PSU Recommendation

Well my 480W Thermaltake PSU emits a nice high pitch noise. Thats without the PC on. In fact it won't even turn on. So I guess its dead. So I need a new one. I would like a modular one and quiet. As for power usage, it is powering an Intel E6600, 4GB RAM and an ATI 4770. 1 SATA Hard drive and a DVDRW. So nothing fancy. However I would like it to cope should I go for an i7 build and a slightly better graphics, although I can't say I would opt for anything more than 'mid range' whatever that is at the time.

So fire away your suggestions.

Do you have a budget in mind?

Edit: This is my 3000th post! :woowoo::mexican::woowoo:

I got a seasonic 750-x, there is a 650w model as well which will be more than enough, even with the potential upgrades.

It modular and really quiet.

I'd stretch to £100.

Catch is though Amazon has to stock it. I have vouchers to part pay for it!

The Corsair HX620W would be an excellent choice.

Cheers

Paul

A decent 450w psu is all you should need (ps did you have a thermaltake TR2 ?? if so it was not a very good psu)
For up grade potential depends on what you class as "mid range" graphics

If Amazon only.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-600W-Mod...0160750&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-500W-Ste...0160750&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Maste...0160809&sr=1-2

Or a corsair http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/re...rnid=365489011 (although they are not cheap on amazon)

Antec truepower new http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-TruePo...161581&sr=1-15
These are semi-modular, ie not all cables are modular, made by seasonic and have 5 year warranties

This would do the job for the current setup the OP has:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seasonic-S12...0163216&sr=1-3

The PSU even has a pair of 6 pin PCI-E power connectors.

If the OP wants a PSU which has more power then one of the following should do the job:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Powe...0163351&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Powe...0163351&sr=1-2

Stringent is willing to spend £100.00 for a modular power supply with room for future upgrades. Where are some of these recommendations coming from?

Cheers

Paul

There is very limited choice from Amazon itself for modular PSUs unless the OP goes with a private seller. TBH,I would stick with Amazon itself as it should be better for warranty purposes.

The OCZ ModXStreams are OK but tend to cheapo capacitors.

The Coolermaster Silent Pro range tends to be better. It seems from the reviews that they use Japanese capacitors(Nippon Chemi-Con) in the primary and Taiwanese capacitors(Teapo) in the secondary.

One of these units are worth looking at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coolermaster...168439&sr=1-11

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Maste...168439&sr=1-16

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coolermaster...168439&sr=1-18

The reviews seem positive. Hardware Secrets and Jonnyguru seem to rate the 600W version quite well. The 500W and 700W versions seem to get favourable reviews as well.

Hmm I am a bit dubious about private sellers. I have a Corsair Modular 620W in my work PC and its ace. I would like modular though. I had forgotten all about Coolermaster, tend to associate them with just fans. Hehe. The old PSU I had is a Thermaltake Purepower (Pure Power-480APD). It kinda did the job.

I'll keep those options in mind, but I'll release you from the Amazon tide, which would be the one to go for then? I am thinking either Corsair again or Be Quiet?

Mid range graphics would be about the £150 price tag.

I would look at one of these Antec PSUs:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...-80plus-Bronze

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/750W-...-80plus-Bronze

Both are made by Seasonic AFAIK and have got good reviews.

There is also the Seasonic made Corsair HX650W:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W-...-Certification

The PSUs have 4 PCI-E power connectors which will be useful for a dual graphics card setup.

OTH, if you intend to run one card only then one of the following Seasonic made units are worth looking at:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/450W-...-year-Warranty

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/520W-...-M-B-connector

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

The OCZ ModXStreams are OK but tend to cheapo capacitors.

The Coolermaster Silent Pro range tends to be better. It seems from the reviews that they use Japanese capacitors(Nippon Chemi-Con) in the primary and Taiwanese capacitors(Teapo) in the secondary.

---

Well that's strange seeing as the current ModXStream's use Teapo capacitors on both primary and secondary :rolleyes: and Teapo are the one Taiwanese brand that is currently rated as good as japanese capacitors.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/936/4

It is a bit weaker than the coolermaster slient Pro, however it can supply it's stated load, just not higher than the stated max wattage, the cm can take more than it's max spec which is one reason the cm is rated higher.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pob255

Well that's strange seeing as the current ModXStream's use Teapo capacitors on both primary and secondary :rolleyes: and Teapo are the one Taiwanese brand that is currently rated as good as japanese capacitors.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/936/4

It is a bit weaker than the coolermaster slient Pro, however it can supply it's stated load, just not higher than the stated max wattage, the cm can take more than it's max spec which is one reason the cm is rated higher.

