My PSU seems to have given up the ghost and I'm looking for a new one.

I have a X3 440 with an ATI 5770
I ran my system into a PSU calculator (with a ATI5870 incase i upgrade) and it recommended a 520W PSU (assuming 30% degredation which is fair because I'de want to keep my PSU for a long time).
http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
To go with that calculated peak wattage is 470W so the rest is the degredation.

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a 500-600 W PSU?
I have read the recommended PSU's but most of them are quite old or very expensive (my goal is <100$ but i can go over).

I have an Antec P182 with the PSU off by itself so i dont really care if its super cool, efficient or quiet. But my system noise level is pretty low ( I can hear my scythe SFLEXF at around 7 V which was measured here at about 20dBA)

I have no feel for which brands or product lines are especially good, any help would be very appreciated.

I would look for modular cables and Gold efficiency standard if possible. For me this would point to the Seasonic X-560. It won't be within your 100 dollars budget but it should be around 120.

With PSUs the good designs age very well, especially the ones on the Recommended List, as they represent the cream of the crop. These are not motherboard chipsets or GPUs that get a new generation every six months. The ATX power standard itself hasn't had a revision in quite some time.

If you want something in the 500 W range, try the Nexus NX-5000 or the RX-5300. I've built one rig with the Value 430, two with the NX-5000 R3 and my current one has the RX-5300. All very nice pieces of kit with a decent price tag. The Value is now 4 or 5 years old and shows no signs of stopping or declining, one of the NX is probably over 3.

I wouldn't worry about Gold ratings too much. 80 Plus is plenty good at any level of the specification.

I see you recommendation for nexus PSUs but they are hard to find!
Any other recommended brands?

Ideally I would use Newegg, but tiger direct and canada computer are ok too.
I dont see any seasonic X series but this one is on sale
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093

I see a lot of bad reviews for the seasonics on newegg (a lot of DOAs but there are always people complaining).

The Seasonic M12II 520 Bronze will be fine, it is a modular power supply and is a continuation of what many people, including me, have found to be a very reliable line of PSUs.

Your X3 440 + AMD 5770 consumes maybe 250W under load. That 520W is pure and totally BS figure.

AMD X3 440 TDP is 95W. 5770 TDP is 110W. Add a few watts for HDD and motherboard etc. You will never ever go over 300W unless your overclock. So your figures are totally useless.

PSUs don't degrade over time. They either work or they blow the capacitors. Buy a good quality PSU. I recommend Super Flower/Kingwin PSUs. A 400W model is more than enough for you. Even a 350W model is enough.

Kingwin has very good quality models giving 400W power. Check those out. And stop using PSU calculators. They suck big time.

Personally i love Seasonic X series, i own a X660 and X400, both been perfect, but for whatever reason you dont like them, and you wish to buy from newegg, for a 500 to 600W PSU consider the following,

KINGWIN STR-500 500W ATX 12V v2.2, EPS 12V v2.91 and SSI EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Modular Active PFC Stryker Fanless Power Supply
KINGWIN Lazer Platinum Series LZP-550 550W ATX 12V v2.2 / EPS 12V v2.91 / SSI EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Both were reviewed by SPCR, Fanless PSUs: Kingwin Stryker STR-500 and Kingwin Lazer Platinum 550W Power Supply, both getting the Editors choice. Either would be my choice if i werent considering Seasonic X series.

Worth mentioning there is a cheaper model, not sure if its new or how it perform, but in case you are interested, KINGWIN Absolute Platinum Series AP-550 550W ATX 12V v2.2, EPS 12V v2.91 and SSI EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Good luck,

Kingwin 550W Platinum + model is 100% fanless when the load is under 400W. So I see no reason to spend bucks to an purely fanless model. In case you have to think about price...

I was wondering what people thought of the:
Enermax (EPR625AWT II) PRO82+ II 625W Power Supply
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_826&item_id=032346

In comparison to the Seasonic M12II Bronze?

mainly in terms of sound levels, i dont need 625W so thats not a benefit to me.

