• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Any other power supply worth getting over my Antec 550watt True Power

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

rlemieux

Cyber Deal King
Joined
Mar 13, 2002
Location
The Big Easy
I am a firm believer in having a very good power supply. My Antec has run great over the past couple of years, but is there anything that is better than it?
 
Dell_Axim said:
PC Power & Cooling is even better, though it shouldn't matter much for a home PC.

Thats basically what I am asking. Is the difference so great that I will notice on my PC setup? I just recently bought the Lian Li PC-75 (will arrive Tuesday) and preferably I would like to keep this system intact like it is for the next year or so. If any changes are needed that would benifit my system, greatly, I would like to do them when I am swapping out cases (right now I have a Chieftec Server tower DX-01SLD). Anyway, would making a change benifit my rig greatly?
 
Your rig doesn't look like a huge consumer - no 7800's or DC processors. While there are better PSUs out there, I don't think you'd notice any difference. If there was any difference, which would surprise me, it wouldn't be significant enough to warrant the cost of a step up to a PC P&C unit.
 
Instead of replacing the whole PSU, buy some Delta fans and use them to replace the existing fans.
 
I'm sure they are just as solid as the AX500-A, but I don't think I would use one of these new units over one unless the mb being used has an 8-pin aux power connection.
 
the 15amp 12volt rails is strange idea though, wouldnt two 30amp 12volt be more logical if they can give 60amps altogether ?
 
Rattle said:
the 15amp 12volt rails is strange idea though, wouldnt two 30amp 12volt be more logical if they can give 60amps altogether ?
The only reason there are split 12V rails is that current Intel standards mandate a maximum of 18A on a single rail for safety reasons. Rails Fortron calls 15A put out as much as those that others call 18A ones. While I agree that two 30A 12V rails would be a great thing, I just don't think it's going to happen.

Even though the safety issue isn't really apparent to us as end-users, I can see Intel's point. 30 or 60A on a single 12V rail is a bunch-o-power, so if something were to go wrong the consequences could be dramatic. That being said, if you are going to proscribe an 18A/rail limit, it would be nice if you weren't the sole source of processors that can challenge the load-driving capacity of just that.
 
if your systems works fine, why waste ur money? Power supplies helps ur overclock sometimes but only in a heavily stressed and underpowered PSU.
 
Rattle said:
have you guys seen the new ones yet ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104015

are these as solid as the 500 bluestorm ?

going with four 15amp 12volt rails is foolish isnt it ?

Not only have I seen them, I ordered one. Well, one of the 80mm fan 600W versions that is. Figured for $124 Canadian I'll give it a chance and be an early adopter for a change ;)

The ideal rig for these would be a dual CPU system with many drives and/or SLI. They are now Fortron's flagship models, and look to be a better design than the Blue Storms. At the very least, they offer active PFC compared to the AX500-A's passive. I do not recommend them for Prescott overclocking.

While there are few rigs I would recommend these for, they are not as foolish a choice for an SLI rig as a dual 12v design would be. While it is somewhat wasteful to run these on a single CPU rig with one 12v not loaded, at least the drives would not be forced to share a 12v rail with the video cards.

I'll be running mine on a single CPU system, however it's getting its warranty voided when the build goes together to be sure all 4 12v rails get some of the load.
 
^ If nothing else, you'd end up with less of a ripple on each line. Probably slightly cleaner input for everything. Not that it would make a huge difference...
 
Yeah... the biggest reason I went for that one above the FSP550-60PLG was efficiency and the possibility it wouldn't be as loud as my 530W is. I'm not really in need of absolute silence, but would like the box to be quieter than it is now. Then there's the fact NCIX seemingly has dropped the PLG along with most of the Sparkle models :(

Had the AX500-A been offered with active PFC I might have gone with that one instead, but for about $25 more I figured why not go for the 600W Epsilon based unit and see what it's like ;)
 
Back