which psu should i get ?

R

Raven

New member
hi.

having some problems which might be an old psu showing its age, have an antec truepower 380w S which is atleast 2.5 years old so will replace it sometimes in the next 2 months.

these is the ones i have looked at, any of them i should stay away from ?

tagan is the one i have looked most on, somehwat cheap powerfull 3years warranty and cant remember ever heard anything bad about them.

also looked on the zalman and it has 4x16a 12v and has very stable rails, the 12v rails has been 12.2-12.4 in the 3 reviews i read.

Hiper Type-R hpu-4k530 55£

Tagan Easycon 480w 68£

Tagan 480 blackserie(?) 28a 12v 61£

Tagan 2force 480w 61£

Ipower extreme edition 72£

Cooltek 500w 76£

OCZ modstream 450w eu-model 65£

coolermaster extreme power 600w 48£

corsair powersupply 520w 61£

enermax liberty 400w 62£

sunbeam nuuo 550w 61£

xion powerreal 500w 56£

zalman zm600 600w 72£

Regards

Raven
 
in 3-4 months probably but have not found that psu in any store, the only ocz psu i seen is the modstream.
 
In rough order of preference:

Corsair HX

Coolermaster Extreme Power (not tested but heard god things)

Tagan 2force

Tagan Easycon

Hiper Type-R

The rest...
 
XMS said:
Corsair HX

Coolermaster Extreme Power (not tested but heard god things)
Click to expand...

did some quick checking and i have doubts about the extreme power, the efficiency is "70% typical" and over time it gets quite much power thats lost and less efficiency also means more heat.

corsair claims upto 86% efficency on their psu which is much better.
 
Raven said:
did some quick checking and i have doubts about the extreme power, the efficiency is "70% typical" and over time it gets quite much power thats lost and less efficiency also means more heat.

corsair claims upto 86% efficency on their psu which is much better.
Click to expand...

Yeah 70% is quite low by today's standards. I can't remeber where i read that it was good, but i thought it was on a reputable site :rolleyes:

Really its down to the Corsair or Tagan's then - but I think the Corsair will still beat the Tagans by a fair margin in efficiency.
 
Raven said:
78% for the 2force 480w at 230w load isnt that shabby and black 480w at 84%

http://www.hardware.info/en-UK/productdb/ZGJnmmZnyZhl/bGpkbJiamA/viewbenchmarks/Efficiency_at_230_W_load

hhmm wonder how good that link really is, q-tec 550w 77% :eh:

found a review claiming 75-83% on the 2force but will do some more checking before i decide what to buy.
Click to expand...

I've owned a 2force but never tested it beyond rail stability. They have been out for a long while now and personally i'd be really surprised if they get anywhere near 83%.

Those results do seem a litle bit enthusiastic, but then I havn't tested them so you never know...
 
name='XMS' said:
I've owned a 2force but never tested it beyond rail stability. They have been out for a long while now and personally i'd be really surprised if they get anywhere near 83%.

Those results do seem a litle bit enthusiastic, but then I havn't tested them so you never know...
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree strongly, I have a Corsair 620 and a 2 force 480 and the Corsair produces next to no heat out the back whilst the 2 force in the same rig the air out the back is quite hot sort of 8-10c more than the Corsair which generally means wasted power.

I would say that I would be happy to pay £25-£30 more for the Corsair that's how impressed I am with it.
 
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the computer just turned of when playing gta:sa, didnt think much of it as the game is abit...buggy but happened again in gta:sa so i booted into windows to check the temps and it just turned off before everest had loaded.

so i removed the side to check for any loose cables and could smell something..funny and tracked it down to the psu.

unplugged it and took it out and almost burned my fingers.

removed the shell and could se 2 big capacitors bulging and leaking and 4 small in somewhat better condition.

threw in my old chieftec 420w and it all seems to work, but does anyone know how hard the chieftec can be pushed ?

running without any overclocking at all at the moment, the psu lacks sata contacts so thinking of using one from the antec, i assume its just to cut of a molex and connect a sata contact colour to colour.
 
Not really, no. A while back it was needed for powering the motherboard but then that standard got phased out. "Current" motherboards don't need it.
 
name='Raven' said:
¤#%#/&&%()=)(/&%¤#¤%&Y/U(I)=`=)(/&%¤#¤%&/()=?=)(#¤%&/()=?=)(/&%¤#¤%&/()=?=)(/&%¤#¤%&/()=)(/&%¤#

the computer just turned of when playing gta:sa, didnt think much of it as the game is abit...buggy but happened again in gta:sa so i booted into windows to check the temps and it just turned off before everest had loaded.

so i removed the side to check for any loose cables and could smell something..funny and tracked it down to the psu.

unplugged it and took it out and almost burned my fingers.

removed the shell and could se 2 big capacitors bulging and leaking and 4 small in somewhat better condition.

threw in my old chieftec 420w and it all seems to work, but does anyone know how hard the chieftec can be pushed ?

running without any overclocking at all at the moment, the psu lacks sata contacts so thinking of using one from the antec, i assume its just to cut of a molex and connect a sata contact colour to colour.
Click to expand...

may i ask what p/w suppy was this?
 
Out of thise, Corsair 520. Best choice. I don't care what anyone else says, it is THE best choice out of those.
 
name='XMS' said:
I've owned a 2force but never tested it beyond rail stability. They have been out for a long while now and personally i'd be really surprised if they get anywhere near 83%.

Those results do seem a litle bit enthusiastic, but then I havn't tested them so you never know...
Click to expand...

The only time topower is stable is at load. Plinking around windows and they're all over the place. (2force 480w.)

I got a HUGE rail droop too, when runnin SLI & Dual Core.

12.22v idle 11.96 load. With single core and X1900GT I did like 12.32 idle 12.09v load. All terrible.
 
name='WC Annihilus' said:
Not really, no. A while back it was needed for powering the motherboard but then that standard got phased out. "Current" motherboards don't need it.
Click to expand...

heard from a fellow that msi 965 platinum needs -5v but thats wrong then ?

name='ai_01' said:
may i ask what p/w suppy was this?
Click to expand...
antec truepower 380w S.

opened the psu and some of the caps didnt look to....healthy.

using a 420w chieftec at the moment and cant complain, it does the work silently.

and for my next psu will most likely be a 520w corsair.

have a store nearby which sells it cheap and according to corsair it has an efficiency of 84-86% for the 230v version.

the 115v version is 1-2% lower if i remember right in efficiency.

and its also alot of power quite cheap compared to some other brands, price is 78£
 
will put an order for a new psu next week, will be a corsair hx520w unless someone has something bad to say about it ?
 
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