With shipping etc, the prices come out pretty similar

Both probably excellent models though neither iteration has been reviewed (predecessors are both Recommended), both 80 Plus Bronze. The only immediate difference is the Seasonic 5 yr warranty, which is excellent, but if the Enermax doesn't go wrong in the first three years, I would trust it for another two regardless. Seasonic probably has higher brand value in the PSU market, but Enermax is certainly credible as well.

Either should be fine sound-wise, so I'd pick whichever I could get fastest. I did not check if the cable selection has any remarkable differences.

What?

I run a a Phenom II X3 740 Black Edition with a pair (2) GTX 460 1Gb at full bore (folding) with an Enermax Pro80+ 350W.
I'm doing this 24/7 in the last 45 days, with no issue at all. For sure, I have to tweak here and there, I actually can't unlock the 4th core (which can actually be done), nor I can oc either CPU or GPUs, but my power requirement formally are almost three times higher than your.

Ah, ok, someone has already told you so... Talk about what Newegg offers for a similar power level of mine.

Well, if you are able to tame fans speed and don't mind to void a warranty, the Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS with a good low speed replacement fan (an AC F8, a Noctua R8, a Nexus and the likes) will be plenty enough and inaudible.
Then the "Rosewill Green Series RG430-S12 430W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5" Power Supply" is a decent performer, close relative of the former Nexus Value 430.
The Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W Continuous Power ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active share the same platform of Seasonic S12 II, and as a matter of fact is ten bucks cheaper than the SeaSonic S12II 380B 380W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply (3$ cheaper than its 430 and the modular 520 siblings, this latter seems to be on special offer).

IIRC these is the cheap side of silence (err, quietness) on NewEgg.

If you wanna go expensive, modular or something similar, well, some people have already given some sound advices.


You should put a lot of care when reading the more old articles on SPCR: at any rate, it should be around 14-15dB.
This is your actual noise floor reference (and not those 20dB), the one which you have to match.

so i found this on sale down the road from me:
Antec EA-450 EarthWatts Platinum 450W 80Plus Platinum Certified Continuous Power Supply
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=048561

for 70$ a 80+ Platinum sounds pretty good (its only +5$ for each 100W increase)
But my question is what is the difference between these more budget PSUs and the more expensive ones, i thought it was mostly efficiency but i guess not, since this is so cheap.

I know its not modular but i dont care, my case has good routing.

With the more expensive PSUs are you paying for tighter tolerances on the voltage rails? Is that a big deal?

Also I assume that this PSU will last a long time since there is so little power dissipated inside that the components shouldnt get that hot (thus long lifetime).

So why buy a fancier PSU? i know there is some reason.

In a system with such low demands as yours there should be no problem with any 80 Plus certified PSU. Things were a lot different before the 80 Plus system kicked in, now you can trust pretty much any such rated PSU. Antec is a household name in the case arena and their PSUs have been getting better - the Signature series is made by Delta - but I can't say about the Earthwatts series. An older Earthwatts model was on the SPCR list, along with a lot of other models, but I think that was in the land before the overhaul into Editor's Choices and Recommendeds.

I am personally leery of Antec power supplies. The only power supplies I have had fail on me were the factory PSUs on both my Sonatas. Both failed in exactly the same, spectacular fashion with a bang and smoke. Even if poor quality per se was only present in those models, it is a sign of the mentality at Antec regarding the selection and control process.

There is always a reason for cheapness, but it's not always inferior quality. Same as sometimes a high price is high only because the maker thinks they can get away with it. I would try to find a detailed review of the power supply you're about to buy if you have doubts due to price or any other factors. In the PC building trade, however, I feel that competition has put most prices in the right figures.

It's a tweaked FSP Aurum, not the best platform around (and the original Aurum deserves a fan swap, IMHO: if you have to do, IMO it's better to do a fan swap onto a Delta-based EarthWatts Green, or even BasiQ Plus), but still a decent one (group regulated, efficient but it can miss platinum even at 230V, with average build quality, and some quality control issue).


