Yet another power supply question...

[dancingpig41]

So I am sure I am going to hurt my reputation here by asking yet another power supply question, but I have the size of the supply decided upon and I am unfamiliar with brands. Here is my question. I know everyone here says go with Antec, but can someone tell me what makes them so much better than a Raidmax or Sparklepower? Here is what I am looking at (I am going to be pulling a little under 320W with my system)

Antec Truepower 480W for $85.99 (I know this is overkill, but for $14 why not get the True Power model?)

Raidmax 400W - $45

Sparklepower - $66.50


I am strapped for cash right now since I am fixing to move and I have just ordered my processor, motherboard and memory, so I am really looking at the Raidmax. Is there really that much difference in these three supplies?

Here is my system:

P4 2.53B
Shuttle AV45GTR
1GB PC3200 Corsair (decided to spend the extra cash to upgrade from the Samsung 2700)
(4) Maxtor 40GB 7200 RPM
Lite-On 16X DVD
Lite-On 40x12x48 CDRW
floppy
mid tower case
250 MB zip
Gainward Geforce4 Ti-4600
SB Live Platnium 5.1
NIC
ATA/133 controller card

Thanks for the help,
Jason

 

[Texun]

You can find the Antec 380 Truepower at Directron for $70 +S&H if you are interested. After screwing up on my previous PS choice I too have been humbled, but at last I hope I have seen the light. I can't say for sure about the other brands; Sparkle are supposed to be excellent, however, the Antec Truepower is not only a respectable name but it is also VERY quiet. I picked up a 430 today and it is holding all voltages flat. The killer in my system appears to be the graphics card. This thing sucks juice like mad when combined with an XP. The P4 should be more foregiving overall, but according to Antec, many PSU's only have one output that is stepped down to the appropriate 3.3v, +5v, +12v, etc. The problem is that when one rail has a high demand it may starve one of the others, which describes the problem I was having. Voltages on the 3.3v were swinging all over the place and setting off my alarm after I installed the GF4.

Best of luck.