I already made a post about this almost 2 years ago, and wonder if there's been progress since then.

Is there any PSU on the market now, 80+ silver or preferably gold, from 235-300W?

I read about the HuntKey HK400-52PP 300W 80+ Gold PSU. HuntKey is normally a retail brand, but I haven't seen this one yet.

BillyBuerger made a great post about his Dell H255E which is much more interesting compared to the RM112 but still needs quite some modding. I could probably work out the required modifications and would buy it if I could get it for $26 shipped, but it can't be bought for such money in Europe. We have to pay double or triple the price, or more. For $26 shipped it would pay back for itself fairly quickly.

Is there any other good news in this area, or did I just sum it all up?

Sounds like it.

There is virtually no development of super high efficiency PSUs for retail sale because of the lack of end user demand. There isn't much profit incentive either. This is entirely the realm of OEMs -- big guys like HP, Dell. Siemens, etc.

And for a long time, there was indeed not much here.

But the Huntkey I mentioned is now actually on the market! In The Netherlands it can be bought as the "Jumper 300", a 300W 80+ Gold PSU. Five stores in The Netherlands (which is not a lot) have it now: http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/284407/h ... r-300.html

At €55-60 it's reasonably priced. Unfortunately, for me it wouldn't pay back for itself anytime soon. Just like the past 2+ years (not sure exactly when I put this into my main rig) I have an Antec NeoHE 430W PSU. It draws 55-60 watts from my wall outlet. Looking at http://www.silentpcreview.com/article273-page4.html it probably runs at ~60-65% efficiency now. I do have 230V so that possibly makes a difference, but anyway. That would also mean my system draws 33-39 watts DC.

According to http://www.anandtech.com/show/4069/hunt ... lus-gold/6 the Jumper/R90 would be approximately 85% efficient at such a low load. So if I bought it, my system would draw roughly 39-45 watts.

Assuming my PC is running 12 hours a day each watt costs €1/year. So in the best case, I can save 60-39=€21/year. So the Huntkey would need three years or so to pay back for itself. My NeoHE is already very silent, so I don't really need to replace it for that.

Also, my ancient ATX case has no proper space for PSUs with a fan in the bottom, so some modification would also be necessary. If I had to buy a new PSU now it would be a no-brainer, but I guess that as long as my NeoHE is working well, it's not very sensible to replace it.

But maybe this post helps someone else.

Interesting product.

German C'T magazine tested this and found the following with regards to noise:

(google translate: The noise was always below the measurement limit of our low-noise
Chamber (0.1 sones, 17 dBA), the jumper 300G works almost inaudibly. With dynamic
Mixer 12-volt load him we could not Elicit chirping. Who economical and leisen
will provide computers, makes the Jumper 300G nothing wrong. (ea) )

I found this info here http://forum.silenthardware.de/index.php?showtopic=37680&st=0&p=506298&#entry506298

In germany a modified and improved version of this psu is for sale.* They call it the Huntkey Jumper 300G www.planet3dnow.de Edition
This is the product of a collaboration between Huntkey and tech website planet3dnow.de

A test and lots of tech info that i cannot comprehend can be found through the following links.
1) http://www.planet3dnow.de/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=397289#content_start (german)
2) http://www.planet3dnow.de/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=397240 (german)

At 10% load efficiency is 81.1%

edit: * I don't know, are the dutch and german versions actually identical apart from a planet3dnow sticker on the latter? that and a longer warranty.

The planet3dnow version is significantly different in multiple respects:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ ... eview/1362

Thanks for the link Multiplexer. A good thorough review.

In the meantime i came across the Fortron FSP250-60EGA ==> 250w gold
http://www.fspgroupusa.com/fsp25060ega/p/843.html

I cannot find much info about it. There is a shop in Poland that sells it for 70.00 zł (less than €17 !!)
link: http://www.domex.waw.pl/akcesoria_komputerowe/zasilanie/zasilacze_do_obudow/zasilacz_fortron_fsp,p2146022553

Is there anyone here from Poland that wants to try it?

edit: There are more polish shops that sell the FSP250-60EGA
See http://geizhals.at/eu/662742 Though none of them is as cheap as €17. I think that must be an error. I will send an email to ask.

I believe I've seen a guy with this FSP in his signature on a local forum. I could also try and ask around, see if anyone actually uses it.

Also, the cheap one you found at Domex is marked as (literally) "post-service sale", which could roughly mean "refurbished" for all I know. Or just 2nd hand. Can't say, as the Polish description is quite vague.

Still, there are other shops carrying it, as you found already, e.g. http://cenowarka.pl/662742
The cenowarka site is a new price finder site in Poland, clearly connected to geizhails & skinflint, in most cases provides actual prices and up to date availability. Bottom line, the little FSP is more like 140 zl (35 euro) + shipping.