PSU question

ayoung · May 16, 2003

Ok I can get a ANTEC 430 True PSU for like 70-80 bucks, but would this be any good? I would rather buy the 650 for how cheap it is... but yes I said CHEAP.. so is this one any good?

PSU

dustybyrd · May 16, 2003

don't get either----get this fortron with 120mm fan...it has been tested by tomshardware at 454 watts and it makes no sounds...

http://www.xpdirect.com/35sparpowsup.html

R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3 · May 16, 2003

not bashing fortron or anything but...you trust tomshardware?

that's a tough choice, $50 for a 650 smartpower, or 70-80 for a 430 truepower, i'd check the reliability of that vendor first, if it has good feedback, i say go for the 650 smartpower

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1923.html

doesn't look very promising, i wouldn't buy from them, get the 430 truepower from newegg

dustybyrd · May 16, 2003

not bashing fortron or anything but...you trust tomshardware?

that's a tough choice, $50 for a 650 smartpower, or 70-80 for a 430 truepower, i'd check the reliability of that vendor first, if it has good feedback, i say go for the 650 smartpower

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1923.html

doesn't look very promising, i wouldn't buy from them, get the 430 truepower from newegg

the thorough power supply test tomshardware did is supported by larva...the master of power supplies...

check out what the 120mm fan 350watt fortron is powering in my sig...

3 hard drives...2 1.4 p3's at 1.62ghz...1 gig of ram...cdrw...sound...5 case fans...floppy....zip drive...fluorescent light...

i have tested with passmark burnin test that stress all components at the same time and the power supply continued to blow cool air out the back...

larva · May 16, 2003

R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3 said:
not bashing fortron or anything but...you trust tomshardware?

that's a tough choice, $50 for a 650 smartpower, or 70-80 for a 430 truepower, i'd check the reliability of that vendor first, if it has good feedback, i say go for the 650 smartpower

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1923.html

doesn't look very promising, i wouldn't buy from them, get the 430 truepower from newegg

That 650 watt power supply might make 650 watts... 650 watts of heat. I have a 1200W hair dryer I will make you a deal on. It is about as good for powering a PC than that thing.

Tom's hardware, like any source, is not to be trusted implicitly. On the other hand their power supply review is far and away the best I have seen. Most people test at most a few supplies, often of different sizes, with questionable methodology that nearly always leaves the question of true maximum output unanswered. Judging Tom's power supply test to be bunk because it is Tom's is just as faulty of logic as deciding the junk power supply is the way to go because it has a really big number pasted on the side.

If given those two choices, undoubtably the True Power 430 is superior. If you want to save money though, Dusty is correct in that the 350 Sparkle will indeed power the most demanding rigs, and do it in style. You can spend more, but there is no functional reason you need to spend more.

Newegg had the new 530 Fortron for $74, but it fallen off their list now. It is my recommendation if you must have a supply that is 3 times the required output instead of just 2. The TP 430 is my other standard recommendation, but I find the design and construction as well as the reliability of the Fortron/Sparkle units to be superior.

Please reference this thread and see if it doesn't make it possible to answer questions of this nature for yourself:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150384

R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3 · May 16, 2003

i didn't say fortron/sparkle psus are not good, i think they're excellent, but judging from many other reliable posters such as yourself, larva, tomshardware is notorious in it's bad reviews, i bet you wouldn't go out and buy a powmax now would you? good effort on defending your loyal follower tho

, jk

i have a question for you, about the noise level of the sparkles/fortrons, i know the 120mm fan models are about 25dba which is very acceptable but i can only find 300-350w versions, i think 28dba or below is great, but what about the other models with 80mm fans and "noise killer", have any idea how loud those are? and i also read something about an odd annoying sound coming from them? feel free to enlighten me

larva · May 16, 2003

R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3 said:
that's a tough choice, $50 for a 650 smartpower, or 70-80 for a 430 truepower, i'd check the reliability of that vendor first, if it has good feedback, i say go for the 650 smartpower

No, you did not say Fortron is not good, you gave the advice to buy a no-name el-cheapo power supply over a known quality unit like the True Power because the cheap junk has big numbers on the side. Great advice. Absolutely no chance the people that put those big numbers on the side see you coming...

I said the exact truth as I see it about the THG power supply test. It has nothing to do with supporting Tom, dusty, or anyone else. I am not looking to cultivate a following, only trying to allow my expererience with PCs to benefit others. Many times this involves pointing out disinformation and bad advice.

Like any other site, THG at times does good work and at times posts flawed analysis. Their power supply test, much like their sweeping cpu and video card comparisons are significantly better than anything I have seen published on any other site. It may be popular to bash Tom's, but in general mob mentality serves no one.

I have posted extensively on the noise aspects of the Fortron/Sparkle units. Feel free to use the search engine to find these posts. Who knows, you might even find the information you seek in my sticky thread.

pik4chu · May 16, 2003

larva said:
No, you did not say Fortron is not good, you gave the advice to buy a no-name el-cheapo power supply over a known quality unit like the True Power because the cheap junk has big numbers on the side. Great advice. Absolutely no chance the people that put those big numbers on the side see you coming...

I said the exact truth as I see it about the THG power supply test. It has nothing to do with supporting Tom, dusty, or anyone else. I am not looking to cultivate a following, only trying to allow my expererience with PCs to benefit others. Many times this involves pointing out disinformation and bad advice.

Like any other site, THG at times does good work and at times posts flawed analysis. Their power supply test, much like their sweeping cpu and video card comparisons are significantly better than anything I have seen published on any other site. It may be popular to bash Tom's, but in general mob mentality serves no one.