Buy a no-name 350W for 15 or 20 USD, feed a quad core PC with a pair of GTX460 (or GTX560), run a bench like Heaven or OCCT and then count your damages and collaterals.
According to you why here, with a midget Enermax (50-60 USD?), doesn't it happen the same?

Obviously, over a certain amount, the more you spend, the less the "marginal return" will be.
There are several factors, several of them marketing driven: so if you aim at a favourable Price/Value ratio, you have just to find the sweet spot. I gave you some ideas in the previous post for some not so expensive run (there would be better ones, but you have to look for).

@Quest:
nono i know cheap psus are bad.
but is there any point in paying for <1% tolerances on the voltage rails?

Also are you saying you think i would be better off with the antec earth watts vs the earthwatts platinum even though they are almost the same price?
ie. a fan swapped earthwatts 80+ would be better than a fanswapped earthwatts 80+ platium?

I bought Super Flower which costs a bit more than your average 550W PSU, BUT:

1. It is fanless under 400W.
2. It is modular.

So I get dead silent computer and clean cabling.

also what would make the earthwatts green better than the earthwatts platinum... would the benefit be in the voltage regulation/ripple?

You have to see with reference to what you are paying more and how much.
And if you need it: as an example, for heavy loads it does matter, or if you set offsets for CPU or GPU, it does matter.
So paying more with reference to a 2% regulation may be silly or not according to the price premium.
The same it does with reference to a 4% regulation but the acceptable price premium would be different.
The Enermax I already quoted it's an example of something which may not worth to best (if you don't need a very high efficiency).


Sorry, I can't help about that.

In my previous post I've said that IMO the Antec EA Green is better than the - original - FSP Aurum, providing both are fan-swapped: and it's easy to see what was my point, as on NewEgg the FSP Aurum costs nearly twice the Antec EA Green.

So, if you have found an EA Platinum at the same price of the EA Green, the vastly superior efficiency of the former it's clearly a big plus. I think that Delta build quality and reliability - over the FSP/Antec platform - should also count, as you void the warranty swapping the fan, but maybe for about 40 bucks you can take the relevant risk.

Please take note that a fan swap require that you are already able to properly monitor internal temps, and to accordingly control fans speed.

FYI, I have a couple of the Antec platinum 450 & 550W PSUs in the lab. They are on the back burner for a review because they were disappointingly noisy during a quick check turn-on without any load. This is confirmed even by mainstream reviewers not that attuned to low noise.

If you want to be sure of getting a really quiet PSU, stay with the PSUs recommended strongly by the previous posters -- and on the SPCR Rec. PSU pages.

An Aside: Some brands turn away from super-low noise PSUs because vicious competition in the industry has expanded to warranty length. It is now almost routine for higher end models to offer 5-year warranties... yet semi-passive cooling where the PSU fan does not even start up till quite high loads (>200W and sometimes, even >400W) or super slow fan operation at similar loads means such lengthy warranties could end up becoming expensive in time as a higher percentage of failures could occur due to the reduced force air cooling. Even with super-high efficient models, some components will surely run hotter and be more prone to deterioration from this heat over time. The risk can be reduced by the simple expedient of turning the min. fan speed up a bit at the cost of higher noise, so that a longer warranty can be offered w/o increased long-term cost risk.

Those Antec EW Platinums have a 3 yr warranty, btw, which is not particularly long these days.

