Best Punch For Pound PSUs

[Blitzen]

LAST UPDATED 25/11/2006

(All prices include VAT)

BEST PUNCH FOR POUND PSUs :-

Lower End But Decent - All Under £50

~ 430w Seasonic S12-430 aPFC PSU Silent ATX2.0 - £46.87 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=256335

~ 500W Xclio X12S4P2 SLI Goodpower 12cm Fan Dual 12v EPS - £34.02 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=375883

~ 400W Enermax Liberty Modular Series - £48.75 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=284214

~ 400W FSP Sparkle Blue Storm 400-60THN-P, 12cm Fan ATX2.0 - £43.35 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=271184


Mid Range - Great For All But The Serious Rigs - All Between £50 & £85


~ 700W Xclio X12S4P4 Modular SLi U-Quiet 14cm Fan 87%+ Efficiency Quad+12v EPS 4SATA 4 PCI-E - £64.57 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=375887

~ 500W Enermax Liberty Modular Series - ELT500AWT - £72.25 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=284213

~ 500w Seasonic S12-500 E+ SLi aPFC PSU Silent ATX2.0 2xPCI-E 4xSATA ATX12v-1.3 & ATX12v 2.01 - £79.30 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=256337

~ 520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty - £69.29 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=446788

~ 650W Silverstone ST65ZF-GM SLi Dual PCI-E EPS12v ATX12v v2.01 PSU - £83.88 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=192077


High End - This Is The SERIOUS Section

~ 600w Seasonic M12-600 SLi Modular PSU 2xPCI-E 4xSATA 120mm Fan ATX1.3/2.01 - £110.44 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=475252

~ 700W FSP Sparkle Epsilon FX700-GLN SLi/Xfire, 12cm Fan ATX2.0 (20+4Pin) SATA/PCI-E - £111.03 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=290214

~ Enermax 1000W Galaxy Silent Modular EPS12V PSU - £211.49 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=446001

~ 850W Silverstone SST-ST85ZF - £170.85 - 850W Silverstone SST-ST85ZF Quad +12V rail, Quad PCI-E, ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS12V

~ 620W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS 12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty - £96.35 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=446787

I would like to add that i have used Scan and for these prices out of respect for being able to use this site.
You can buy a few of these marginally cheaper at another PC On Line shop with a name that summarises what you 'do to PC's to make them run faster' but due to repeated poor Customer Service i declined to mention them. Use at your peril.

SO.....To summarise, lets start with the Lower End units. They are all decent but one of them stands out above the rest and thats the 500W Xclio. In the UK they aren't very well know but they have a reputation elsewhere of being stable, well built, good all-rounders. For a few pence over £34 this is a REAL bargain and has my vote as the 'Best of Category'.

In the Mid-Range Psu section the competition is very close. I would personally be happy for any of those units to be sat in my machine and they are all pretty good prices. The Xclio 700W makes it onto that list aswell for all the same reasons as the Best of Category winner for the Low End. Im sure you will all agree though that the Corsair 520W steals that particular show though. Corsair have been famous for producing high quality memory for years and this is their dip into PSU manufacture. The unit, the price, the efficiency, the EVERYTHING has been thought of here and is spot on.
If you are a mid-range user then what are you waiting for...BUY IT!!!!

My favourite bit now.... The High Rollers and high prices are here and there are also new additions here as well as the usual suspects. The 600W Seasonic is a great PSU and makes an appearance as does the beautiful Silverstone 850W BUT, the winner for all the right reasons (after all, this is the 'Be As Flash As Possible Section), must be the Enermax 1000W Galaxy Modular. This is AN ABSOLUTE BEAST. It ticks all the right boxes if you are looking to buy a enormous price, strange factor, over-powered, sexy S.O.A.B.
Its not everyones cup of tea and if the cash was in the pocket then most wouldnt chose it!
HOWEVER, i would like to applaude Enermax for going out on a limb a little and giving us something we dont need but would still love to own.

This list will be updated once per month as long as its permitted.

(If there are any omissions you believe should be here and can make a genuine case for then please let me know and i will consider it. Please also report any dead links)

[danroyle]

hey nice post well done will be handy for anyone looking for a good psu in there price range

[CrazyMonkey]

hey nice post well done will be handy for anyone looking for a good psu in there price range

Yeah and im looking at PSU's at this moment..

Good post thank you.

[sawyen]

Funny we can't find Tagan in the list..

They're cracking PSUs..

[dave87]

Yup, I've used a couple of Tagans, especially the 330w TwoForce one, and I must say it is rather good, especially for budget builds.

That and the new M12 Seasonics - OC3D did a test and their 12v Rails had a 0% deviation even under full load, which is mightily impressive.

Dave

[Clunk]

Hmmm, the Tagan have decent power delivery, but the SATA to molex converters are absolute rubbish, silly design in my opinion. The one I had, also had noisy fans and a faulty controller.

[Blitzen]

Hmmm, the Tagan have decent power delivery, but the SATA to molex converters are absolute rubbish, silly design in my opinion. The one I had, also had noisy fans and a faulty controller.

Yup, I've used a couple of Tagans, especially the 330w TwoForce one, and I must say it is rather good, especially for budget builds.

