Between these 3 PSU's I'm looking to get...

[QueBert]

Thermaltake Polo 12, 420 watts - read a couple decent reviews, especially for the price
Aerocool 500 Watt - read some good reviews.
Antec TrueBlue 350 Watt.

My system right now is pretty simple, GF 4MX card, 1 HD, 2 optical drives, a few extra Antec fans. They're 80mm and I run them at the lowest speed. I was thinking of going with one of the first 2 because I'm thinking about adding a 2nd HD and a new(er) video card like a Radeon 9800. But, I'm really interested in the Antec TrueBlue, they actually carry them at Circuit City too. Which is a plus, because I don't order stuff off the net. And probably will never see the Aerocool at a B&M. And I dunno who would carry the Thermaltake.

Antec makes pretty good PSU's, would that be enough to power my system if I added a HD and a video card that had it's own molex connector? I'm looking for something that's not too noisy, price should be around the low 100 range.

Anyone have another suggestion? the local store is PC Club, they carry the
Enermax Noisetaker 370/450 watt
A+GPB 450watt Titanium Super Silent (heard great things about this one)

suggestions on either of those, or something else completly?

thanks

 

[beatle]

For what you're running, you don't need more than 300w. A good 250w would probably serve you well.

 

[VisableAssassin]

Antec true power 430-480-550 hands down..
unless you got some extra cash...get a PC power and cooling

 

[jhurst]

I would suggest the Enermax 370W Noisetaker. Enermax give you the strongest, most consistant rails.

 

[VisableAssassin]

Originally posted by: jhurst
Enermax give you the strongest, most consistant rails.

whatever your smoking...I want some.
PC Power and cooling hands down...would serve Enermax its ass on a silver platter....but Enermax still makes a damn good supply...got a 550w one running around here some where...

 

[someone16]

Anyone of them is fine. Go for whichever one you can get your hands on easiest and have the best price.

 

[QueBert]

good to see everyone with a different opinion.

PC Power & Cooling cost bucks. Even when I pop a Radeon 9800 in and a 2500+ and OC it. I don't think I'll need the extreme power of one.

I might go with the A+ seeing how the reviewers all comment on how quite and powerful it is. Can't beat it for 70 bucks.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: jhurst
I would suggest the Enermax 370W Noisetaker. Enermax give you the strongest, most consistant rails.

Gonna have to recommend that as well, or a Seasonic Noisetaker, or a real champ, the Nexus 3500. All very quiet, and very good power supplies. Definitely don't get the Thermaltake or Aerocool.

 

[Mark R]

The enermax has a significant advantage over all the others listed here and that is efficiency. The noisetaker series appears to be a new design with substantial improvments.

By wasting less electricity you save money on bills and produce less heat, which means it stays cooler and fans run slower. If you leave your PC on 24/7 (I'm not a fan of this), then this PSU could bring tangible cost savings of $1/month for a 'low-end' PC like yours, up to $2/month for a more powerful PC. It's not much, but it's worth bearing this in mind if there is a difference in price.

 

[ExcaliburFX]

antecs are popular but i have no idea why cuz they are unreliable, they are good in the beginning in fact very good, but later on they blow up i heard too many negative views on antecs psu check out the reviews at newegg. u dont need much higher than 350w psu even with upgrades you are planning. get a fortron 350w, or enermax if u want to go for psu with 2 fans.

 

[Zepper]

Hard to beat the Silverstones (made by Enhance) for value.
.bh.

 

[QueBert]

I went to PCClub today, they had Allied & Enermax, so I went with the 420watt Noisemaker. Not many options there, for 80 bucks I think this was about the best PSU I could find around my area. 420Watt's will be plenty for my needs. I also liked how it has 2 12v and the fans keep running 2 minutes after the PC is shut down.

bought the Vantec sheeting kit & some blue Molex connectors. should be an interesting little mod project.

 

[caz67]

Antec

 

[Cerb]

You're not running much, so I'll have to side with Mark R on the Enermax.
With a hefty rig, Antec Truepower.