---

The 500W ModXStream uses "Trec" brand capacitors in both the primary and secondary:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psu...w-psu-review/4

The same capacitors are seen in the primary with the 700W version:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2008/...power_supply/3

If the ModXStreams now use Teapo capacitors this would be an improvement as I have no idea about "Trec" capacitors.

Also Teapo capacitors for the primary seems more of an economy measure.

You can probably get away with cheaper capacitors in the secondary.

All of the industrial PSUs I have seen only have Hitachi,Panasonic,Rubycon or Nippon-Chemicon primary capacitors(these are Japanese companies). Skimping on the primary capacitors is not necessarily a good move. The same goes for the voltage regulation sections of many motherboards(including those of many OEM motherboards I have seen) which also tend to use capacitors from Japanese companies for such critical parts.

That's the old one based off the FSP epsilon design, heat sinks are a give away, this is the new one http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/936/2
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/image...hp?image=23349

Also capacitors are not the be all and end all, as has been seen before, let me see if I can find the review

PS thoes are the standard heatsinks used by CWT ;)

EDITl: Damb I cannot find it now, there was a review of one of these flashy, unknown make psu's it made a big thing of "all japanese capacitors" on the box, and while it did indeed use all japanese capacitors, the transient filtering and Rectifiers where a joke, which ended up with some hidious noise one the rails, voltages getting close to min ATX specs and the slightest power surge would of killed it and fed through onto the rails.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pob255

That's the old one based off the FSP epsilon design, heat sinks are a give away

---

So basically you don't know if you are getting an old or new version of the ModXStream. At least Antec add "new" to their latest designs. It does not really instil any confidence TBH!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pob255

Also capacitors are not the be all and end all, as has been seen before, let me see if I can find the review

---

Like the fact that "Trec" brand capacitors are still being used,right?? ;)

Also modd1uk knows someones who works for a company who distributes OCZ PSUs and it seems that there have been some issues.

If industrial and OEM components use Japanese capacitors for critical parts (these are NOT marketing driven decisions BTW) then I think they are a safer choice. Even the industrial mini ITX motherboard I got recently only seems to use Japanese made capacitors. Again this is not a marketing driven decision. This ties in what I have seen in other non-computer areas too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pob255

EDITl: Damb I cannot find it now, there was a review of one of these flashy, unknown make psu's it made a big thing of "all japanese capacitors" on the box, and while it did indeed use all japanese capacitors, the transient filtering and Rectifiers where a joke, which ended up with some hidious noise one the rails, voltages getting close to min ATX specs and the slightest power surge would of killed it and fed through onto the rails.

---

Well of course the basic design has to be good enough in the first place!! An EZCool with capacitors made of unobtainium is still an EZCool! :p

The fact is that it is the long term reliability of using cheaper components which is the main sticking point IMHO. A good design with cheaper components will tend to have more issues in the long term than a good design using decent components.

If companies are using Japanese made capacitors in their OEM and industrial motherboards and PSUs for critical parts then this is a choice dictated more by reliability than anything else.

Anyway this is my viewpoint and I am sorry to the OP if I derailed the thread.

Stringent, if you're still looking..

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/625W-...EE-TWISTER-FAN

This is a brilliant PSU, mine's utterly silent and it have 4x 8pin PCI-E's on it.. and the 88% efficiency is just amazing.

Or there is the 525w version, for the same price I paid for the 625 2 months ago..
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/525W-...EE-TWISTER-FAN

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

So basically you don't know if you are getting an old or new version of the ModXStream. At least Antec add "new" to their latest designs. It does not really instil any confidence TBH!



Like the fact that "Trec" brand capacitors are still being used,right?? ;)

---

No, because if you read the review link I posted this newer version uses Teapo

Quote:

---

Also modd1uk knows someones who works for a company who distributes OCZ PSUs and it seems that there have been some issues.

If industrial and OEM components use Japanese capacitors for critical parts (these are NOT marketing driven decisions BTW) then I think they are a safer choice. Even the industrial mini ITX motherboard I got recently only seems to use Japanese made capacitors. Again this is not a marketing driven decision. This ties in what I have seen in other non-computer areas too.

---

Yes I know that, there are major quality differences, also research differences, the whole swathe of cheap bad capacitors we had a few of years back, which went on for a long time, was due to a bit of indrustrial espionage, where a japanese capacitor "recipe" was stolen, the problem was it was only part of the recipe not the full recipe, this was sold to the Taiwanese and then a couple of years later to the Chinese, which is what lead to a lot of the bad cap's out there (but not all of them)

Teapo has done a heck of a lot to improve their quality over the last few years and IS now rated as highly as the japanese by many although it's still trying to fully recover from the bad rep all Taiwanese companies got over the dodge capacitor recipe.