That and the new M12 Seasonics - OC3D did a test and their 12v Rails had a 0% deviation even under full load, which is mightily impressive.

Dave

Im was hoping someone would ask about Tagans.
SOme like them...most dont!!!!

I tested one about 4 months ago and the 12V rail moves around ALOT.......they are average at best and i certainly wouldnt use one. If anyone is thinking of placing one in a mid-high end system then dont....they just arent good enough.

Hope that helps and its not meant to flame anyone.........just fact tbh.


Please rmember also, out of respect for Scan, i have only used their products.

PC Power & Cooling ***cough cough*** <------where are they?

[Hans Voralberg]

PC Power & Cooling ***cough cough*** <------where are they?

Quality is too good, they dont need reviewing Plus the price is so high 99% of people wont care, so again no point in reviewing

[Blitzen]

Quality is too good, they dont need reviewing Plus the price is so high 99% of people wont care, so again no point in reviewing

True...but i'd just love to put it in the 'High ENd category.

[Hans Voralberg]

True...but i'd just love to put it in the 'High ENd category.

Nah High end wont do, it's the @ the freaking top of the league end

[Agent]

First off, what are you basing your opinion on?
Its just as if you have looked at the price of a PSU, along with the brand name and wattage and put it in a certain category. They are all pretty solid, reliable PSU’s that you have listed

Also the comment of “£100 an hour to run PSU” is non-sense. A PSU will not draw more than it needs to. Depending on the efficiency parameters of each unit, it could mean that the Enermax 1000W Galaxy is cheaper to run compared to other, much lower wattage PSU’s.

“Well, these PSUs have been recommended because they have stood up to the testing and come out on top”

What testing? Links, evidence?

“Some good guys at another forum I frequent and review for gave me test data for around half of them”

Presumably you just guessed the other half then ?

“Im was hoping someone would ask about Tagans.
SOme like them...most dont!!!!”

IMO, that is utter non-sense. They are using in several high profile system builds. Sticking with your example of Scan – they are using in several of their 3XS systems for a start.

“I tested one about 4 months ago and the 12V rail moves around ALOT.......they are average at best and i certainly wouldnt use one. If anyone is thinking of placing one in a mid-high end system then dont....they just arent good enough.

Hope that helps and its not meant to flame anyone.........just fact tbh.”

Just fact ? Id say its more opinion myself . Maybe you had issues with your unit? Either way, all the Tagans ive ever used have been solid.

Tagan are one of the handful of PSU manufactures that have SLI certification from nVidia. IIRC, they also supplied the PSU’s used in SLI test systems when it was launched.
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html
http://www.tagan.com/pages/products/...g1100_u96.html

Im pretty sure nVidia wouldnt give them SLI certification if they wouldn’t run their cards in the high profile systems that they will be used in

Either way, interesting post . Im not necessarily disputing what you have written for parts of it, id just like to see some evidence to back up what you are saying

[dave87]

Im was hoping someone would ask about Tagans.
SOme like them...most dont!!!!

I tested one about 4 months ago and the 12V rail moves around ALOT.......they are average at best and i certainly wouldnt use one. If anyone is thinking of placing one in a mid-high end system then dont....they just arent good enough.

Hope that helps and its not meant to flame anyone.........just fact tbh.


Please rmember also, out of respect for Scan, i have only used their products.

PC Power & Cooling ***cough cough*** <------where are they?

I don't know what your experiences are - but the Tagan I used was as well built as the NeoHE or S12 that are running in my machines.

Like Agent said, proof would be nice. I agree with the initial premise of your post, and you have managed to pick out some good PSUs, but your reasoning seems a little odd.

Dave

[Blitzen]

Ahhh well......its worth a try helping out!
Please moderator remove this post.

My evidence is solid enough and if you are thinking its just 'opinion' then you are also entitled to yours.

Strange that a post that is trying to help is dispelled so lightly.

NM.....

[HoldenBurn1000]

Either way, interesting post . Im not necessarily disputing what you have written for parts of it, id just like to see some evidence to back up what you are saying

You see he is not dismissing it he is just asking for some proof or "facts" its a great post. He's just seeing some holes in it. Dont take it to heart

Edit : Just seen that you edited your post, not need to be so sensitive :S not really needed but meh.

[Agent]

My evidence is solid enough and if you are thinking its just 'opinion' then you are also entitled to yours.

Strange that a post that is trying to help is dispelled so lightly.

NM.....

If your evidence is solid enough, why not just post that as opposed to removing your original post? I really don’t see what’s been achieved by doing that.

It’s a shame, it was a nice list. These are forums however and people are going to ask questions / raise points - that’s the entire reason for them being here

Everyone has different experiences with PSU's, no doubt you could find someone that has had both good and bad experiences with every unit listed. The key is to let everyone give input, which will hopefully show which units are worth avoiding, and which ones should be put on a "must buy" list.

If people didn’t ask questions / bring points up about a list like you had posted, it would mean that one bloke coming in and telling everyone to buy "650watt triple fan" Q-tec's could be responsible for several house fire deaths, loss of property and possibly a false warning from the met. office on small scale earth quakes.

So why not put your post back so we can discuss it ?

[sawyen]

Gee, I never knew this post actually came to this..

But anyways, I'll wait for you to post up your previous post before I go on further..