A good guide for Power Supplies?

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Homercliez

Junior Member
Sep 29, 2004
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I am in the process of building a new PC. I am planning on all the bells and whistles, so I want a good case, cooling system and power supply. I?ve looked around the forum for a while and did a few searches, so I am sorry if this topic has been discussed elsewhere, but anyhooo, on with my question -->:eek:

I know I probably want more than 350W, but what is overkill? I imagine there are some brands that are better than others, so what are they? Are there some brands/types I should stay away from completely? Which ones are better at keeping cool?

I think power is just as important as the case, but don?t see much about it around here.

Thanks in advance,
:confused:
 
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TwoBills

Senior member
Apr 11, 2004
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I think the biggest mistake that's made when considering a new psu is paying too much attention to the watts. The more important spec is the amps that are available on the rails.

Something else that is often overlooked, but will suprise you sometimes, is the efficiency rating (the closer to 100%, the cooler it runs). Most quality supplies are around 70%.

The two units that I think stand out are the Enermax's 350w and 460w whisper 2. I would compare all other supplies to these two when making a decision.
 
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Degrador

Senior member
Jun 15, 2004
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Originally posted by: TwoBills
I think the biggest mistake that's made when considering a new psu is paying too much attention to the watts. The more important spec is the amps that are available on the rails.
Click to expand...

The amps for a specific voltage rail are directly proportional to the watts. Comparing watts is easiest however, as this is a more generic way of determining energy requirements (not dependant on voltage for comparison).

Anyway, one problem with most cheap powersupplies is that they can often only supply the voltages they suggest at peak - they can't sustain them. Another problem is that they don't supply a constant accurate voltage, and voltages too low can lead to instabilities, and voltages too high can damage computer parts / shorten life span. A good brand 350W powersupply should be plenty for almost any non-enthusiast user. E.g. Unless you're wanting to get maximum overclock with the best parts (and plenty of them (ie many hard disks / optical drives)), then 350W should be fine. 400W/430W will give you piece of mind, and 500W or more is overkill (unless you truly are an enthusiast user, which usually means you won't be reading these forums to learn about powersupplies :))
 
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Homercliez

Junior Member
Sep 29, 2004
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Thanks for the information everybody! I do consider myself an enthusiast?. just not a good one. ;)

The last system I had, I bought off the guy that pretty much taught me about O.C.ing, so I trusted his PSU choice. Actually, I never really gave the PSU a second thought until now that I am about to build a new PC.

Below is my system/future system:

I will be over clocking the CPU, Graphics cards and memory, so I defiantly want the stability! I will have an AGP video card (not decided yet) and a duel VGA PCI video card (FX 5200), as well as a TV card. Also, I will have a new sound card (not decided yet). In the very near future, I plan on setting up enough SATA HDs to get me as close to a Terabyte as I can get. That mixed with casual gamming and browsing for BitTorrents is all I really do on my home PC.

I?m thinking I need about 400-420, so do you think I?m aiming in the right direction?
 
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TwoBills

Senior member
Apr 11, 2004
734
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76
Originally posted by: Degrador
Originally posted by: TwoBills
I think the biggest mistake that's made when considering a new psu is paying too much attention to the watts. The more important spec is the amps that are available on the rails.
Click to expand...

The amps for a specific voltage rail are directly proportional to the watts. Comparing watts is easiest however, as this is a more generic way of determining energy requirements (not dependant on voltage for comparison).

Anyway, one problem with most cheap powersupplies is that they can often only supply the voltages they suggest at peak - they can't sustain them. Another problem is that they don't supply a constant accurate voltage, and voltages too low can lead to instabilities, and voltages too high can damage computer parts / shorten life span. A good brand 350W powersupply should be plenty for almost any non-enthusiast user. E.g. Unless you're wanting to get maximum overclock with the best parts (and plenty of them (ie many hard disks / optical drives)), then 350W should be fine. 400W/430W will give you piece of mind, and 500W or more is overkill (unless you truly are an enthusiast user, which usually means you won't be reading these forums to learn about powersupplies :))
Click to expand...

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The point I was trying to make was that it's a lot easier to rate power supplies by reading the amp specs than it is reading the watts specs. For me, anyway.

Cheap psus hide behind high watt numbers that have to be loaded to the max to achieve and maintain the specified amps. Lol, long day. Does that make any sense?

But we're agreein' here, anyway. A quality 350w psu is enough for most people. The Enermax 350 has some great numbers (amps/$). Load that thing up about half and it should cook for years.
 
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TwoBills

Senior member
Apr 11, 2004
734
0
76
Originally posted by: LifeStealer
The heavier the PSU the better.
Click to expand...

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Heh! I just caught this. That's pretty much it.
 
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