Little help for choosing a PSU

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barbaroja9

Member
Jun 17, 2003
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This is my narrowed search. Those have good prices:

ENERMAX Noisetaker EG495P-VE SFMA ATX 485W $75
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W $70
Rosewill RP550-2 ATX 2.01 550W $67

I will power a Gigabyte DS3 board, a E6300 processor, (2x1Gb patriot DDR2 667) mem, a seagate barracuda 320 Gb disk, 1 optical drive, 1 floppy, 1 Gigabyte Radeon X1600Pro silent, and a firewire recording interface (Presonus Firebox).

Any thoughts?

Best.
 
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Bobthelost

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2005
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You'd do better with a 350W or 400W PSU from a nicer line.

Enermax liberty 400W : $80
Antec NeoHe 380W : $67
Seasonic S12 380W: $72

I'd go with the enermax myself. Nice PSU.

Edit: Nice little machine you're going to end up with :)
 
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barbaroja9

Member
Jun 17, 2003
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66
You guys are a true relief when one is needing help. I think the PSU needs to be a little quiet to avoid problems when recording audio. Will all of those suggested do fine? Even if I overclock a little bit?

Thanks!

Best
 
D

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Seasonic S12 is almost silent under normal loads. S12 is the PSU mascot of the quiet crazies at SilentPCReview.com
 
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acegazda

Platinum Member
May 14, 2006
2,689
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You could easily get by with a 380w s12 or a 400w enhance or enermax. That masscool almost looks like an enermax noisetaker rebadged. Looks like good specs and a good deal, howard why did that catch your eye? Don't think I've heard anyone recommend a masscool psu before... but hey, someone had to recommend the first fortron unit... That rig isn't going to be really 12v hungry unless you oc the e6300 to well over 3ghz.
 
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Bobthelost

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2005
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Ok, in no particular order ;)

The TPII line is an old favourite, you can do worse. However there are a lot of scare stories around about dodgy caps, they are known to age badly (ie they die of old age sooner than most). All told i don't like them much.

The enermax whisper is reliable, but it's an old design, 2 80mm fans are going to be noiser than a single 120mm. Probably my favourite of the three you chose, but i'd still go with a seasonic if you want low noise (or an antec Neo HE, i've got one of both, can't hear either :)).

Xclio is one of the brands to avoid, cheap and not very cheerful.
 
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barbaroja9

Member
Jun 17, 2003
50
0
66
:) I´m happy with you guys, what a help!!!

About the seasonic:

Would a 380W supply be enough so I can overclock the E6300 to a decent increment? (I´m no superoverclocker but sure want to push a little that processor)...

I think the formula for what I´m loking for is: Decent power + low noise + good value...
Sure we´re approaching very nice to the best option...

Thanks!

Best
 
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MrUniq

Senior member
Mar 26, 2006
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Why choose a smartpower over a truepower? Smartpower is more for moderate PC users.
 
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orangat

Golden Member
Jun 7, 2004
1,579
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Originally posted by: MrUniq
Why choose a smartpower over a truepower? Smartpower is more for moderate PC users.
Click to expand...

Smartpower shouldn't be used by anyone. It is the cheapest line of a brand which uses low quality capacitors in its most expensive models.
 
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barbaroja9

Member
Jun 17, 2003
50
0
66
Hey guys, this is my cart with your recommendations, it has changed a lot since I got your advice, please help me narrow it to one!!
Please take in account the goal: Decent power + low noise + good value...
I think I´m really close to it thanks to you guys!

ENERMAX Noisetaker EG495P-VE SFMA ATX 485W Power Supply - Retail
$74.99

FSP Group (Fortron Source) FSP400-60THN-R ATX 400W Power Supply - Retail
$66.99

SeaSonic S12-380 ATX12V 380W Power Supply - Retail
$72.99

ENERMAX Liberty ELT400AWT ATX12V 400W Power Supply - Retail
$79.99

Thanks!

Best
 
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dBTelos

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2006
1,858
0
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The Seasonic and the Liberty are the best supplies in that post. Your pick from their.
 
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sniperruff

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
11,644
2
0
Originally posted by: orangat
Originally posted by: MrUniq
Why choose a smartpower over a truepower? Smartpower is more for moderate PC users.
Click to expand...

Smartpower shouldn't be used by anyone. It is the cheapest line of a brand which uses low quality capacitors in its most expensive models.
Click to expand...

this month i celebrate my antec 300W smartpower's 4th birthday. so i shouldn't use it?
 
SparkyJJO

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
Originally posted by: sniperruff
Originally posted by: orangat
Originally posted by: MrUniq
Why choose a smartpower over a truepower? Smartpower is more for moderate PC users.
Click to expand...

Smartpower shouldn't be used by anyone. It is the cheapest line of a brand which uses low quality capacitors in its most expensive models.
Click to expand...

this month i celebrate my antec 300W smartpower's 4th birthday. so i shouldn't use it?
Click to expand...

From my experience the older antecs were fine. I owned several myself, my bro uses a 4 year old truepower, the parent's pc is on an even older smartpower. I wouldn't be too worried about it except for maybe the age factor. It is just more recently like in the past year or so they have taken a bad turn from the looks of it.

I'm using a 4 month old antec TPII - bought it before I knew about the issues - and I'm the one a little worried about that. But maybe it'll treat me fine since there are many people who have no trouble and I've never had a bad antec... but there is a first time.... hmm....
 
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MrUniq

Senior member
Mar 26, 2006
307
0
0
I have a my antec is about 5 mths old..it was either that or enermax at the time and i chose it off of reputation until i started combing the enthusiast forums..but I'm confident in it. It's 100x better than a Kingwin i used to have which wouldn't even power some of my parts at times, had to rearrange cables and such. opss..off topic..sry
 
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barbaroja9

Member
Jun 17, 2003
50
0
66
Ok, so the list has been narrowed to these two. I´m almost decided to go with the seasonic one, but there are some last questions before ckicking "checkout" on newegg...

SeaSonic S12-380 ATX12V 380W
ENERMAX Liberty ELT400AWT ATX12V 400W

1. Are this wattages enough to power a little OC? 2. In case they aren´t, should I go with the Noisetaker 485W that was in the previous list?

3. I´m wondering if the 20W difference is somewhat important between these two...)

Thanks!

Best
 
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barbaroja9

Member
Jun 17, 2003
50
0
66
Well, I checked Newegg´s specs for both PSUs efficiency and made a simple calculation, but I don´t know If it is a good way for looking at it. here it is:

Seasonic 380W x 0.85 (Ef) = 323W
Enermax 400W x 0.80 (Ef) = 320W

If you guys think my calcs are well made, maybe the Seasonic is the winner for quiet operation, not for wattage, those 3 watts more are not a point of comparison.

Any words about OC with these?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Best
 
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