new powersupplies

Gbaby1008

Senior member
Nov 1, 2004
223
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My poer supply right now is 4oo watts, it works fine but gets really hot!!! So i'm looking to get a new one around 400-450watts thats fairly cheap but has really good cooling,mine right now only has 1 fan on it. Any recomendations?
 

beatle

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2001
5,661
5
81
Anything by Forton, Antec, Enermax, OCZ, or THermalTake. Really, you can't go wrong with any of them. Forton is probably your best value.
 

JBDan

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2004
2,333
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Originally posted by: Gbaby1008
My poer supply right now is 4oo watts, it works fine but gets really hot!!! So i'm looking to get a new one around 400-450watts thats fairly cheap but has really good cooling,mine right now only has 1 fan on it. Any recomendations?

What ya lookin to spend? For the $$ OCZ is quite the PSU but my preference is PCPower&Cooling. Antec, Enermax, Fortron are also nice quality.
 

operaman1

Senior member
Mar 21, 2004
570
0
76
Go to newegg and drop 75 for the Sparkle PSU. It is a Fortron. Very nice and will last a while.
 

JBDan

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2004
2,333
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Geex none of ya'll mentioned the best PSU's even available> PCPower&Cooling. Although the OCZ and Antec and Enermax are quality PSU's as well, but in my opinion nothing comes close to PCP&C PSU's . This is only my opinion :)
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,889
2,208
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Without price as a consideration, I was looking seriously at PC Power & Cooling's Turbo Cool 510. Then I started looking into the ULTRA ModRite or X-Connect, the OCZ ModStream and the OCZ Powerstream.
Although the PowerStream does not have UV-reactive modular cabling, it does has external voltage pots that are well-marked and easy to access. The PowerStream has a two-stage warranty where the combined total of years covered equals the warranty agreement of the PC Power & Cooling 510.

The PowerStream only has "passive" PFC or "power factor correction", but this is likely just an issue of phase differences involving voltage and amperage, and how those phase differences affect how wattage consumption is read. For other factors, the PowerStream provides power in excess of OCZ's self-rating, and it seems to provide output voltage stability that is at the top of the market. Further, it appears that the PowerStream consumes fewer watts of AC power for the average and peak DC outputs than many of the best, and by the numbers alone, looks to be a shave better than the Turbo Cool 510.

The PowerStream has shielded cables and a technology that mitigates EMI. It provides ATX, BTX, EPS12, ATX12V, SATA and PCI-x capability through a modular cable design which, though permanently connected to the PSU circuitry, allows a mix and match combination of motherboard and device plugs by a snap-on approach to the connection of two plugs to create one -- for instance, the use of a 20-pin ATX motherboard plug and another set of a 4-pin female extension that combine to make a 24-pin EPS12 plug.

As far as I know, the OCZ PSU with the 520-watt capacity is still available at Directron for $133.50, but it is currently "out of stock." It is available at $145 (? check it) at NewEgg, and as high as $171 at Space Center Computers, but at minimum it is still "out of stock" at NewEgg. The inventories seemed to evaporate in these last few weeks before Christmas.

By comparison, the ATX Turbo-Cool 510 Deluxe has been priced at $220 -- everywhere -- for the past two years running, and its PCI-x revision seems to be priced at similar establishments such as FrozenCPU for about $230.

The OCZ Powerstream is an apparent new-entry in the market, threatening to disturb the status quo, but the design and even the parts of the PowerStream series appear to be identical to the TOPOWER 686P6 and similar models to match the OCZ PowerStream 420, 470, 520 and 600. What the OCZ has that the TOPOWER seems to miss is the set of adjustable voltage pots and LED overvolt/undervolt indicators, the modular cabling plugs and shielding, and the green-LED fans. Having deferred again my intended purchase of a Turbo Cool 510, the OCZ PowerStream 520 represents a saving in dollars and the acquistion of a nice power supply.

There are many good power supplies. The Antec NeoPower and a flagship line manufactured by Enermax seem to be popular and highly rated in reviews that include the Turbo-Cool and its PowerStream competition. Obviously, you can infer that good power supplies can be had from TOPOWER or TAGAN -- under certain assumptions which will provoke some challenge. Ultimately, it is true that you pay for what you get, but technological improvement in the market-place always precipitates lower prices for higher quality over a period of time.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,889
2,208
126
Correction: As I remember, the TOPOWER PSU also provides the external voltage pots. My mistake.
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
1
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enermax, fotron, antec, ocz all should be fine

personally I would stay away from the theramnltake or coolermaster psu's

the 12cm fans on the fortrons are very loud in my expirience, by far the loudest component in the system, unless you ran the fan at the absolute slowest.