The dodge capacitor recipe was also the root problem of many of the FSP epsilon psu's in the past and the dodgy CWT PSU's
As well as the Bad Hipper PSU's which they never fully recovered from.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pob255

No, because if you read the review link I posted this newer version uses Teapo

---

The review was from the end of Feburary 2010. So how do you know which one you are getting? Old ModXStream stock from the previously used OEM or new ModXStream stock from the new OEM?

Is there a change in the product code which enables us to find out what version is being sold? Why couldn't they have been marked as ModXStream II or something like that? :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pob255

Yes I know that, there are major quality differences, also research differences, the whole swathe of cheap bad capacitors we had a few of years back, which went on for a long time, was due to a bit of indrustrial espionage, where a japanese capacitor "recipe" was stolen, the problem was it was only part of the recipe not the full recipe, this was sold to the Taiwanese and then a couple of years later to the Chinese, which is what lead to a lot of the bad cap's out there (but not all of them)

Teapo has done a heck of a lot to improve their quality over the last few years and IS now rated as highly as the japanese by many although it's still trying to fully recover from the bad rep all Taiwanese companies got over the dodge capacitor recipe.

The dodge capacitor recipe was also the root problem of many of the FSP epsilon psu's in the past and the dodgy CWT PSU's
As well as the Bad Hipper PSU's which they never fully recovered from.

---

There was also the issue with substandard aluminium foil being used in some Taiwanese or Chinese capacitors.

The thing is that Teapo is still a bit of unknown longterm bet IMHO when compared to the Japanese companies who still have a better track record in general. The same goes with OST which is also used quite widely too.

Anyway I will a keep a lookout to see how the newer capacitors seem to perform. It is useful to know these things(thanks for that).

As with any of my recommendations I tend to err on the side of caution(as you probably know by now).

Sorry for the confusion there CAT, I agree you don't know which version/OEM you are getting.
I was replying mainly to your comment

Quote:

---

Like the fact that "Trec" brand capacitors are still being used,right??

---

In that Trec cap are no longer being used in OCZ psu's, but you could get an old one which does have them in it.

I err on the side of caution too, I think the modxstream from amazon will have to be scrubed from the list, although I'd trust the modxstream from ebuyer more as they've only just restocked after a long while without any in so the chances of them being the newer model is far higher.

Don't mind the derail! :)

Will make a plunge for one following week. I have temporarily found a 400W PSU which works for the moment (and I wanted to see if it really is the PSU). But not ideal, not enough power connectors, no SATA power (had to use adapter) and can't connect CD Drive up cos the lead isn't long enough, the other two molex are powering the 4770.

So this PC is on life support for a little while. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by paulktreg

The Corsair HX620W would be an excellent choice.

Cheers

Paul

---

There are quite a few i would go for before that.
It's a seriously overpriced unit.

slightly related to a PSU problem, i want to have 3 monitors, but i know the gfx card only has two outputs. i wanted to know if i added just another cheapo card, to my computer will it be ok? i mean literally just to display websites and maybe some work. i think my board does have sli but i have never used it. will my operating system recognise that i have two cards running independently and will i be able to just use it as normal? i.e. same as if it was two but just one on the other side as well?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vincent.m

slightly related to a PSU problem, i want to have 3 monitors, but i know the gfx card only has two outputs. i wanted to know if i added just another cheapo card, to my computer will it be ok? i mean literally just to display websites and maybe some work. i think my board does have sli but i have never used it. will my operating system recognise that i have two cards running independently and will i be able to just use it as normal? i.e. same as if it was two but just one on the other side as well?

---

You can add another card into a PCI Express slot and then use up to 4, or you can add normal PCI cards and Windows will recognise them. Or you could get that ATI card which has just been released with 6 outputs. :)

thanks for the reply, i cant recomment Corsair enough, their design and colour system makes the insides look pretty stylish, and mine makes no noise whatso ever :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mikemikemi

I got a seasonic 750-x, there is a 650w model as well which will be more than enough, even with the potential upgrades.

It modular and really quiet.

---

And expensive. I debated the X650 but I don't like the price nor the fact that the fan doesn't spin at all until there is a load put on it (gaming, etc). That means quiet but that means heat build up in one spot.

I can highly recommend the be quiet range which is silent in my set up and modular.