New PSU Reccomendation

Uthred · **Joined:** Tue 23 Aug 2005, 20:02 **Posts:** 28

Updgraded my components recently and my machine has started to randomly switch itself off. In case its my PSU I was wondering what would people reccomend for the setup below (currently have a coolermaster 550w)

MSI K9N SLI-2F
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8GHz Socket AM2
Corsair TWIN2X 5400 DDR2, 2048MB
BFG GeForce 8800GTS OC2 320MB

Seagate 320 GB IDE HD
Seagate 200 GB SATA HD
2 x Wester Digital Caviar 500GB SATA HD

The old setup was:

*MSI K8N NEO4-FI
*AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz Socket 939
*2x OCZ GOLD GX XTC DDR PC3200 1024MB
*Sapphire Radeon X1800GTO 256MB
*CoolerMaster RealPower 550w +3/+12/+12

IDE00 - Seagate Barracuda 320GB IDE
IDE01 - Maxtor Diamondmax 250GB IDE
IDE10 - NEC DVD Recorder
IDE11 - Maxtor Diamondmax 250GB IDE

SATA 1 - Western Digital Caviar 250GB SATA
SATA 2 - Western Digital Caviar 250GB SATA
SATA 3 - Seagate Barracuda 200GB SATA

And I never had any issues with it. I wouldnt have thought that the 8800 and new psu would have drawn significantly more than was offset by taking out two harddrives.

Concentric · **Posted:** Thu 19 Jul 2007, 19:05

Do you have a budget?

Uthred · **Joined:** Tue 23 Aug 2005, 20:02 **Posts:** 28

Well cheaper is better

. I was hoping less than 150 euro/£100, I thought my old psu would do so I havent really budgeted for a new one.

AMD_Man · **Posted:** Thu 19 Jul 2007, 19:53

the silverstone site seems to be really slow atm but heres a link to the PSU i would reccommend at a UK retailer

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=553808

mupets_revenge · **Posted:** Thu 19 Jul 2007, 20:01

I have a 430 watt akasa one going in the for sale section at £35 + pnp if your interested give me a pm. Hmm might need more than that tho with your rig ah well

Uthred · **Joined:** Tue 23 Aug 2005, 20:02 **Posts:** 28

I was thinking of getting this one http://www.hipergroup.com/English/products/hpu-4m670.html or this one http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Power/ToughPower/W0117/w0117.asp. But I'm not sure if the amperage is sufficient?

Concentric · **Posted:** Thu 19 Jul 2007, 21:54

No, it's not. The Hiper one uses 4 independant 12V rails so each only carries a maximum of 16A, which isn't great (and the Thermaltake isn't much better).
A high-current single 12V rail is preferable, especially when using high powered graphics cards and the like.
Besides, they're not the brands i'd go for.

IMO, the one that AMD Man mentioned is a much better choice. Alternatively, Seasonic, Corsair, PC Power&Cooling and Tagan are all good brands.

mupets_revenge · **Posted:** Thu 19 Jul 2007, 22:17

Really, Single high current rail is better than multiple rails?

hughlle · **Posted:** Thu 19 Jul 2007, 22:21

indeed

DDY · **Joined:** Mon 30 Aug 2004, 15:06 **Posts:** 4875

Depends on the application - multi-rail or not it doesn't matter too much.

I'd also recommend Antec, I have built 8 machines this year and the last using Antec PSUs such as the Neo HE, Earthwatts and Smart Power series. All have performed admirably, quietly and most importantly efficiently with most my builds now featuring efficiency as an important factor.

Uthred · **Joined:** Tue 23 Aug 2005, 20:02 **Posts:** 28

Concentric wrote:

No, it's not. The Hiper one uses 4 independant 12V rails so each only carries a maximum of 16A, which isn't great (and the Thermaltake isn't much better).
A high-current single 12V rail is preferable, especially when using high powered graphics cards and the like.
Besides, they're not the brands i'd go for.

IMO, the one that AMD Man mentioned is a much better choice. Alternatively, Seasonic, Corsair, PC Power&Cooling and Tagan are all good brands.

After a bit of looking I've found an american site thats selling the silverstone olympia at a fairly good price with decent shipping, will an american power supply work over here or is it setup for a different voltage?

The one AMD Man recommended is, due to the poor sterling exchange rate, out of my range. I was looking at products from the manufacturers you recommended and all of them only seem to sell multi-rail setups. So I assume you were recommending them as superior multi rail manufacturers to Thermaltake and Hiper?

DDY · **Joined:** Mon 30 Aug 2004, 15:06 **Posts:** 4875

Bare in mind you may have to pay tax on top of that, another 20%.

It should work, most modern power supplies are auto switching, IE it can switch between 110V/240V & 50Hz/60Hz automatically.

Concentric · **Posted:** Fri 20 Jul 2007, 00:41

Uthred wrote:

I was looking at products from the manufacturers you recommended and all of them only seem to sell multi-rail setups.

Well that's not entirely true - all the PCP&C units are single rail afaik, although they're more expensive so you've probably discounted them.

Uthred wrote:

So I assume you were recommending them as superior multi rail manufacturers to Thermaltake and Hiper?

Yes, basically. The Seasonic units for instance are only 2 rails, not 4, so it's not as big-a-problem. One of their 500-600W units would power you fine.

Pie_uk · **Posted:** Fri 20 Jul 2007, 01:09

the reason why a strong single rail is better is because all the energy dosnt get wasted (power) were as with a multiple rail PSU some rails may not be using all the juice that it could be ajnd thus create waste heat - energy and can cause rippling. thats my understanding

Uthred · **Joined:** Tue 23 Aug 2005, 20:02 **Posts:** 28

Pie_uk wrote:

the reason why a strong single rail is better is because all the energy dosnt get wasted (power) were as with a multiple rail PSU some rails may not be using all the juice that it could be ajnd thus create waste heat - energy and can cause rippling. thats my understanding

So does this mean that you're better off taking a psu with a smaller ampage across less 12v rails? e.g. getting the Seasonic S12 600W with 36a across two 12v rails as opposed to the Thermaltake toughpower 650w with 72a across four rails? (Sorry if I'm being somewhat obtuse)

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