Fortron 530W or Antec TruePower 480W or Enermax 465W?

[Lyfer]

Pay day is just around the corner, so I want to get a new Coolermaster CENTURION 2 and PSU for one of my old rigs, both the Fortron and Antec cost almost the same, which would be the best choice? (plan on uprading this rig to an A64+NF3 250+maybe Geforce 6800 setup this summer) I noticed that the Enermax Whisper EG-465P-VE has a 33A on the 12+ which is great for AMD machines, but the Fotron 530W has only 18A. I can get the Enermax for $70, Fortron for $74, and Antec for $76. I was thinking about just getting the Fortron 530W and being future proof but its rails seems kinda low compared to the Enermax.


For overclocking an Athlon 64 + Nforce 3 250GB board + maybe X800PRO or 6800 which would allow me to achieve the highest OC with no votlage fluctuations? (BTW trying to stay under $80)

enermax 465
+3.3=35
+5=35
+12=33
-5=1
-12=1
3.3v+5v=200w

Fortron FSP530
+3.3=28
+5=40
+12=18
-5=.8
-12=.3
3.3v+5v=290w

 

[Lyfer]

?

 

[Khyron320]

I would go with fortran ive seen quite a few antec 480s lately at local lans that have died. I dont think they take tranportations that well. I personally have an antec 480 and im also dissatisfied with the airflow that goes threw this unit. It has an automatic fan speed control thats suppose to speed up as its needed but it never does speed up and at the speed its at the fans go SO slow if you have a misbalance of airflow in your case. Your other fans can actually Pull air the wrong way threw your antec480.

 

[Chaotic42]

Against my better judgement, I bought an Antec 550W.

One melted ATX connector later, I'll never get a PSU other than a PC Power and Cooling model. I had a 330W which just wasn't enough, so I thought I'd be slick and get that Antec.

A lesson I learned the hard way.

Spend the money. Get a PC Power and Cooling supply.

Link

 

[tweeve2002]

I like my Antec 480W PS...it works great for me, I have a high speed 120mm fan pluged into the auto fan plugs, I have noticed that my case temps went up my 5 - 10 degress after do so, but are still way under anything too hot...My experence with the fan plugs on the Antec is that they work great for high speed fans, but not lower speed.

 

[Corporate Thug]

both are quality PSUs, i would take the cheaper one

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: shady06
both are quality PSUs, i would take the cheaper one

The Fortron/Sparkle 530W is $68, the TruePower 480 is $76.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Against my better judgement, I bought an Antec 550W.

One melted ATX connector later, I'll never get a PSU other than a PC Power and Cooling model. I had a 330W which just wasn't enough, so I thought I'd be slick and get that Antec.

A lesson I learned the hard way.

Spend the money. Get a PC Power and Cooling supply.

Link

That seems like a rather harsh judgement when you've been using it on a motherboard that you reported as having problems a couple of months ago, and kept using it anyway. If the motherboard bridges some traces and yanks a huge amount of amperage through the ATX connector, is that the power supply's fault that it can supply enough power to melt its plug?

*cough*

Betcha Antec would still replace your PSU if you told them precisely what happened, questionable motherboard and the whole thing Have you contacted them yet? Try it and see

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
That seems like a rather harsh judgement when you've been using it on a motherboard that you reported as having problems a couple of months ago, and kept using it anyway. If the motherboard bridges some traces and yanks a huge amount of amperage through the ATX connector, is that the power supply's fault that it can supply enough power to melt its plug?

*cough*

Betcha Antec would still replace your PSU if you told them precisely what happened, questionable motherboard and the whole thing Have you contacted them yet? Try it and see

Well, I'll put it this way.

I had a PC Power and Cooling 330W supply on my Tyan Tiger MP. I had no problems. When I upgraded to a Radeon 9700, I thought I might need more power. A dually XP with a CD burner and such seemed like a bit much, to me at least. I started having some stability problems, and the Tiger's 5V connector melted later.

So I got a new board and the 550W supply and put the 550W on it, because the 330W had a decently burned connector (actually, to this day it's running a BP6 based system at my old job. The connector was burned, but the PSU is still intact). The 330W survived that infamous Tiger board.

Anyway, I used the 550W with the new board. Things were cool until I started having a strange problem with my PS/2 and USB ports. I thought it was something stupid, but I eventually RMAed it at the suggestion of a Gigabyte rep.

So I get the new board in and immediately have the same problems. Now, I should have figured that it was a 5V problem, but I didn't realize it.

