New PSU needed - your opinions and suggestions wanted

[Lee H]

tagan get my vote here as well ( well thats until the next batch of CWT arrive here @ scan towers ) The tagans have very good rails and voltages and the recent custom PC investigation on PSU's has shown that the tagan is a very good model indeed.

thumbs up to Tagan

a big thumbs down to Q-tec

[Kumagoro]

There are rumours that the Custom PC tests were done at Tagans labs in germany. I had a post about it not saying it def was but basically saying the article wasnt good. hmm the post disappeared with no word i wonder why....

[BUFF]

How about this review then? They didn't test the Tagan but as the OCZ & the Tagan come out of the same factory & share a lot of characteristics ....

[malfunction]

Good review Buff... Thanks for that.

Wildmonkey - any idea when then next batch of CWTs will arrive? I'm tempted by a 550W... Even though the last one (450W) blew up it was probably just a freak thing - and it can't help that the electricity in my area often has problems (dips, peaks and cuts)... Hopefully I'll be bagging a UPS from work soon which ought to keep my PC a lot happier...

[StormPC]

I use Enermax 460's in most of my systems, but the Enermax 651's go into my FX machines. They're a little pricey and overkill in many cases but you can't expect power from a computer and then give it a POS $12.00 PSU. It doesn't pay to scrimp on the powersupply. If you buy a good one it will last a long time. The 651 I'm using now has lasted my previous 5 machines and will probably be good for 5 more.

[iMc]

I vote for the Tagan. Mines great. I think that as long as you get a respected manufacturer you will be fine, unless of course your building an absolute beast of a pc.

[malfunction]

Right...

For what it's worth I'm leaning towards the Fortron 400W (ATX v2.0) PSU but it doesn't come with a 24-pin to 20-pin converter which I'd need.

May start another thread in a mo but I've been doing some research into who makes what... For example a while ago I was one of the people shouting "buy a CWT PSU" because Antec's PSUs were made by them.

After looking around it would seem that there are lots of people rebranding PSUs:

Forton / FSP:

AOpen, Nexus, Zalman seems to be selling re-badged Fortron PSUs

Enhance:

Akasa, Chieftec and Silverstone seem to be selling re-badged Enhance PSUs.

CWT:

I still think most of Antec's offerings are made by CWT and it looks like Thermaltake's PSUs are made by CWT too.

Will post more as I find it... Some of the PSUs as well as having different branding are cosmetically different and some use different fans... So there is the possibility that they also use different quality components - but to be honest I doubt it - I suspect they're all pretty standard.

I'm only talking about PSUs with fans here - fanless PSUs are anyone's guess

[overlord_stu]

I use Hiper PSUs in my systems at home (well my two and my bro's) - they are pretty cheap, and have silent modes - so far I have no problems with them whatsoever and would recommend them to anyone who isnt too concerned about brand!

[Zak33]

*pulls his Truepower Tshirt on*

/sings:

There's only one Antec Truepower
There's only ooone Antec Truuuuue power.

Sorry....its true. No one I know who owns one has ever ever had a problem. Not one

430W in my case.....quietest thing I have ever (not) heard.

Heaven sent

[malfunction]

Based on model numbers only at the moment Hiper seem to be made by 'super flower' - as does the TTGI PSUs (only sold in the US?)...

(the other comparisons were made on model number, internal shots of the PSU and the specs for each rail for what it's worth)

[malfunction]

Also linked to enermax (!) according to some bits I've read on the net

[Captain Fizz]

.....There's only ooone Antec Truuuuue power.

Sorry....its true. No one I know who owns one has ever ever had a problem. Not one

I've had:
2 x 480W TruBlue
1 x 480W TruPower

All 3 have died.

First one - Running fine for about 9 months... Then whilst running (had been on for a day or 2) the lines dropped, and kept dropping over the course of 10 seconds or so, and the PSU went off.

Turned power back on, tried powering up PC - BOOM!! Large white flash.

1 was due to a short inside the case. But what should have happened was a fuse should trip, and after 30 secs of no power, PSU should spring back to life... Nope... It's still dead.

The other one did the same as the first one - But after about a month.

I recon there is a certain amount of unlucky-ness involved here. I've ran a Mercury (/spits...) PSU, Enermax etc no problems inbetween and am currently running a 350W Enermax for the time being.

So - Whilst the lines are great - V stable and one of the quietest PSU's I've owned - I'm not getting Antec again.

I would still rate them as being one of the best PSU's - But Antec must hate me personally.

Strange thing is, I ran a 340W Mercury (about 200W effective) and 400W Codegen (about 250W effective) for months inbetween times. ??
Really cheapo PSU's that were struggling - But they didn't die.

For those who are considering cheap PSU's - When using the Mercury & Codegen, if I went into a new system in X2 - The fan speeds would change. (IE - 12V line fluctuating enough to cause a noticable, audible difference in fan speed!!! )

[malfunction]

More PSU conspiracy theories...

Link 1 - a picture of a "topower" psu:

http://www.topower.com.tw/home/img/atx_p5_big.jpg

Link 2 - a picture of a "tagan" psu:

http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/tagan/bundle.jpg

Coincidence?

[overlord_stu]

Based on model numbers only at the moment Hiper seem to be made by 'super flower' - as does the TTGI PSUs (only sold in the US?)...

(the other comparisons were made on model number, internal shots of the PSU and the specs for each rail for what it's worth)

I was under the impression that they were part of Coolermaster? But that could be hearsay...

[BUFF]

More PSU conspiracy theories...

Link 1 - a picture of a "topower" psu:

http://www.topower.com.tw/home/img/atx_p5_big.jpg

Link 2 - a picture of a "tagan" psu:

http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/tagan/bundle.jpg

Coincidence?

You forgot to post a link for an OCZ Powerstream (ignore the adjustable rail gubbins & look at the other similarities).

[Drat]

Well as my first post this is my 2 pennyworth.
The Tagan in my system I have been running for 11 months no hitches. However the first one i recieved was causing crashes. RMA'D back to overclockers and the unit has been fine since. I have also used Antec Trupower with the same problems. So sometimes you may end up with a Friday afternoon model or a Monday am model.
It still is important I think to go for a quality unit from a well known company. I also run a 500 watt Levicom on my second system and that one has never given me a problem. My vote Tagan despite the intial problem.