I have posted extensively on the noise aspects of the Fortron/Sparkle units. Feel free to use the search engine to find these posts. Who knows, you might even find the information you seek in my sticky thread.

Just one word....

and dang larva, you know your stuff big time. Wish I could meet you in person and talk about stuff, heh.

R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3 · May 16, 2003

antec smartpower is no-name el-cheapo? i DID point out that the vendor was unreliable although the psu they sold for cheap is supposed to be reliable, you sure know your stuff

even the stuff right in front of you

i was hoping you'd sum up the noise aspects for me, oh well

Oklahoma Wolf · May 16, 2003

I've never been a big fan of Tom's, but there are times when they do things right. That PSU test article represents one of those times. Along with the similar methodology used over at SilentPCReview.com, I know of no better way currently to see what a PSU can do under stress.

Antec Smartpowers are ok units, but the one in the link doesn't say Antec anywhere unless I missed it... methinks some noname maker is looking to capitalize on a known good brand name. I see this all the time in the audio business (especially car audio ie Kenford, Soundstorm, Rockwood, etc).

larrymoencurly · May 16, 2003

Something is wrong with that 650W rating because when I added up the max power available from each rail of that 650W PSU I got 40A x 5V + .5A x 5V + 20A x 12V + .8A x 12V + 28A x 3.3V + 2A x 5V = 554.5W, and this number is never less than the overall power rating but is usually 10-40% higher, although Fortron/Sparkle has some PSUs where it's exactly equal. This isn't the first time that the numbers for a cheap PSU added up this way.

larva · May 16, 2003

Oklahoma Wolf said:
Antec Smartpowers are ok units, but the one in the link doesn't say Antec anywhere...

Exactly. I don't think you will find a 650 Smartpower on Antec's site. This is a sham designed to seperate one from his money.

dustybyrd · May 16, 2003

[
i didn't say fortron/sparkle psus are not good, i think they're excellent, but judging from many other reliable posters such as yourself, larva, tomshardware is notorious in it's bad reviews, i bet you wouldn't go out and buy a powmax now would you? good effort on defending your loyal follower tho , jk

i am not a loyal follower as much as i am someone who knows when someone knows more than me....and on power supplies that someone is larva....and based on your suggestions i doubt that someone is you....

you suggested that the guy go with the 650 watt smart power...i haven't checked this thoroughly, but i am willing to bet this is not an Antec...and if it isn't then that 650 watt smart power could be a piece of crap...when you could have suggested a much cheaper, quieter psu that will definitely power his system....the 350 watt fortron with the 120mm fan....

dustybyrd · May 16, 2003

antec smartpower is no-name el-cheapo? i DID point out that the vendor was unreliable although the psu they sold for cheap is supposed to be reliable, you sure know your stuff even the stuff right in front of you

you didn't recommend an antec smartpower...you recommended a 650watt smartpower....not the same thing....rolling eyes could be redirected...

i follow larva's advice for two reasons: (1) he has said he has built over 7000 pc's and the most reliable power supply he has used that is reasonably priced is the fortron sparkle...i believe him since he has a lot of real world experience and (2) after i followed his advice my dual processor power hog machine is doing great on a 350watt, 48 dollar, super quiet fortron power supply...that actually sucks hot air out of the system with the 120mm fan...

ayoung · May 17, 2003

Ok thanks alot guys!!

Adam

R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3 · May 17, 2003

i never claimed to know more than anyone, anyone catch the part where i pointed out the vendor to be unreliable? even the best of us make mistakes, it's a shame that some people need others to do their thinking for them...

dustybyrd · May 17, 2003

i never claimed to know more than anyone, anyone catch the part where i pointed out the vendor to be unreliable? even the best of us make mistakes, it's a shame that some people need others to do their thinking for them...

i caught that you pointed out that the vendor was unreliable...

i too have made and will continue to make plenty of mistakes...

but i don't NEED others to do my thinking for me....however, i many times will voluntarily read and try other's advice if i believe what they say (which is only truly believed by my own experience)....if i had to learn everything on my own since the day i was born i would be lucky if i were using an abacus by now...

i will continue to use larva as a reference because of his extensive posts on power supplies (one of which is an excellent sticky that has probably saved plenty of people a lot of money)....

nerdlogic · May 17, 2003

I have to agree that larva is THE GURU of PSUs. He knows his stuff...he even drops by general cooling and enlightens us with his knowledge of fans and audio as well.

Personally, I stick with Fortron all the way.

(BTW, larva, you look different than I expected...hehehe, but then again, I always pictured you looking somewhat like big worm

)

Wolfeinstein · May 25, 2003

as larva said the 350w forton/sparcle would be enough for the most demandig rigs so my question is why would people with similar rigs spend 80-100-120$ to get a more powerful psu when forton 350w 48$ psu would cut it?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Wolfeinstein · May 25, 2003

1more question i have an a7n8x 2500+ athlon ati 9700 Pro,cdrw,dvd,1hard drive wd 80gig 8mb,cold catode blue light, 5 case fans but planning to put 1 more either 90 or 120 mm on the top could the 350 forton sparkle handle this what do u all think??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

or i should get thishttp://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=17-104-974-04.JPG/17-104-974-01.JPG/17-104-974-03.JPG/17-104-974-02.JPG

or this
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage...72-01.JPG/17-104-972-04.JPG/17-104-972-03.JPG

or this one what dusty recomended

http://www.xpdirect.com/35sparpowsup.html

thanks all !!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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