My Rant On PSU

TmodTmod
edited December 2003 in Hardware
I see alot of people that have problems with their new systems and they claim it can't be the PSU as it is 400+ watts.

Well folks not all power supply units are created equal. Take two of the same watt supplies from different manufacturers and look at the specs. Some over rate their supplies (That is a bad thing) and some under rate their supplies (That is a good thing).

They can and do rate them at different temp ranges and the colder the supply the higher the wattage that it will put out reliably. A good indicator of the quality is the weight. If you find a nice heavy PSU then you will probably have something good in your hands.

I have used the following I have never had a problem with them.

PC Power & Cooling (High Dollar)
Powerman (Made by Fortron/Source)
Fortron/Source (All these guys make is PSU's, They also make the PC Power & Cooling units)

Any PSU that has FSP at the beginning of the part number is Fortron/Source.

I have not used the following but I have heard great reviews about them.

Antec
Sparkle (Made by Fortron/Source)

Comments

  • NebulousNebulous New York, The Empire State
    edited December 2003
    I'll add 2 others:

    Enermax
    TTGI ( Superflower)

    The TTGI works great on an AMD system, however has problems with Intel.
  • rapturerapture
    edited December 2003
    The myth that you need a 6000 watt PSU for your average desktop system is wack too...

    I dont think there is THAT much need to go overboard and spend money on a branded PSU unless you are going to be moving the system round or doing none typical things like special cooling or adding crappy LEDs or neons all over the place. If you have added lots of extra gear then you wont mind paying that bit extra to make sure its all going to stay turned on.
  • TmodTmod
    edited December 2003
    You are correct in that not everyone needs a mega watt PSU.

    But there are several PSU's out there that won't break the bank and are far superior to some of the cheaper stuff.

    Not only do the PSU's supply the power for the system but it should be clean power as well. A dirty supply of power can wreak havoc as well even if it has 6000 watts as you had mentioned.

    I paid $68.00 for a 530 watt PSU and I do not consider that way out there. Yet it is the heaviest PSU I have owned and puts out a max wattage of 650. All that with clean rail voltages.

    Here is my list that I am running.

    (3) 7200 rpm Hard Drives
    (1) CD-RW
    (1) CDROM
    (1) Zip Drive
    (1) Floppy
    (1) ATI Video Card
    Abit KD7-R Board
    AMD 2500+ Barton O/C @ 2403
    Not to mention 12 fans.
  • rapturerapture
    edited December 2003
    I think your system falls under the special cooling category :)
  • karatekidkaratekid Ogdensburg, NY
    edited December 2003
    I can vouch for the not needing mega wattage, though I am somewhat surprised at what I am getting away with. Here is my rig:
    AMD Athlon XP 2100+ @ 2 GHz
    ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
    1 IBM DeathStar + 2 WD Special Edition drivers (all 7200 RPM)
    CD-RW
    Floppy
    Abit KX7-333R
    6 fans

    It all runs on an old 300W PSU. For quite awhile I had an Antec TruePower 430W running the system, but I killed it (the smell of buring electrontics is still in my memory.) So for the time being I found an old 300W in my attic and put that in, assuming that I was going to buy a new PSU eventually. But, it has worked so well that I never bothered to get a new one. That happed nearly 6 months ago.

    BTW Tmod, what is the make and modle of this super PSU? $68 bucks is great deal for such a large PSU. I paid almost 80 for my Antec 430W.
  • NebulousNebulous New York, The Empire State
    edited December 2003
    Well I added a wattage calculator sticky. It does give a more or less detalied summary of how much wattage a system needs. What it doesn't show is if it's a generic or name brand psu.

    It's just a guide to help out so that way they don't need to buy a "6000 watt" psu for a system that will run nicely with 400w :D
  • TmodTmod
    edited December 2003
    It is a Fortron/Source PSU

    Here is the link to it from NewEgg.

    What brand is the 300 watt you are using?
  • karatekidkaratekid Ogdensburg, NY
    edited December 2003
    Little late on this.

    I am not sure what brand the PSU is, it came with an Enlight case from about 3 years ago (which is the case I am still using today.)
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