Is there anything wrong with my PSU?

[AstroManLuca]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817153023

That's what I've been using for the past year. Works fine, no complaints. However, reading some of the NewEgg reviews seems to imply that it's not that great for some reason.

Right now my system doesn't take much power... CPU is a Brisbane-core Athlon X2, video card is a 3850. However, if and when I upgrade these components, will my PSU be able to handle new stuff?

The complaints seem to center on two things. One, it has "only 18 amps on a single 12V rail." I have no idea what this means. Two, the little secondary connector thingie that plugs into the motherboard (not the big one but the little one next to it) is only 4-pin, not 8-pin. It's working fine in my motherboard, which has an 8-pin socket but the manual explained the position to use if the PSU only has a 4-pin plug. However, if I change motherboards and get a higher-powered processor like a Phenom II or Core 2 Quad, I'm not sure if a new motherboard would still be happy with this PSU.

Again, I am super noobish at PSUs and even the "Basic Knowledge" sticky went way over my head. All I'm really looking for is whether this PSU will be okay even with, say, a Phenom II/C2Q and a newer GPU at some point, or if I'll have to move up to a different PSU if and when I upgrade. Thanks.

 

[zerocool84]

I wouldn't use that PSU when you upgrade. It doesn't have Active PFC, effienciency is low, and it doesn't have the connectors you'd probably need when moving to all that new stuff. You would never want to run fresh new hardware with a cheap PSU. Here is a link to Zap's thread on this PSU. Read that and you will see that you will need a quality PSU. Never run hardware you care about on a cheap PSU.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=84&threadid=2263044

 

[AstroManLuca]

Thanks for the link! Man, that makes me wish I had researched this thing better when I bought it last January. Well, I will definitely look into replacing it, and I might just do that now instead of waiting until I upgrade. I guess my question would then be, what should I get to replace it? Are there any general tips such as features I should make sure I get and brands to consider? What sort of price range gives you good bang for the buck? I've heard Antec is good but what else should I look into?

I doubt I'll have a very power-hungry setup in the forseeable future. Phenom II is a possibility but I doubt I'll have a multi-GPU setup (though it may not hurt to plan for it if it won't cost much more), and I'm not running tons of hard drives either. I'm guessing ~400W should be about all I'll need.

EDIT: So I read some reviews here at AT and also at some other sites and I made a list of power supplies that seem to fit my budget and needs. All are under $100 and around the 400-550W range. Better, all were recommended in those reviews. Saved wish list is here: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=8927465">https://secure.newegg.com/W......il.aspx?ID=8927465</a>

What would you get out of those, or is there another one I should look at instead? The problem is that even though they all seem like good PSUs, I can't really tell what makes one better than the other.

EDIT 2: So I read another review and it looks like people are raving about the Corsair 550VX which at the moment is actually cheaper than its 450W brother (after rebate): $85 - $20 MIR = $65, and free shipping too. I think I'll get that one so that one component of my system should be good for the next few years.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Yeh, grab the 550W Corsair. It's a good deal and will work fine almost any kind of setup you may want to do, aside from crazy high-end SLI/Crossfire configurations. It's a perfect power supply for single high-end video cards, like the GTX285, or dual mid-range cards, like two HD4850s.