Right now I am using a cheap 350 watt PSU that came with my X dreamer II. It is powering the following : -the six blue led lights on the front panel - the temp display - 6 blue led case fans - athlon 3200+ - bfg 5900 - cd rw - dvd rw - 60 gb hd - aero 7 cpu cooler - philips sound card - floppy . Everything has been stable running this setup thus far. My voltages are within 3 percent also! Now, my question is, what would cause a psu to kill your computer components? Is it bad rails? Or would it be caused by the psu suddenly dying? I just bought a nice ALlied 500 watt psu (74.99), and barely noticed a difference in my rails, so I took it back. Would I be better off with a 'good' psu, or would it be a waste of money? Thank you for your input
PSU Questions!!!!
- Thread starter big4x4
- Start date
If your rails are within 3%, everything is stable, and you won't be buying a lot of power hungry hardware anytime soon, then keep your current 350W psu, unless it is made by Foxconn, they make horrible PSUs.
Bad rails do not kill your components, the PSU being made out of shoddy parts, or being of poor quality (then sending a surge of power through your system) would.
Bad rails do not kill your components, the PSU being made out of shoddy parts, or being of poor quality (then sending a surge of power through your system) would.
Unfortunately neither of those are in the "good brands" category (the one that came with the X Dreamer is likely an L&C). For your system, a "good" 300/350W unit would be more than adequate.
. A consensus has developed in favor of these brands: PC Power & Cooling, Antec, Fortron/Sparkle (the models with FSP in the model no. - can also be found rebadged under AOpen, etc.), HEC (Heroichi Electric), Channel Well (OEMs for Antec, PCP&C and others - almost never found with the Channel Well label as they are strictly OEM - look for CW in the model number), Delta (generally OEM only), Enermax and Seasonic. The budget brand, Achieve, seems to be developing a following.
. This is not to say that others won't work as well in a relatively lightly loaded environment. You can tell a lot about a PSU by its weight - I've got a 230W SFX (micro ATX) PSU in one case that weighs nearly as much as a Sparkle 250W standard size...
. PSUs seldom fail in a mode that damages other system components, but that is not to say that they can't. Symptoms are usually random self-reboots and other flaky behavior.
.bh.
I went and looked at the Allied PSUs on newegg. Looks like they are trying to upgrade their image. I see they have the TUV symbol and are generally more expensive than they were a couple of years ago. May have to revise my opinion. Let us know how yours works out - but it is gross overkill for the listed system. Now if you added maybe an 8 or 10-drive RAID-5 array...
.bh.
. A consensus has developed in favor of these brands: PC Power & Cooling, Antec, Fortron/Sparkle (the models with FSP in the model no. - can also be found rebadged under AOpen, etc.), HEC (Heroichi Electric), Channel Well (OEMs for Antec, PCP&C and others - almost never found with the Channel Well label as they are strictly OEM - look for CW in the model number), Delta (generally OEM only), Enermax and Seasonic. The budget brand, Achieve, seems to be developing a following.
. This is not to say that others won't work as well in a relatively lightly loaded environment. You can tell a lot about a PSU by its weight - I've got a 230W SFX (micro ATX) PSU in one case that weighs nearly as much as a Sparkle 250W standard size...
. PSUs seldom fail in a mode that damages other system components, but that is not to say that they can't. Symptoms are usually random self-reboots and other flaky behavior.
.bh.
I went and looked at the Allied PSUs on newegg. Looks like they are trying to upgrade their image. I see they have the TUV symbol and are generally more expensive than they were a couple of years ago. May have to revise my opinion. Let us know how yours works out - but it is gross overkill for the listed system. Now if you added maybe an 8 or 10-drive RAID-5 array...
.bh.
350 watts is plenty for all but the most extreme systems, including yours. Quality is more important then watt numbers though. If you want a replacement, get an Antec, Enermax, Fortron, or Sparkle 300 - 400 watt psu and you'll never need to buy another one (until BTX comes out a screws everything up).
Did any of you read his entire post? He is having no problems at all with his current PSU. Why buy/waste money on another?
If you did not catch this in my 1st post, I did infact buy the Allied PSU, but i DID take it back since I didnt want to waste 74 dollars!!!! If you read the reviews on the Allied 500 watt PSU, they have nothing but good things to say about it. It would be a good psu for someone in the market for a good one. Now, what I am trying to ask is : Since my psu has been working great for almost 2 months, I dont understand what would kill it?!?! I dont have any spikes in my voltages under load. BTW, the generic 350 watt psu is very light compared to the allied!!!
I think that foxconn makes Allied PSU (well that is what newegg lists allied under atleast):beer:
Wait...why do you keep saying "I dont understand what would kill it"?. Did your 350 die or not? if it didnt die, then stop saying that.
I just asked these questions because I have been reading lately of PSU's dying on people and taking out some components with them. Excelsior, I was just asking how psu's usually get killed. Sorry 
Nobody here can say for 100% certain that you're ok. I'm sure there have been Antec PS's that have taken out a system or two, and those ppl don't know what happened. The only reason ppl spend more is the same reason you would go for a name brand, quality and reliability. If you buy a Toshiba/Sony/Panasonic DVD player, you bought it cause of all the reviews and ppl's reactions to owning one and you're counting on their reputation that you got a quality product, but that doesn't mean that yours won't crap out and die 1month after the warranty expires. Apex/Daewoo dvd players can work just as well as any expensive name brand, but then again, they can fail faster too.
If you want peace of mind, get a name brand 400watt PS. But, if your 350 is chugging along then I refer you to this old saying "If it ain't broke, don't mess with it" (or however it goes)
If you want peace of mind, get a name brand 400watt PS. But, if your 350 is chugging along then I refer you to this old saying "If it ain't broke, don't mess with it" (or however it goes)
If your psu flucuates a lot it can cause problems for the components in your system, and would probably shorten the life of them. The other problem is when you have cheaply made psu's running more than they can withstand they'll often give out. When they do give out, they can give a surge of power to parts in your computer which could kill them. If it were me, I would put in a 380w antec or some other quality psu.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 21K
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter