Best PSU for cooling

[pipsey]

It was mentioned in another thread that a new PSU is a possible fix for a bad heat issue I'm having with my Athlon64 right now. Therefore, I'm looking for a new PSU that:

- Can handle as much power output as I'm going to need for as many fans and such as I'll need, as well as overclocking
- Can handle a large number of IDE/SATA devices being plugged in
- Will give me the least heat trouble regardless of fan noise
- Is sanely priced. I'm flexible on this though

My system, at present, is:

Super Flower black aluminum case
Soyo CK8 Dragon+
Athlon 64 3400+ (currently overclocked by 200mhz, hoping to cure my heat issues so I can overclock it even more)
2GB PC3200 DDR RAM
WD SATA150 10KRPM 36GB HDD
WD ATA100 7200RPM 120GB HDD
Probably more hard drives in the future, I have this thing about collecting anime...
Pioneer 8x DVD+-RW
Currently one exhaust fan and the case side fan, but I will be adding in some intake soon...

 

[Mik3y]

stick with an antec 480W psu. their quiet, powerful, and very descently priced.

 

[legatech]

Antec is the best

 

[Aleksandar]

Originally posted by: legatech
Antec is the best

:thumbsup:

 

[AnonymouseUser]

PC Power and Cooling are excellent at cooling and have plenty of clean power, though some are a bit noisy.

 

[o1die]

All good recommendations. I use a sparkle 300w with 12cm side fan, and my cpu temps dropped at least 5 degrees celcius. For $28 plus shipping, it's a bargain. (newegg) It overclocks my p4 2.8c to 3640, with 18 amps on the 12v rail, more than enough for most applications. And it's virtually silent at idle, increasing rpms slightly when cpu is under load. If you need more juice, checkout the 12cm or 14cm ps by super flower or coolmax. The coolmax is at newegg, and the superflower is at directron and other venders on pricewatch. I just bumped up the cpu fsb to 267, so now it's running at 3740, very stable.

 

[GhandiInstinct]

stick with an antec 480W psu. their quiet, powerful, and very descently priced.

No, they're very expensive.

 

[moonboy403]

the 480W thermaltake silent purepower that i'm using is solid as a rock

 

[pantner]

my Antec 550W is sweeeeeet!

it even has 4xMolex Connectors for Case Fans, and a fan controller 5.25" plate, so you can control the speeds of those fans (and the 2 inside the PSU) and also adjust the 12v, 5v, 3.3v yourself!!!!!!

 

[GhandiInstinct]

I was thinking 480 TT too since it has the rare SATA power cable.

 

[pipsey]

I think I'm going to go with the Thermaltake.. The antec is a little pricey for me. Thanks for the suggestions, all! I appreaciate any help I can get to keep my system going (which I'm currently stresstesting with Primes95).

SATA power cable is very nice, even though my SATA drive accepts the usual cables for IDE drives.. getting it out of the drive is no joke (I'm sure you've all had at least one drive of some sort that would not let go of the power cable..).

 

[fsstrike]

I have TT Butterfly 480w with no problems. This thing can go up to 4200Rpms which is very fast, and pulls out TONS of air. It comes with fan control so you can make it down to 1200Rpms and its virtually silent @ that setting. I use it at 1200Rpm.

 

[Imyourzero]

No one has suggested Enermax? I thought they were one of the best you could buy under a PCP&C, along with Antec and Sparkle/Fortron...?

 

[pipsey]

Actually, Enermax was on my list too. I'm going to be up in Toronto later on this week - if I can find a good brand one in a local store, that beats ordering online, since if it's defective I can just take it back for another. So, whichever one I'm able to find is going to be what I go with, provided it gives me any noticeable heat advantage.

Edited to add: I never really thought so well of Sparkle... well I guess I'll add them to my list - more than one person has mentioned them so I guess they're worth a try.

 

[Imyourzero]

Don't count off Sparkle. They make excellent PSU's with very stable rails!! The Sparkle/Fortron 530w unit is a killer PSU.

 

[maluckey]

Bang for the buck, FSP IS king.

FSP makes: FSP, Sparkle, Fortron, Zalman, Powerman, and until recently, they made the PC Power and Cooling units as well. All of these are famous for being massively UNDERRATED as far as power ratings.

All are well cooled, and some of them use 120mm fans as well. Most are silent if you want them to be. Most of hem have external controlled fan speeds as well. All of them have internal pots to adjust the rail voltages.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Power supplies don't get the coverage that video cards and cpus do, but I did find one good power supply roundup @ AMDMB.com. There is one other from Anandtech, which can be found here. Both are fairly dated, but most of the reviewed psu's are still available and can give you an idea of the brand consistency.