Best 90$ PSU

[Zewt]

Man! When it comes to building a rig this is the only place I stop dead in my tracks: PSU buying time.

Set an imaginary 90$ limit so I could see what you experts recommended for that price and why. When looking at PSU stats, my mind is simply boggled so maybe you can show me some candidates and school me a little bit.

For eveyone who helps, thanks in advance... big time.

EDIT: This looks to be good. What you all think? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817104934

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I think you can do better than that old FSP for cheaper:

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-E5150GH

80+ certified and better built than the FSP.

 

[funnyperson1]

Yup according to all the research I did, including posting here and getting a post from Oklahoma Wolf, it definitely seems that the 5150GH is the way to go for under $100.

As far as I can tell, the innards are identical to those found in the Silverstone Element unit that is priced a little over $100 (though the extra cost gets you some extra cabling and sleeving).

http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=23

Seems like an excellent unit to me. I have yet to receive mine though, and will probably post some thoughts on it after I get back to my desktop/Apt next week.

Also if you get it on Pricewatch, the total price after shipping is cheaper:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=23

 

[4od]

I would go for this badboy

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153042

25$ mail-in rebate too!

 

[mista ting]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151023
Quality > Watts

 

[Neuromancer]

Yup according to all the research I did, including posting here and getting a post from Oklahoma Wolf, it definitely seems that the 5150GH is the way to go for under $100.

As far as I can tell, the innards are identical to those found in the Silverstone Element unit that is priced a little over $100 (though the extra cost gets you some extra cabling and sleeving).

http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=23

Seems like an excellent unit to me. I have yet to receive mine though, and will probably post some thoughts on it after I get back to my desktop/Apt next week.

Also if you get it on Pricewatch, the total price after shipping is cheaper:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=23

I was going to recommend the Sunbeam NUUO 550W cuz it has lots of cables.. .supplies good power, is UBER quiet (even under full load), is modular and comes with a 3.5" header for fan control.

But the PSU mentioned takes the cake. If jonny recommends it, you cant go wrong.

Also I agree about that Fortron PSU. Too old. I bought that previous gen EPS PSU for 35 bucks outta the classies. Uber strong and stable but definitely wouldnt pay 100 for it.

 

[Zewt]

Thanks for all the help, guys. I have one more question, though. I heard a couple people say that the 7 series of nvidia gfx cards need a psu with 20a or more on the +12. I am getting a 7900 gs for 209$ and was wondering whether 18a was good enough for it. All of the psu's you all posted seem really nice, but most of them have 18a. That leads me to beilieve that maybe 20a isn't really a necessity. Your thoughts?

 

[Neuromancer]

its 18A dual rail though

20A means total 12volt power... back in the day (and still 90% of computer owners at least) had single rail PSUs. now the move is too multiple rails so that things like HDDs spinning up doesnt cause ripple on the CPU rail.

There is no way the GF7 series needs 360W of 12v power... so you are fine with pretty much any PSU you buy.

 

[3line]

its 18A dual rail though

20A means total 12volt power... back in the day (and still 90% of computer owners at least) had single rail PSUs. now the move is too multiple rails so that things like HDDs spinning up doesnt cause ripple on the CPU rail.

No, that's a lie, and I'm going to be blue in the face trying to call this marketing crud out every time. There is no such thing as independent rails--just an amperage cap.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23916

 

[Zewt]

Wow, that is a real interesting read there. Even though my knowledge on the distinction between amperage and voltage is low, I understand some more stuff now. Considering what I just read, I wonder how well my system is going to be powered now : \ The PSU I bought does claim to be dual rail (I am newb enough to never find out whether thats true or not, though) and both rails are rated at 18a. But, that essentially means that 18a is the max amperage, correct? Or am I wrong again? Would that be enough for this setup?

