Maskclone2k

As the title suggests, which PSU brand would you recommend?

I am specifically looking at the Antec TruePower 550w or the Enermax 470w NoiseTaker (EG475AX-VE). Antec has voltage adjustment, Enermax has dual 12v rails and shielded cable sleeving on the main and 12v/aux lines. I have read good things about both; however, I have heard of more unsatisfactory performance results from the Antec. But, after the piece of crap Super Flower 550w that I ordered, RMA'd and then received the replacement that performed equally as bad (12v rail was between 11.20 and 11.40 with nothing attached) anything will be better. Even my current 350w TurboLink performs better.

I do overclock and believe that my current PSU is holding me back.
Thus, the desire to upgrade and hopefully, gain some more Mhz!

Thanks for any suggestions.

Vampyromaniac

they would both be great actually. do you have the Amp output numbers on the +12, +5, and +3.3 rail, for both of those power supplies?

__________________

SeraphicSorcerer

Personally I'd Recommend Antec Over Enermax, I dunno what it is but Enermax isn't what it used to be I ordered a Enermax Noistaker 470 Watt, and had 2 yes, 2 Short out on me, and I just ended up keeping, this Antec Truepower 430 Watt, Performs nice, cools nice, and is all around better, *plus* The noise take comes with SATA connectors, (which I guess would be great for sata) *however* in order to give you the sata connectors, they took away 1 of the lines.... (rails) > meanwhile my Antec has 3 Lines of power (rails?) (Sorry I keep saying "rails?" But I've never figured out exactly what the hell a rail is... I assume it's one of the lines) anyways... And then to top it off the antec came with A schanzzy Rail for connecting fans... which is nice.


I can't really fault Enewrmax I guess maybe I just got 2 REALLY bad units, but when they spark and short out, and The Antec doesn't heh, that kinda makes me wanna hug my antec.

__________________

Judas

i myself would recommend Enermax.. i've sold DOZENS of enermaxes with ZERO problems..... i actually have in my current rig a 350 watt Enermax problably doing 100 watts average over what what it should be.... (according to all the PSU caculators.. i'm 150+ over)...... i myself am looking at the noise takers....

__________________

Maskclone2k

Antec amp ratings are as follows:

3.3v --> 32A
5v --> 40A
12v --> 24A

Enermax amp ratings are as follows:

3.3v -->34A
5v -->40A
12v -->Rail 1 - 16A, Rail 2 - 15A -->Total = 31A

Judas

the Dual 12v rail idea is totally an excellent idea.. use the weaker one for nothing but fans and maybe some of the more none important... then use the other for the real deal... (or better yet.. read the manual to know which is which and to see which is used by MOBO )....

__________________

Maskclone2k

Well, I would think that the one rated for the higher amperage is for the mobo, but I'm not certain.

So far it's a specified 1 to 1, need some more opinions.

Danhill

I've would recommend Antec, I ave a antec 480W and it's working perfect, there is sata connectors in that PSU also

__________________
MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Maskclone2k

Enermax also has SATA connectors (which at this point don't matter, I don't use SATA drives, but bodes well for the future).

Judas

well by my understanding... could be very wrong..

Dual 12V rails should provide more stable opertation.... some devices can draw varing degreese of Amperage.... and even degrade the voltage.... Case fans can really do some things..

Also good point to state is that if something were to go on one rail... it shouldn't take up the other devices on the other rail....

the Enermax has a combined result in Rail amperage that is over the Antec... AND is quiet.... I'm not sure...

I guess i'll let other state there case... that's all i can really say at the moment...

__________________

SeraphicSorcerer

Off the topic of the Original Post, But Can you tell me why my enermax's woul short out after just installing them? lol... *ugh*

I've notice one thing about the antec. They perform better then spec I've got ... 6 Har rives 7 System Fans a Thermaltake Volano 12 9800 pro.... a DVD burner. and a 2700+ an this thing still kicks out juice


My Volate Is Still Very much in spec

+3.3 = 3.27
+5 is 4.59
+12 is 11.82


a Little Saggy but this is full load.... and with all I have it's pretty good indeed

__________________

Maskclone2k

Not sure as to what would cause them to short out (never has happened to me) but I suppose it could be a multitude of things.

By the way, the Enermax has a special cooling feature that keeps the fans running 2 minutes after power down to exhaust the still radiating heat from the components.

Judas

That there is a plus... i like that...
however, might want to send Enermax a e-mail asking if it's a nessity... because for example.. alot of people pull (should) the power cord when making changes to the hardware configuration...AKA, rewireing.... moving/Cmos reset.... the usual....

__________________

Vampyromaniac

odd, if the Enermax has two 12v rails, why is it only rated 470W?

__________________

Maskclone2k

Vampyromaniac,

That's a good question; on their website they show that the 3.3v & 5v rails equal 280w. So I'm not sure what the wattage rating is for the 12v rails.

But check this out, their new Coolergiant series, specifically the EG485AX-VHB, shows the same amount of amperage on the rails (including the -12v and 5vsb); however, the total output of that model is 480w (280w still on the 3.3v & 5v rails).

Perhaps Enermax underates the wattage on these new lines of PSUs?

Dom

I had an Enermax 350w, the first one I got was DOA and I to had RMA it, the second one worked just fine. I have an Antec 480w now and it is also working fine.