 

[jinu117]

Originally posted by: Cerb
You're not running much, so I'll have to side with Mark R on the Enermax.
With a hefty rig, Antec Truepower.

Heh, they make 600W verision of it now. Amazing stuff. I have the 380w coolergiant line and it gives even better rail than my 550W antec truepower
Can't recommend better PSU myself other than the fact it doesn't seem to like my lian-li pc v1000 case... (physical dimension problem with coolergiant being larger than most psu)

 

[echow87]

heh,

I sold my Antec Truepower 550w (Brand New) for $50 shipped.

Enermax = P4
Antec = Amd

 

[jiffylube1024]

I've had the best results with Enermax. Their +12V (used for P4's) are usually considerably stronger than the competitors.

 

[hifisoftware]

Enermax is great. I really liked that it corrupted memory much less then other PS's. I think that one of the recent anand reviews had this test.
Antec corrupted memory a lot compared to say Enermax.

edit: Here is review: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841&p=24

 

[Jhhnn]

You made the right choice, QueBert. Allied is a Deer brandname, best avoided... Enermax is a premium brand, although their warranty service apparently leaves something to be desired... otoh, your chances of ever needing it are extremely low.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
You made the right choice, QueBert. Allied is a Deer brandname, best avoided... Enermax is a premium brand, although their warranty service apparently leaves something to be desired... otoh, your chances of ever needing it are extremely low.

I dunno about that, the unit I got was dead when I installed it. I know I didn't do anything wrong (how can you hook up a PSU wrong any ways?) I took it out my case, and looking at the ATX connector there is one pin missing. I looked in the manual and it shows the ATX connector as having all pins in thew diagram.

PCClub has more of them on order, but no idea when they'll be back in stock. I might have to get the Allied, it got good reviews I like the Enermax, but the Blue color & plasticy covered atx wire is kinda a bummer to me.

 

[Zepper]

Did you turn the power switch on the back of the PSU on (0=Off, |=On) also if there is a voltage switch on the back it should be set to 120.
.bh.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Did you turn the power switch on the back of the PSU on (0=Off, |=On) also if there is a voltage switch on the back it should be set to 120.
.bh.

I tried everything, the ATX connector seemed to be missing the white pin, not sure if all ATX connectors need it. But, I ended up taking it back to PCClub, the tech there shorted the 2 pins and got the fans to come on, but agreed that there probably was a missing pin. They had no more Enermax in stock, and I'm real inpacient. So I picked up an Allied 500 Watt. And a Kingwin KT-484 case. I know it's Allied's arn't as good of a PSU, but it's silver (goes better with my new case) and seems to be plenty powerful & quite.

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: ExcaliburFX
antecs are popular but i have no idea why cuz they are unreliable, they are good in the beginning in fact very good, but later on they blow up i heard too many negative views on antecs psu check out the reviews at newegg. u dont need much higher than 350w psu even with upgrades you are planning. get a fortron 350w, or enermax if u want to go for psu with 2 fans.

Just with any other hardware product, the most outspoken about their hardware are the ones having problems with them. There are far more Antec units working just fine, for example my TP430 that has exceeded its 3 year warranty and is still working fine. In fact I just modded it for 3.7/5.5/12.4 rails and more powerful fans. I have also a TP 330 unit that is coming up on 2.5 years, still solid. Also a 300W "Smart" series from the late 90's, working just as it did the first time I turned it on.

 

[Jhhnn]

The missing wire, QueBert, is probably the -12v output, no longer required by the atx spec. It's only been there for backward compatibility purposes for many years. The -5v wire will be next to go. Check it out at www.formfactors.org -good resource.

 

[ericgl]

I just may have gotten a bad one but my 465 watt Enermax is suspect and my son's "included w/case" Enermax died within 2 years.

My next PSU will likely be a PC P&C. They may not be the best for the money, but they are the best.

I am going to try dual PSUs this afternoon, to see if my Enermax is limiting my O/C.

EDIT: the members on the O/Cing Forum seem to like Fortron/Sparkle quite a lot.