E6400
7900gs
250gb SATA Perpendicular
1x DVD/CD burner drive
Asus SLI compatable motherboard (sli wont be used)
2gb DDR2 533

 

[3line]

Wow, that is a real interesting read there. Even though my knowledge on the distinction between amperage and voltage is low, I understand some more stuff now. Considering what I just read, I wonder how well my system is going to be powered now : \ The PSU I bought does claim to be dual rail (I am newb enough to never find out whether thats true or not, though) and both rails are rated at 18a. But, that essentially means that 18a is the max amperage, correct? Or am I wrong again? Would that be enough for this setup?

No, it means that the max is 36A, with 20A max to any single device.

 

[Zewt]

Wouldn't be 18 max amps to any one device? I just wanted to know, just in case my math is wrong. Considering the max amperage to one device, how would I go about figuring out whether a 7900gs can survive with 18a?

 

[3line]

Wouldn't be 18 max amps to any one device? I just wanted to know, just in case my math is wrong. Considering the max amperage to one device, how would I go about figuring out whether a 7900gs can survive with 18a?

ok, let me quote the article. Apparently it may be 20A or 18A max depending on how the engineers want to cap it. It seems completely arbitrary, and there aren't really strict standards about it:

PSU makers' specs are misleading in that thay rate the current capacity of each 12V rail independently. What really matters is the total 12V current: Generally, up to 20A is available on any one 12V line assuming the total 12V current capacity of the PSU is not exceed.

What the above means is that you don't need to worry about imbalances in power draw on the 12V lines �as long as no single rail is asked to deliver more than 20A. PSU makers seem to mark each line for max current on a purely arbitrary basis, probably more for marketing reasons than any other. A PSU rated for 32A max on the 12V lines can be labelled many different ways:

12V1: 18A, 12V2: 14A
12V1: 17A, 12V2: 15A
12V1: 16A, 12V2: 16A
12V1: 15A, 12V2: 17A
12V1: 14A, 12V2: 18A

It could be marked 20A + 12A, but being a cautious bunch, the engineers will probably not specify more than 18A on any one line. This gives 2A headroom to allow some room for error for the current limiting circuit.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

how would I go about figuring out whether a 7900gs can survive with 18a?

That card needs less than 8A to run... any good dual 12v unit can handle that. nVidia's recommendation is the combined 12v rating they want for the whole system.

 

[johnm]

A while back people on this form used 400 500 watt Bluestorms ps.
So i get 500w Bluestorm twin rails.
Worst ps.i ever had.
Ps kept resetting rma it new ps same 3rd one still in box
If you use cheap low watt ps on intel a single 12v lines give better oc
I ordered 680i SLI + E6600+ 2GB and are worried about using my old520 OCZ ps.The better ps the less voltage is needed at times

 

[johnm]

Oklahoma Wolf i know your good with ps
can my ocz520 handle 680i SLI + E6600+ 2GB i ordered + 2 old 7900gts
thanks for any info

 

[nvidiaOCmaster]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817154023

People get a bad idea because its OEM from the same corp that supplies Deer PSU's, but this one is great. Mine has been running strong for about 3 months.

I ran OC'd SLI 6600GT's, 6 IDE HDD's, an oc'd P4, and about 8 fans without the 12V going below 12.24 under load(it idles @ 12.35)

 

[Zewt]

Thanks for quoting it, 3line. I appreciate you helping me catch what I missed. This thread has been very helpful. Thank you to all of you who helped me.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Oklahoma Wolf i know your good with ps
can my ocz520 handle 680i SLI + E6600+ 2GB i ordered + 2 old 7900gts
thanks for any info

It should.

People get a bad idea because its OEM from the same corp that supplies Deer PSU's, but this one is great. Mine has been running strong for about 3 months.

Deer is the OEM... they own Allied and L&C. Probably Solytech too. And it's going to take a whole lot more than running on one system for 3 months to convince me it's any good, much less great, I'm afraid.

 

[nvidiaOCmaster]

True... Well, my statement still stands, imo its the best 600W for its price range.

According to JonnyGuru, its a high end deer. Ive personally given it a bad rep here from threads I started where I thought it was dying, when really it was a GFX card problem.