.

[emericanchaos]

if i was in your position i'd get a fortron 350 for the $40 bills they cost. maybe not as good as antec but the price reflects that. and they're prolly second to antec.

[Pla]

hitechjb1,
Yes I am using the 4pin 12V socket. Also my cpu consumes 105W.

On the graph I noticed my vcore goes up when the cpu load is low (0%) and goes down at 100%. The board is supposed to stabilize it...

[hitechjb1]

Originally posted by Pla
hitechjb1,
Yes I am using the 4pin 12V socket. Also my cpu consumes 105W.

On the graph I noticed my vcore goes up when the cpu load is low (0%) and goes down at 100%. The board is supposed to stabilize it...

It looks like your TP480 lines are good and stable. The Vcore fluctuation can be due to the Vcore regulator on the mb or the presence of some unwanted resistance.

There are some test results from Antec showing the TP480 when overdrawn can deliver like a TP550.

Comparing FS 530 and TP 550

[ayoung]

Originally posted by hitechjb1


pricewatch won't suggest what to buy??

Yes they do, under CPU at the bottom.

[gogadgetman]

I killed 2 PSU's overclocking my CPU (see signature) both cheap generic, one 350W and one 550W. Now i have a Antec 480W True Blue PSU. Awesome

[hitechjb1]

Originally posted by gogadgetman
I killed 2 PSU's overclocking my CPU (see signature) both cheap generic, one 350W and one 550W. Now i have a Antec 480W True Blue PSU. Awesome

How did they die? Just crash and no post, smell, smoke??