Recommend me a psu

Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2005
Posts
648
Location
Northants
Ok the psu in one of my pc's has decided to die on me so was wondering what you would recommend, preferably around 450-500ish watts and around £50-60ish.

Only thing is it MUST have -5v due to my motherboard manual stating in big bold letters PSU REQUIRES -5V. I gather this is due to the on board creative sound, motherboard is a MSI K8N Diamond if you were wondering.

So far the psu's i have found that i like and have -5v are
OCZ modstream 520
Tagan 480
Ultrax connect 500 (these look nice but don't know much about them, anyone got one like to comment?)

So if anyone can particularly recommend any of the above or any others that fit the bill then please let me know.

TIA
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
10,381
Location
Behind you... Naked!
I got one of those UltraX Connect 500 jobs.

I love it to bits, however, I have one major issue with it. This is only down to the Mothernoard that I am using it on however, and I am too lazy to swap it over now its in... Its in an MSI Neo2 Platinum, and on that the Floppy & IDE Ports are crammed together and smack right next to them, is the PSU power connection, and this would not normally be too hard to get around, however, I am also using a Freezer64 CPU Cooler, and the fans are basically plonked right next to the floppy cable, so I have had to use Cable-ties to hold the cables away from the fan... This is my only issue and that can be cured by either using a different Mobo ( Of which I have plenty to choose from ) a different PSU ( Again, I have a few of those I could use instead ) or simply swap *** CPU cooler, and once again, its not like I am running short of those either, but guess what? It took enough effort to get them all in there, that I simply cannot be arsed to swap them over.

Anyway, the cabling on the UltraX is rock solid and pretty much too stiff to allow me to push them into any nooks to hide the cabling, so they go where they want to and this can be a problem, especially if you like to show the inside of the case, but again, itr can be a bonus.

In terms of what it can drive, then thats not an issue at all... I have in that PC at this time, got 4 DVDRW Drives ( NEC ) on my Motherboard's IDE Lines and a Raptor, a Seagate 120GB on my SATA 3+4 lines, with a pair of Seagate 160GB IDE Drives and a Maxtor 40GB on an ITE8212 IDE Card, as well as a 6800GT, and 4x512MB Corsair RAM, and the thing is absolutely rock solid stable @ 2.5Ghz, and it goes to 300FSB just fine too, its only backed off cos its speed I have not use for at this time.

So, the UltraX is probably my favourite PSU I have right now.

Erm, The Hiper480 is another one I like too... I have 2 of those and they are very nice indeed... I did get a little paranoid at first however, because my first one was a tad hot at the back, but others said they are like this and its a sign that the cooling is doing its job, and I so I got another one... They are very good value I think at £40 and I am really considering gettign a few more and sorting out all my PCs with them.

I have one in my P4 system which is running a 3.6Ghz Prescott, an 80GB Hitachi, 2x200GB WD, and a 160GB Seagate ( All SATA ) as well as 2xDVD on the Mobo IDE and 2xDVDRW and 1xCDRW on the IDE Card, as well as an x800@x850 Saphire, and an Audigy 2 & LiveDrive 5.25" panel and 4x512MB Samsung RAM too, so thats also pulling plenty of juice out of the PCU for sure!

The other Hiper480 is running a Barton @ 2.7, with a 6600GT in an NF7S Mobo, coupled with 1x9GB + 4x36GB SCSI U160 Drives and a DVD and a DVDRW and 2x512MB Corsair 3500 TwinX Platinum sticks... Also rock steady stable, and previously I was running a 650w cheap-n-nasty and it was failing to start all the drives up on a cold boot and even then, it was never 100% and I have to knock it back to 2.4Ghz in order to keep the stability to a useable level... Now its never off 2.7!

Thats all down to the PSU.

Dotn have a Tagan at all Im sorry, but another good PSU is Fortron Source... I got 2 of these... a 250w 3 year old job thats about on par with a 600w ColorsIT or QTEC for power, and a nearly new 350w job ( That came with the P4 but I took it out cos I changed the case and the wires are only about 7 inches long, so its useless unless its in a tiny case.

Oh, and the length of the Hypers cables are very good, and they can power HDs at the bottom of my cases ( Thermaltake Armour and a Stacker ) just fine....

That do for you?
 
Associate
OP
Joined
15 Jun 2005
Posts
648
Location
Northants
Explicit said:
otherwise Seasonic or FSP


Neither of those have -5v :( i have a Seasonic in my main rig and it is the bees knees, just no good for this MSI mobo.

@ FatRakoon Many thanks for the info mate most interesting to hear the Ultras are a good psu by the sound of it, hmm could well be the one to get modular and all that.

Again the Hipers don't have -5v seems to be a rare thing a psu having -5v, :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
2 Nov 2002
Posts
3,534
Location
Dorset
So far the psu's i have found that i like and have -5v are
OCZ modstream 520
Tagan 480
Ultrax connect 500 (these look nice but don't know much about them, anyone got one like to comment?)

See thread.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
15 Jun 2005
Posts
648
Location
Northants
split said:
So far the psu's i have found that i like and have -5v are
OCZ modstream 520
Tagan 480
Ultrax connect 500 (these look nice but don't know much about them, anyone got one like to comment?)

See thread.

Hey nice find matey, thanks a lot :D
 
Back
Top Bottom