What's the real story on Power Supplys?

[Andaho]

So who is a well known value/quality brand? What about Huntkey?

[aidanjt]

Never heard of them and it looks cheap, probably light, and probably combustible.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/121906

^ Tagan 330W, more than enough for the planned system, and heavier in all likelyhood.

[Clunk]

Think about the word "Huntkey", and you can rearrange the letters into two smaller words that people will shout at you if you buy that PSU.

[Agent]

Or so they don't have to buy a new cheap PSU that blows up almost clockwork every 2 or 3 months.

Aye, fully agree - think that was covered above though

So who is a well known value/quality brand? What about Huntkey?

Never heard of them, certainly not one of the big names. Why take the risk?

Never heard of them and it looks cheap, probably light, and probably combustible.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/121906

^ Tagan 330W, more than enough for the planned system, and heavier in all likelyhood.

100% agree with this. Thats a good PSU for the money, certainly won't give you any worries

In fact, I think i'll pick one of those up for the file server im building

Cheers

[Andaho]

Aye, fully agree - think that was covered above though

In fact, I think i'll pick one of those up for the file server im building

But the machine I'm building is more than a file server a E6750 with a X1950XT is a pretty high end system (at the lower end of the budget of course) Would a 330W really power the system well? - and still power it well after a year or 2 of wear?

[Andaho]

What about 400w Silverpower SP-400P2C ?

[Andaho]

Ok, with still trying to cut on the budget, what about 430W CoolerMaster iGreen ?

Is this getting better?

Reading a review on it (no reviews I've found so far really say a lot about the system they're running it with), it says a downside is "No 8 pin Aux cable", what's that? and do I need it?

[timothius]

I always buy FSP power supplies if possible - although my latest machine is powered by a 250W 12V dell external brick psu heh.

[aidanjt]

Ok, again, one last time, PSU Calculators WAY overestimate power requirements, your planned system wont use more than 150W of energy, a 330W PSU will more than do the job. You don't need 400W+ in any way shape or form. Don't cut corners just to get a few more unstable and inefficient 'Watts' you don't need.

[Andaho]

Ok, again, one last time, PSU Calculators WAY overestimate power requirements, your planned system wont use more than 150W of energy, a 330W PSU will more than do the job. You don't need 400W+ in any way shape or form. Don't cut corners just to get a few more unstable and inefficient 'Watts' you don't need.

Well, from taking notice of what others have said on here, I am thinking I would like to buy a PSU with a bit more power to know that I could be able to use it in my next upgrade.

Is that CoolerMaster 430W really a worse PSU than the Tagan?

One of my main problems with the Tagan 330W is it only has 2 SATA power cables, and no 6-pin PCI-E? Where the Coolermaster iGreen has 4 SATA and does have a 6-pin PCI-E.

[aidanjt]

You can look at reviews and such, but Coolermaster isn't the first thing that comes to mind when people think of power supplies. If you can stretch it a 420/430W Tagan will give you well over 4 years of service.

[fat jez]

But the machine I'm building is more than a file server a E6750 with a X1950XT is a pretty high end system (at the lower end of the budget of course) Would a 330W really power the system well? - and still power it well after a year or 2 of wear?

My rig uses 350W (measured from a power meter) to run a Quad Q6600 and a Radeon HD2900XT under full load, plus the other stuff in my rig. It's powered by a 550W Antec Neo PSU.

I would go for something similar for your rig. Previously it was powering an Athlon 64 4400 overclocked to 2.6GHz and a crossfire setup with 2 X1900XT's, which it struggled with.

Make sure you go for a quality brand - Enermax, Seasonic, Tagan, Antec, etc and go for the best you can afford. You wouldn't put a Lada engine in a Porsche and expect it to power the car. It might get you moving, but it will be straining so much it will eventually go pop. The PSU is no different, except when it goes pop, it will usually take a good chunk of your rig with it. Consider yourself lucky if it's only the motherboard and CPU that gets taken out.

Ok, again, one last time, PSU Calculators WAY overestimate power requirements, your planned system wont use more than 150W of energy, a 330W PSU will more than do the job. You don't need 400W+ in any way shape or form. Don't cut corners just to get a few more unstable and inefficient 'Watts' you don't need.

That is so true. The PSU calculator I used reckoned my rig would use over 500W. Remember I measured full load (all 4 cores doing Folding@Home and the GPU running 3dMark2006) and found it to be about 350W - quite a difference.


Cheers,
Stephen

[Blitzen]

What about Xclio - Ive heard good and bad things about them and some are fairly cheap. Is this a good middle ground or still a bit risky? Example:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=156689

XCLIO's are an excellent budget PSU that are of good quality.

[robbo]

One of the few things i have taken in on my time with this forum is do not skimp on power suppliess.(In my case it cost me money)

Good luck Robbo

[Pob255]

So, for the system I'm going to build, can anyone reccommend a PSU that won't be overkill, as I don't overclock, and will porbably never upgrade the PC, as I always prefer to put up with an old PC until I build a whole new system.

FSP Blue storm 500w @ £46.87 a little over kill but it will not break the bank and has room to spare.

430W CoolerMaster iGreen @ £38.89 should cope with your system if you don't plan to overclock, sub £40 but not the best PSU going.

All told you'll be looking to spend around £40-50 anything over that is going to be over kill. (if you don't overclock, it's overclocking that the PSU stability start to become a major major issue)

Another option: 400W AKASA @ £40.53 not sure on the "true" make of Akasa PSU's

[amjedm]

As advised by most on here - you'll be better off with a quality psu.

Do you have a max budget? If not then set one and go for the best you can within the price range.