At some point before I left I noticed that *this* PSU had a burned 5V connector. It wasn't as bad as the 330W though. Since the 330W seemed to still work, I thought the 550W would still work. I moved, and when I plugged the computer in, it worked once. Then it gradually started having problems. Eventually I found that I couldn't use the second CPU. I thought the socket was dead, but now I'm thinking that it was a power problem.

Anyway, as you know, the problem recently got much worse. Now the connector is completely hosed.

So I'm thinking that it was the PSU that messed up my board. One board being bad is a fluke, but two boards makes it hard for me to think that it's a problem with Gigabyte's design.

I may very well be able to RMA the Antec, but I don't know if I trust their products anymore. The PSU may have taken out more than just the board. I still don't know if my drives/memory/cards are ok.

 

[mechBgon]

What caused the burning/melting of the connectors? Lots of amperage being passed through the connector, yes? Yes.

Well, the PSU is only half of an electrical circuit. It can only pass as much power through the ATX connector as the motherboard will provide a completed circuit for. There isn't a way for the PSU to magically connect its own ground wires to its 5V or 3.3V or 12V wires at the point where it plugs into the motherboard, and thus melt the connector... the power that melted the connector is the power that the motherboard provided a pathway for. And Antec didn't make your motherboard(s). If the Tyan and Gigabyte motherboards are creating enough current draw to melt an ATX fitting... yeah. Sling some blame their way too.

Anyway, enjoy your new PC P&C unit and I hope you have better results in the future

 

[Chaotic42]

Well, now if I'm wrong, I want to be corrected and make sure that I understand why, so if I've painted Antec in a bad light without reason, I want to correct it.

My question is, why only the 5V rail? Only the 5V rails are damaged on the board and the PSU. How could both boards have created the draw for that much amperage on the 5V rail? One board is a fluke, but two boards? With the same symptoms?

I can only see these possibilities:

Problem: This individual PSU is defective. The design itself is solid, but this individual PSU has some problem.
Solution: A failure is a failure and I'd be weary of purchasing another Antec 550W PSU.

Problem: The PSU works well, but it simply cannot provide enough amps on the 5V rail for my needs.
Solution: Purchasing another Antec would be a waste, and I'd have to look elsewhere.

Problem: The Antec design itself is defective under high power draws.
Solution: Obviously don't buy another one.

If there were a problem with the design of the board, 2cpu.com would be freaking lit up with people screaming about it.

Now, I don't know if I have a disruptive USB device that may be causing problems. I would assume, perhaps incorrectly, that there would be some kind of safeguard to keep stuff like this from happening, but my knowledge of the EE profession is almost non existant.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Well, now if I'm wrong, I want to be corrected and make sure that I understand why, so if I've painted Antec in a bad light without reason, I want to correct it.

My question is, why only the 5V rail? Only the 5V rails are damaged on the board and the PSU. How could both boards have created the draw for that much amperage on the 5V rail? One board is a fluke, but two boards? With the same symptoms?

I can only see these possibilities:

Problem: This individual PSU is defective. The design itself is solid, but this individual PSU has some problem.
Solution: A failure is a failure and I'd be weary of purchasing another Antec 550W PSU.

Problem: The PSU works well, but it simply cannot provide enough amps on the 5V rail for my needs.
Solution: Purchasing another Antec would be a waste, and I'd have to look elsewhere.

Problem: The Antec design itself is defective under high power draws.
Solution: Obviously don't buy another one.

If there were a problem with the design of the board, 2cpu.com would be freaking lit up with people screaming about it.

Now, I don't know if I have a disruptive USB device that may be causing problems. I would assume, perhaps incorrectly, that there would be some kind of safeguard to keep stuff like this from happening, but my knowledge of the EE profession is almost non existant.

Well go back one step further. Your Antec was first mated to a Tyan board that had already burned its 5V lead using a 330W PC Power & Cooling power supply. So right from the get-go, the Antec was plugged into a damaged Tyan board. It never had a chance to start off its life with an undamaged motherboard to connect to, if I understand your history correctly.

The question in my mind is why the Tyan TigerMP was drawing enough amperage through the 5V line to burn the ATX connector on your 330W PC P&C unit initially. The weak link seems to be not the power supply (whichever power supply), but the amperage-handling abilities of the ATX male/female plug set that the Tyan was pulling its power through. Remember, the Tyan has no ATX12V fitting (unless they changed the design mid-stream somewhere) and therefore would be powering two CPUs off of the 5V wires. Anything else on the board that requires 5V power will also have to get it via the ATX plug (PCI cards, etc).

