Power Supply Brands?

[Ynog]

Need a 350-400W power supply for a Pentium 4.

Looking for a good brand. Don't want to get caught with a shoddy power suppy.
Does anyone have any advice on which brands are good versus not so good?

And is it worth paying more for a better brand.

 

[Mem]

Good quality brands like Antec,Enermax,Sparkle,Enhance are the ones to go for.Price wise I would always buy a quality brand over a generic PSU, plus there`re lots of good quality PSU brands now which means you can shop around and find the right one for your pocket money wise.

 

[Mavrick007]

Expect to pay around $40-50 for a good quality 350-400watt psu.
I would go with an Antec, Enermax, Sparkle or a PC Power and Cooling one.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Mavrick007
Expect to pay around $40-50 for a good quality 350-400watt psu.
I would go with an Antec, Enermax, Sparkle or a PC Power and Cooling one.

I love my enermax dual fan...

 

[Emrys]

Enermax Whisper- nice and quiet

 

[BDawg]

I've had good experiences with both Sparkle and Enhance.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Enermax Whisper series or the Antec True Power should be fine for your needs.

 

[Zepper]

www.tomshardware.com recently compared 20-plus PSUs. One of the three picks was Fortron-Source, which is the same as Sparkle. The other two aren't marketed in the states (unless under another name, like F-S/Sparkle). Someone will have to do a cross-ref... Antec was given an honorable mention. But each test was on only one model in the line so if you buy a diff model, ymmv.
.bh.

 

[hagbard]

Go with an Enermax. Avoid Antec, they're too unreliable. If you can, compare the Antec side-by-side with an Enermax and it difference will be obvious.

 

[BeefcakeVA]

Owned two Enermax units... loved them both. Nice stable voltages and they haven't died yet

 

[tbates757]

PC Power and Cooling make the best, but the price also reflects that

For a reasonably priced PSU I'd go with Enermax

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: hagbard
Go with an Enermax. Avoid Antec, they're too unreliable. If you can, compare the Antec side-by-side with an Enermax and it difference will be obvious.

Avoid Antec? Why. I've only used Antec and will only ever use antec. The PSU's put out more power than labeled(not a bad thing more bang for my buck) have stable voltages, are quite and don't die. I've got an old dual pentium pro running off of a 5 year old 303+ antec 300W supply.

The only other PSU i've used is a Powerman, and it never game me problems either. Just a little louder.

aNt3c 4 l!f3 f00l

 

[fluxquantum]

enermax or antec. i happen to own both and they are very reliable.

 

[Jhhnn]

Another quality brand worth consideration is Compucase/Heroichi, they're OEM for some antecs. Channelwell also makes good stuff, and has also been sold under the Antec, Nspire and other monikers, too.

The 0735 abd 0730 Enhance units are very good, but I'm not a fan of their 1125 line. they have smallish heatsinks and noisy fans to make up the difference.

The likelihood of your actually needing anything over 350w is really small.....

Two of the better deals from pricewatch include the 350w Heroichi from newegg for $44, free shipping, and the 350w Sparkle from Directron for $45, shipped....

 

[Bovinicus]

The thing about PSUs is generic ones often don't actually produce the wattage they claim. So, a 300W Antec PSU might equal the same output as a 340-380W generic PSU. Therefore, it is really not that much more expensive to go with a quality brand. Definitely go with a good PSU. A lot of unexplained problems can occur as a result of a poor PSU. I like the Antec Tru PSUs. They are fairly quiet, don't output excessive heat, and supply a very healthy dose of power.

 

[Zepper]

jhhnn et al.,
Heroichi was also one of the three picks on Toms Hardware test - now I know where to look for them.
Thanks,
.bh.

 

[wizdum]

it is always good to go 50W over what intel recommends.