I thought a power supply was just that . . .

Behemoth · 21 Feb 2006 at 22:26

A power supply. But it seems that just buying cheap ones aren't cutting the mustard anymore. The current supply I have has seen about 3 system changes and I guess other changes aswell, the cables must be of a poor standard as my hard drives keep cutting out.

With the power cutting out to the drives thats caused some no too serious data loss, just a right pain really more than anything else.

Have just had a look to see what power supplies are like price wise. I hate to say it but I really to grudge spending that sort of money on a power supply.

I guess though changing times and all that, if you run a decent PC it's let down by it's weakest link, in my case the cheapy 550 watt power supply bought from a well known e-tailer.

So looking for something thats not going to cost the earth, but run my system.

Athlon 64 3200
Radeon X800 GT
4 HDD's and 2 Optical drives, 2 case fans.

I do like the look of the modular supplies, pros and cons ??

minority2000uk · 21 Feb 2006 at 22:38

hey there.

I know it cost a lot but I would recommend Seasonic psu as you get what you pay for and they rated the best in all the test in custom pc mag lab tests. I imagine you could get off we the 430W but I would go for the 500w for upgrade purposes.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonic.html

Or an Enermax the 400Watt one is 56 quid.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Enermax_111.html

Or you could go for a hyper psu...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Hiper.html

these would be the three makers I would recommend as they all rate pretty well and since it the back bone of your system you really dont want to go to cheap....

although I have a cheap PSU in mine due to not affording a deer one lol...but I am about to purchase a seasonic 500w one with a samsung spin point to go in my 4000+, 7800gtx system.

Behemoth · 21 Feb 2006 at 22:42

Yeah I looked at those, and i just think, well I can buy one for £50 less than that and it output the same power. It's not that I'm a scrouge or anything it's just that I'm careful with my money.

Although I have to say I've almost justified spending that amount on a PSU, I'll wait till pay day I think, just a few weeks away and soldier on with this EZ Cool.

I know I defiantley want a modular one. The thermal take one looked alright for the price but had thermal take stuff before and it always failed.

ToLearn · 21 Feb 2006 at 22:54

im in the same postion as you i hate buying a psu even though its the most immportant thing in a pc really

only one i would say not to go for is the hyper to many bad reports on them at moment

sent u a msg via icq by the way

Explicit · 21 Feb 2006 at 22:55

Also consider the tagan range, think they're about £75 if i remember correctly

Behemoth · 21 Feb 2006 at 22:56

Just about to install ICQ so I apologise if I don't reply right away, new isntall of Windows mate.

badbob · 21 Feb 2006 at 23:01

I think now with high current for the PSU with CPU, memory and video cards you really do need a high quality, stable PSU. In the past ie with a 486 people didn't put much thought into seperate PSU's. Those bundled with a case did the job.

Behemoth · 21 Feb 2006 at 23:06

Grrr. Guess what I've just had ?? Another system crash thats what, disconnected my other two HDD's now, to protect them, dont wanna loose 160 gig of media.

ToLearn, thanks for the link, looks like a good psu

Explicit · 21 Feb 2006 at 23:10

Behemoth said:
Grrr. Guess what I've just had ?? Another system crash thats what, disconnected my other two HDD's now, to protect them, dont wanna loose 160 gig of media.

I highly recommend you save up about £90-100 for a tagan or seasonic. The juice will be worth the squeeze!

Behemoth · 21 Feb 2006 at 23:30

I'm not made of money !! Considering it though, the knowledge that I've got a high grade supply in there as opposed to this cheap junk will be worth more than the price of the unit.

Jeff Crawly · 22 Feb 2006 at 01:14

Hiper 480W Type-R Black PSU

£42 Inc VAT

The above PSU is more than adequate for your needs, spending £100 for a 600W PSU is seriously overkill for your rig!

P.S) Have used nearly a dozen of the above PSU's in customers rigs without any issues, rails are very near spec and rock solid throughout an intense 2hour S&M torture test

pegasus1 · 22 Feb 2006 at 07:41

Behemoth said:
Yeah I looked at those, and i just think, well I can buy one for £50 less than that and it output the same power.
.

Dont ever go by what the makers claim to be the power of the PSU, its whether or not the PSU can sustain that supply of power under load.
There are some components that are worth going for budget versions (mem for instance) but usually when a PSU lets you down its in a spectacular way.

Si MPS · 22 Feb 2006 at 08:44

I've got a tagan modular 530W and its a beaut, i have a habit of having PSUs blowing up on me after a year though.

I had a Q-Bomb.. Sorry, Q-Tec, in my first build which destroyed an Asus A7N8X-D, a 80Gb SATA drive and a 9800SE AIW. Big losses. Then i got a Thermaltake PurePower 480w which managed to blow, but luckily didn't take anything with it.

pegasus1 · 22 Feb 2006 at 12:22

I heard that the Bunsfield oil explosion was caused when somebody tried to run a Pentium 2 system on a Q-Tech 650W PSU

AlanJ · 22 Feb 2006 at 12:27

Jeff Crawly said:
Hiper 480W Type-R Black PSU

£42 Inc VAT

The above PSU is more than adequate for your needs, spending £100 for a 600W PSU is seriously overkill for your rig!

P.S) Have used nearly a dozen of the above PSU's in customers rigs without any issues, rails are very near spec and rock solid throughout an intense 2hour S&M torture test

I secound that choice! Ive been using the exact one for my current system,
amd3700+ SD
2x200 gig hdd
2gig ram
dfi mobo

not ran into any problems yet, hope this helps.