FWIW, I just installed a TruePower550 EPS in our primary domain controller at work, so at least I practice what I preach. There'll be 80 upset employees after me if it doesn't live up to its reputation, so I sure hope it does!

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: Lyfer

Originally posted by: shady06
both are quality PSUs, i would take the cheaper one

The Fortron/Sparkle 530W is $68, the TruePower 480 is $76.

I'm in the same position with you. I'm in desperate need for a new box and a nice psu, so it's an interesting topic for me. I'm thinking of a Lian Li for a box.
As for the psu, I myself prefer Fortron. That's what I'll take for me.

I would like though to hear some more opinions based on experiences. So keep it coming ppl.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Well go back one step further. Your Antec was first mated to a Tyan board that had already burned its 5V lead using a 330W PC Power & Cooling power supply. So right from the get-go, the Antec was plugged into a damaged Tyan board. It never had a chance to start off its life with an undamaged motherboard to connect to, if I understand your history correctly.

The question in my mind is why the Tyan TigerMP was drawing enough amperage through the 5V line to burn the ATX connector on your 330W PC P&C unit initially. The weak link seems to be not the power supply (whichever power supply), but the amperage-handling abilities of the ATX male/female plug set that the Tyan was pulling its power through. Remember, the Tyan has no ATX12V fitting (unless they changed the design mid-stream somewhere) and therefore would be powering two CPUs off of the 5V wires. Anything else on the board that requires 5V power will also have to get it via the ATX plug (PCI cards, etc).

FWIW, I just installed a TruePower550 EPS in our primary domain controller at work, so at least I practice what I preach. There'll be 80 upset employees after me if it doesn't live up to its reputation, so I sure hope it does!

Well, I don't think that I had the Tyan on the 550W at all. Granted, this was a year ago, so it could have been connected.

The Tyan Tiger MP is notorious for that burnt connector problem. It's all over the internet if you look for it.

 

[Luthien]

I purchased three Antec 550W PS recently from Newegg changing my mind from the Enermax solution because of the cost difference. Newegg sent me three and two were refurbished / used so I RMA them back stating I paid for retail etc. The new one I got is working fine. Anyone else ever have newegg try to scam them with used parts??? Newegg is starting to fall into the category of take your chances sites when it comes to ordering parts and they are now charging a lot more than they used to for shipping. I am dissapointed in newegg. It is a pain in the arse to RMA things and wait 2-3 weeks for parts you should already have had. Lucky for me I only needed one and the other two would have just been sitting around for a month or two waiting for further other system upgrades.

 

[Lyfer]

bump for some responses to my question.

 

[James3shin]

i have a antec truepower 430 and its been great, been going to lans/tourneys quite a bit and its been working like a charm, the fortron is a nice PSU as well, but i think i'd actually go with the antec.

 

[nitromullet]

No problems with Anyec here. Never tried a Fortron, but have heard good things about them. I think you will be happy with either one.

 

[Schadenfroh]

wtf does antec suck now?

 

[Lyfer]

Added Enermax Whisper EG-465P-VE to the mix.

 

[yourdeardaniel]

get the fortron or enermax one

 

[wicktron]

Fortron. Adjustable pots are good for you!

 

[Bonesdad]

Fortron, cuz it's great and cheaper. Antec is great too, just expensive. And please...no more thread hijacking...

 

[Josephus]

I had an Enermax 465... that thing ran hot and noisy, so I put in a system I sold and got a thermaltake... it's very quiet and very powerful... It's also cheaper than the Forton on Pricewatch (around $60 shipped)



Anadtech has an article on PSU's here

As expected, the Sparkle 120mm power supply had one of the lowest pitch levels (and thus we perceived it to be very quiet). However, it was the ThermalTake PurePower 480W that really took the prize. Even with both fans running, it was virtually undetectable. The Enermax EG465, Zalman 400W and Fortron 400W did very well also. (Keep in mind that the Enermax units were the warmest units in the previous test).

 

[Nickel020]

If you're at all concerned about your power supply not being powerful enough get the enermax. With a 33A 12V rail you should never have problems no matter how many HDs you have, even if you go with 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition. The 18A of the Fortron is too low I think as due to graphics cards the importance of the 12V rail has incresed quiet a bit. A 6800 Ultra EE can peek at about 120 W, so using P = V x A this means that it draws 10 A itself!