[Morryjg]

At least that's the assumption that I have going right now. Came home and my main PC didn't have any fans running and a CD light was on. The power wouldn't cycle from the switch so I flipped it at the power strip. After doing that there were absolutely no signs of life. So I'm hoping that it's the power supply and not the motherboard.

Any recommendations for power supplies? The one that was in there is a 300w, but I'm thinking about getting a bigger one. It is running a 2 gig P4, 3 hard drives, CD Burner & a DVD burner. Not sure what I should consider though, so I was wondering if I could get some feedback from the Geek Monkeys. Thanks!

 

[H8R]

Thermaltake 430w. Cheap, bombproof.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023

Just make sure to read all 900+ reviews before purchase.

 

[binary visions]

I've got that Thermaltake and have built a few computers with it. Seems to be awesome for the price.

 

[Morryjg]

Thanks!!

 

[Quo Fan]

When I was fixing computers, sometimes, when the power supply died, it took the motherboard with it. Rare, but it happens.

In relation to a power supply, some is good, more is better. Get the biggest supply you can afford. Better you have too much power than not enough.

 

[Connundrum1]

I would go with anything made by Antec. i recently purchased an Antec NeoHe 500 watt. its high efficiency and ends up saving you money in the long run and is a quality PSU.

 

[H8R]

I would go with anything made by Antec. i recently purchased an Antec NeoHe 500 watt. its high efficiency and ends up saving you money in the long run and is a quality PSU.

500w PSU is complete overkill for the above spec. 430w is actually a bit too much unless he's running a humungo vid card.

 

[binary visions]

500w PSU is complete overkill for the above spec. 430w is actually a bit too much unless he's running a humungo vid card.

But, isn't a 500w power supply 70w faster than a 430w power supply?

We're going to have to go right to ludicrous speed.

 

[H8R]

But, isn't a 500w power supply 70w faster than a 430w power supply?

We're going to have to go right to ludicrous speed.

It's also 70w shinier.

 

[steve45]

i'd recommend tagans PSU's never had one fail on me, you know when you open the package that what you have bought it really worth it, the build quality is just spot on, from the nicely finished unit itself to the pretty braided cables, silent, stable and very reliable, i've ran 3 of them one in each of last 3 pc's only upgraded due to more power consuption demands.
my latest one, the 580w mudular one, way overkill for your application, but damn! its soo sweet, it just sits in there doing its job without complaining.

but i'd reccomend looking into this unit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-007-TG
obviously not from that shop though.

 

[H8R]

The US versions of the Tagans are crap.

i'd recommend tagans PSU's never had one fail on me, you know when you open the package that what you have bought it really worth it, the build quality is just spot on, from the nicely finished unit itself to the pretty braided cables, silent, stable and very reliable, i've ran 3 of them one in each of last 3 pc's only upgraded due to more power consuption demands.
my latest one, the 580w mudular one, way overkill for your application, but damn! its soo sweet, it just sits in there doing its job without complaining.

but i'd reccomend looking into this unit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-007-TG
obviously not from that shop though.

 

[syadasti]

Seasonic is the best PSU OEM in the business - powerful, quiet, and very efficient.

Fortron is another decent PSU OEM if you want to go cheap.

A lot of the mentioned PSU in this thread are from resellers, not OEMs. Buy from the source, not some brand that puts their sticker on it unless you are getting a really good price or features they don't sell themselves otherwise...

 

[H8R]

Seasonic is the best PSU OEM in the business - powerful, quiet, and very efficient.

Fortron is another decent PSU OEM if you want to go cheap.

A lot of the mentioned PSU in this thread are from resellers, not OEMs. Buy from the source, not some brand that puts their sticker on it unless you are getting a really good price or features they don't sell themselves otherwise...

The Thermaltake above is like $30 and they are silent and reliable.

 

[syadasti]

Here is a good list:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article699-page1.html

Also you shouldn't need to increase your PSU a lot of people buy PSU which are too much for what they are running and they won't operate as efficiently. Read this primer:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page1.html

 

[syadasti]

The Thermaltake above is like $30 and they are silent and reliable.

Fortron OEM come in the same price range and they are more consistent quality than CWT PSUs (who makes Antec and Thermaltake "premium" PSUs):

http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Thermaltake_PSUs

PSU in that price range will have corners cut - efficiency, acoustics, MBTF won't be good as one around $50-60 - you'll probably gain that back and more over the life of the PSU with the power savings...

Here is your $40 Thermaltake PSU:

"So, like its predecessor, the XP550, isn’t true to the declared wattage. This is in fact an ATX12V 1.3-compliant 300W unit from HEC reinforced with a second fan. This may make it a 330W unit, but not better. The PSU just burns down at a load of 380W due to overheat of the switching transistor. So, the W0070 can be viewed as a good low-end 300W power supply with accurate assembly, good parameters, and quiet operation… But on the other hand, Thermaltake put a label that reads “430W” on this product and this number has nothing to do with reality. This PSU cannot yield this output power for more than a couple of minutes. What’s the most disappointing thing, Thermaltake prices this PSU by the declared rather than real wattage and it costs now $45 or even more (unlike the XP480, the XP550 comes to retail shops apart from system cases). I think it’s unfair to put so high a price on a mediocre power supply built to comply with an obsolete standard."

Source (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/thermaltake-psu-roundup_18.html)


So in short, for anything but light systems (eg athlon64 3500+ / single 7600gt system NOT P4 and/or high end videocards), avoid these psu's completely. For very old systems (old AthlonXP, P3), these psu's are ok to use, check the motherboard for a 4pin atx12V connector, if it DOESN'T have one, then these psu's are fairly well suited.