I think that's not too bad. Reliability shouldn't be sacrificed.

huh, so my earthwatts platinum showed up DOA im going to return it (and maybe not get the same) and I was wondering what else you guys thought would be good. I see all of the previously recommended PSUs but some are very expensive or not available nearby. I have now learned what you guys meant by "quality"

the earthwatts green 380 could work, but would probably need extensions for my ATX and 12VCPU in my P182, 4 to 8 pin adaptor and apparently a fan replacement, (i want to overclock my X3-440 so the 4 Pin connector on the EA-380D sketches me out a little though Quest says its fine, and i understand its only an issue on the PSU side, not the mobo side of the cable)

Im happy with a 400W+ PSU.

here is the website for my store but I pulled out everything which looked interesting below:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.ph ... location=0

At the same store I can get these at reasonable prices (<100$ and I want to pick it up so I dont have to wait for shipping):
Antec VP450 (35$ big sale) *ive heard good things about this but its really old now i believe*
Antec TP-650 Truepower (85$)
Antec EA-650 bronze (60$) *also made by delta*
Antec EA-380D (the not bronze version) (45$)
antec EA-450 Platinum (70$) it was reasonably quiet when i could make it spin.
Antec HCG-400 High Current Gamer 400W (45$) newegg reviews say its quiet
Corsair TX550M (80$ big sale) *the non-modular version was highly rated here, big plus*
Corsair Builder Series CX500 V2 500 Watt 80 PLUS (65$)
Enermax (EPR625AWT II) PRO82+ II 625W (85$)
PC Power & Cooling (PPCMK3S400) Silencer Mk III Series 400 Watt Modular 80PLUS Bronze (70$)
Corsair Gaming Series 500W 80PLUS (60$)
Cooler Master GX 650W 80PLUS (74$)
OCZ ZS-Series 550 Watt 80PLUS Bronze OCZ-ZS550W (65$)
Thermaltake TR2 430W Power Supply (W0070RUC) PCI-Express, SATA, Dual 8cm Fans (35$


I can also get the SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze off newegg but i dont really want to wait, but i will if recommended. (65$+14$SH)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6817151093

From that list, I'd choose Antec TP-650 Truepower (85$) -- see my review on the main site for reasons why. It's a very quiet, good quality unit made by Seasonic. (note the 3 models in that series have the same noise/fan/cooling behavior.)

Apart that, IIRC, the 8 pin connector is an EPS and not ATX spec, however it does sport it:



Cable lenght is about 50cm for both main 24p and 4+4p: providing the P182 is 52cm overall, it's not ideal.
Probably, for a better out of the box experience (OOBE), the best two candidates are:


The first one maybe is more proven, and has lots of long cables, but that series also suffers of a not immaculate reputation on NewEgg (about 15% of its rating are 1/2 eggs).

What motherboard do you have? An X3 440 is not that power hungry, is it?

wow i hadn't seen the review for the TP-750. I just tossed that one into my list because i wasn't sure about it.
Unexpected but welcome!

My X3-440 TDP is 95W which is probably fine on the 4-pin, OCing it on the 4 pin is probably fine too, but makes me wary.
I have a M5A97 (brand new yay) which is AM3+, and can take some really hefty CPUs
Also for reference I discovered that my PSU wasn't blown but now provided 10.6V on the +12V rail (didn't measure the other rails with load) and my mobo died... I blamed my PSU.

A familiar scenario - I've rebuilt a rig (bought all new parts) only to find out the processor was busted (E8400). Bust processors and motherboards are the worst (the first you rarely suspect, the second is very complex), although a PSU that only supplies 10.6 on the +12V rail would probably score high on the Worst list too. At least now you know!

PS. If you build a lot of rigs for people, or do regular PC help/maintenance, a PSU tester can save a lot of time. Probably time worth more than the 20 euro investment.

Indeed, I've got a Q9450 and MSI board that are probably bad, but I've no idea how to find out which of the two is toast.



Wouldn't TP-550 be a better match for your system?

Well, option #1 is to to buy parts and test both, but that is expensive. Less expensive but still expensive is to have a shop do it, option #2. Option #3 is sell one item to a friend and buy them a beer if it doesn't work. :whistle:

New s775 boards aren't available anymore and it'd be a bit expensive if the processor turns out to be bad.
The thing still runs though, but I get frequent BSODs, mostly on heavy IO.

Again with those 4-pin... but what you're talking about?
Where did you see those 4-pin?
Which PSU has it?