power supply recomendation

mark19891989 · Post by **mark19891989** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:35 am

im thinking of replacing the psu in my desktop.

currently:
CPU: intel E5200 @ stock speeds
HSF: Fanless mini ninja
RAM: 2*2gb ddr2 800
SSD: OCZ vertex 30gb
GPU: Nvidia 7300gs
PSU: some cheap 500w psu (which has quite a loud 120mm fan in it)

build is idle at 60w, before i had the same motherboard +cpu+ram with 2 hard drives on a pico psu , which was idleing at 50w, so im sure that this psu is wasting quite abit of power at idle.

im looking for a silent psu hoping to spend below Â£50 ,

im thinking of getting a pico psu, or a similar dc psu , but by thhe time you get a the psu and power block they end up pricy, so any alternative sugestions welcome

i have checked the recomended psus, there are only 2 recomendations under 300w .

edit: just remembered i have a spare picopsu just need a ac adapter for it. thinking of getting dell da-2 power adapter, but any other recomendations welcome

speedboxx · Post by **speedboxx** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:32 am

The Antec Earthwatts 380 is cheap and readily available.

MtnHermit · Post by **MtnHermit** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:11 am

Before I got my Dell RM112 I was considering a Pico or Wingate. I moved away because the efficiency was too dependent on the AC to DC brick, not just the DC/DC converter. Also having an external brick was a negative.

I found on eBay a 12V - 120W LCD monitor brick out of Hong Kong for $24 shipped. Worth a look.

As for the EW 380W PSU, amazingly good and if your case takes a ATX PSU, I'd stop there. Here are my results:

Code: Select all

      PSU          FF       No Load         Idle     Comments
Seasonic 180W     SFX        7W              44W     SS-180SFD   
Sparkle 200W      SFX        9W              45W     FSP200-50SNV
Antec EW 380W     ATX        6W              34W     EA-380 80+
TT 420W           ATX       14W              45W     Thermaltake HPC-420-102DF
Bestec 250W       ATX        6W              39W     ATX-250-12Z Compaq OEM

All the PSU's were connected to a i3-530 on a Gigabyte microATX MB w/4GB DDR3 and a notebook HDD.

mark19891989 · Post by **mark19891989** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:20 am

i wana avoid the cheap ebay ac adapters because the pico psu has no 12v regulation and the ones from china can be abit dodgy

Thanks for the replys

found EW 380 on ebuyer for Â£30

edit: found it on www.microdirect.co.uk for Â£17!! but its out of stock right now

my case has space for a atx psu.

how much noise does the EW 380 make at <100w load?

MtnHermit · Post by **MtnHermit** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:42 am

mark19891989 wrote:how much noise does the EW 380 make at <100w load?

Can't speak to 100W, but I have the EA-380 sitting on top of my microATX case, on the table top 3-feet from my ear. I'm looking at the fan spin and I can hear nothing. That's probably 40W, I'm sure if I got to 380W it'd sing, but I'll never get there.

Theirs probably a review of the EA-380 on this site, worth a hunt.

mark19891989 · Post by **mark19891989** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:51 am

MtnHermit wrote:
mark19891989 wrote:how much noise does the EW 380 make at <100w load?
Can't speak to 100W, but I have the EA-380 sitting on top of my microATX case, on the table top 3-feet from my ear. I'm looking at the fan spin and I can hear nothing. That's probably 40W, I'm sure if I got to 380W it'd sing, but I'll never get there.

Theirs probably a review of the EA-380 on this site, worth a hunt.

thanks

there is a review of the 430w version.

that sounds perfect, i just need to wait for it to be instock and i will order it