Somethingtodo's PSU roundup

Soldato
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29 Dec 2004
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Shepley
Originally posted by backslang
I would get something like a 480w+, granted that much may not be needed but if you upgrade it will be fine and at least you'll be confident it'll work

D'oh. If I'd known that at the time I would've bought a different case. Is it possible to change OCUK orders that haven't been looked at yet?
 
Soldato
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29 Dec 2004
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Shepley
Originally posted by backslang
if you give them a ring they might be able to help you.

Have to call first thing on Monday to try and catch them. Found a Thermaltake 480W PSU for £50 that's highly rated so going to give that a try and sell the old PSU to recoup some costs if I can't get through.
 
Associate
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16 Jan 2005
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South Wales
Just ordered my upgrade from OcUK (ASUS A8V, 3500+ Winchester) and unfortunately I am one of those shamed people who have a 550w q-tec. I bought it out of desperation about a year ago when my old PSU went up in smoke, it was all I could afford at the time. In fairness, it has been rock solid but very loud. I'm looking to upgrade it very soon as I don't really want to run my new hardware on it for very long. I've been looking at the Antec Neopower, looks very good. Also heard good things after reading this thread about the Tagan PSUs. Price range is about £75 maximum. What would you recommend for the money? I want as quiet as possible and enough juice to last a good while. Thanks in advance.
 
Associate
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11 Jan 2005
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Bognor Regis
I got given a Qtech 550w PSU for my new rig, I thought well i havent heard of the brand but its 550 that should be more than enough, then i read the overview on it do you guys think i should bin it and get a decent one, if so can anyone recommend a good, quiet one to power the following:

Abit AA8 3rd eye (ATX 2.0)
3Ghz pentium 4
2x 512Mb RAM
2x SATA 120GB drives
2x Optical

With a bit of leway for OCs

sorry for the newbie question.
 
Associate
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2 Oct 2003
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Porthcawl (S.Wales)
475w enermax noisetaker
460w akasa paxpower
(have both of these in 425w and 400w formats and theyre both very quiet)
out of the 2 id recommend enermax over the akasa, as out of the ones i have the rails are stronger the akasa is just under 12v where as the enermax is just over

but theyre both good psus
 
Associate
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24 Feb 2003
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Brighton, UK
Dodgey - there was a noticable difference when I replaced a 450w Q-Tech with a 480w Tagan.

Especially in my case as I am running three SCSI drives, DVD, CD-R, six fans, SCSI card and chunky graphics card. As well as a slight overclock. The whole system is much more stable now. :)

The Q-Tech looks pretty in gold - but that is it. When you purchase your new supply, feel the weight difference between it and the old Q-Tatt. There is a rough rule of the heavier the PSU is, the better quality. The weight of my Tagan could kill someone.. :D
 
Associate
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I find it very strange that my Q-tec doesnt mount the correct way up its upside down the fans are correct so there is one on the bottom and one at the back but the labels and the lip are up the wrong way STRANGE.

thanks for the advice might go with the 485w enermax noisetaker because the name sounds quiet LOL.

My PC is very stable non-the-less
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
11 Nov 2004
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Couvains, France
Originally posted by wasc
because they lie.

A 550 watt Qtec psu actually isn't capable of maintaining that output. Instead 550 watts is its peak output which it can output very briefly.

Put it this way. Power a vapochill with a enermax or antec 550 watt psu and everything will be fine. Try it with a Qtec though and it'll probably explode.

My Brand new q-tec 600w exploded first time I switched on!!! Yes sparks, flames, fizzing and banging... Think it probably toasted the Mobo s well :(

The Enermax 550w it replaced had lived for 2-3 years turned on 24/7...
 
Associate
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Bognor Regis
Originally posted by Dr Who
My Brand new q-tec 600w exploded first time I switched on!!! Yes sparks, flames, fizzing and banging... Think it probably toasted the Mobo s well :(

The Enermax 550w it replaced had lived for 2-3 years turned on 24/7...

Blimey :O
 
Soldato
OP
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3 Oct 2003
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out there
does anybody else want to take over this thread?
Would be good as i dont post here that often anymore.
We could ask one of the dons to arrange for it to be allowed to be edited by another member who has the time or something.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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18,299
Akasa paxpower 400w mini-review

Just installed my new akasa paxpower 400w PSU.

First impressions were that 'wow this box is heavy' this thing must weigh a good 2kg, quite a heavyweight compared to my old antec.
Opened the box, removed the bubble wrap to reveal the fantastic looking black nickel box (with black nickel fan guard and mounting screws).
Most of the cables were braided in nice black braiding, however the ends are not, which is wierd, could be better but its not half bad as it is.
Keeping the cables neat was easy feeding all but 2 of them behind the motherboard tray, the 24->20pin ATX connector is a little unsightly but I guess for those with 24pin motherboards its not an issue.
Now the only reason I bought this thing was for silence to complement my water cooling system. I was slightly worried that i would be dissapointed after reading what other people on here have said. However, I pressed the on button, the soft glow from the blue LED 120mm fan lit up, and I was not dissapointed at all after all, my machine now makes only a very feint whirring sound, you wouldnt hear it unless you were specifically listening for it.

Overall i'm very impressed, for the price (£49 delivered) i think its unbeatable, the build quality is nothing short of superb, finish is fantastic, noise is very quiet indeed, and voltages seem fine.
 
Associate
Joined
16 Nov 2004
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412
Location
Leicester
I was selling my 9600XT GFX card in MM and thought - "Hang on, I need a PSU too!" Eureka,

note added - "May also swap for a decent PSU or RAM"

Was offered a GlobalWin 520W (Non-Sapphire) but still very nice - snapped their hand off based on the info withing this thread - thanks a lot people!!!
 
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