Overall, I'd go with Antec because they're generally less expensive than the Enermax' and are higher wattage. BTW, I think Turbolink makes Antec or vice versa, or at least make parts for each other.

Maskclone2k

Well, on Newegg, the two models I'm looking at have a price difference of...ALL of $2.00! So, price at this point is not of concern between the two.

Dom

Well, one's 470w and the other's 550w, there's the difference.

Maskclone2k

Yes, I understand there is the wattage difference, but if the 550w isn't as reliable as the 470w, what would be the point?

Judas

wattage isn't everything.... the rail amperage is...

__________________

Dom

Yes, but I believe the "TruePower" name means that it is rated by actually wattage, not its peak wattage like others are.

Maskclone2k

Well after reading the PDF "What Makes TruePower Different?" on Antec's website, I found nothing regarding peak wattage. The only thing different than other supplies is that the TruePower PSUs have seperate lines for each rail, meaning no combined rating on the 3.3v and 5v rails.

zerodamage

I like both companies in regards to PSU's and my Antec's have always performed better than rated. It does look however though that the Enermax may be the better one here. The higher Amerage on the 12-volt Rail(s) is what is most important. The 3.3 and 5v are the same. I am not quite sure where Antec is getting their rating on that.

Maskclone2k

Any other last opinions before I decide?

zerodamage

Yes. The Antec seems to be over rating their Wattage on theirs just for the sake of saying they have a 550W. I just do not understand quite how they reached their rating. I could be wrong but I'm just not understanding that.

GutterPunk

never owned an enermax but antec has performed well for me

__________________
Rock On \m/ Thank you Mousey for the Sig!
---------------

Intel Core2Duo E6660 (3.4GHZ) ~ Tuniq Tower 120 ~ Enermax Galaxy 1000W ~ Corsair Dominator @ 1090MHZ 5-5-5-15 (OCZ XTC Modded Cooler)~ EVGA 8800GTX W/ HR-03 Plus 120MM ~ Asus DVD-RW LiteScribe ~ LG DVD-RW ~ Corsair Voyager 2GB ReadyBoost Drive ~ Vantec Nexus Fan Controller ~ ThermalTake Armor 25CM fan ~
Personal Finance Blog: Dent Your Debt

drakesteakn

even the one that burnt up. that was scary.

__________________

Rayder

Well, we have 2- Antec 400watt (non-TruePowers) 2- Antec 550watt TruePowers and 1- Enermax 550watt.

I had to replace my Antec 400watt because after getting the 9800pro, I was getting wildly fluctuating voltages on the 12 and 5volt and sometimes when cold-booting the system would send out a beep-code that no video card was installed. I replaced it with the 550 TruePower Antec....no more wildly fluctuating voltages, nor does my 9800pro any longer pretend like it ain't there anymore upon cold-bootup.

My bro had an Enermax 500watt in his top machine, was getting shimmering in the monitor, replaced it with the Antec 550watt TruePower and no more shimmering.

The only slightly disturbing thing (and I say slightly because they appear to be working just fine) is that the Antec's voltage readings seem to be slightly low, whereas the EnerMax rails were all 'on the money'.

About the features of the Antec PSU's:

Antec's TruePower 550watt....this one: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-910&depa=1 has taps for fans that will control the speed of your cooling fans, DON'T USE THEM, they set the speed way too low, resulting in overall higher system temps. It also has fewer standard molex taps, requiring you to get some splitters to power all your stuff (and I have a pretty barebones system. I had to add one splitter. ) Where the older Antec 400watt had plenty of taps for everything. The Enermax also has plenty of molex taps, but doesn't have those SATA taps that the Antec TruePower does, which I'm not using anyway (but my bro uses in his) because I don't have SATA compatibility in my system. I figure the inclusion of SATA taps are the reason for having less standard molex taps. It also has a standard molex tap located on the back of the PSU for whatever reason, I really don't see what purpose this serves, but I'm sure it has one for something.

My current voltages readings with the Antec 550watt TruePower:
3.3 - 3.47 (the only one that is higher than standard)
5v - 4.89 (will fluctuate to 4.87)
12v - 11.74v (will fluctuate to an occasional 11.68) As a side-note, the old 400watter would read 11.92, but fluctuate wildly to as low as 11.52.

This is roughly the same reading that my bro gets with HIS Antec 550watt, and his system is MUCH more heavily configured (more cards, more attached goodies etc.)

The Enermax (not sure exactly which one it is), when it was in my bro's system, pretty much locked the voltages at:
3.3 - 3.4
12v - 12.01
5v - 5.03
Almost no fluctuation at all, but he got shimmering in the screen (read whole post for further speculation on this).

Now, I remember reading a review (here at DH I believe, do a search) comparing a bunch of different PSU's, the Antec rated number one and the Enermax rated as very close number 2.

Which one is better? Hmm...I don't know, couldn't say. But shimmering is something I would not like, even if the voltages are more stable and 'up to spec'. For me, that would rule out the Enermax. But to be honest, my bro thinks the shimmering may have been related to cable routing in the PC and not the PSU. He re-routed wires before installing the Antec. So you are back to "I don't know which is better".....the Enermax's voltages ARE more stable.....but the Antec TruePowers regulate the rails seperately....and according to the review I read, they are the top 2 rated brand PSU's you can get. So I honestly don't think you could go wrong with either one of them.

My brother, upon further inspection of the PSU's at NewEgg, figures that the best you could possibly get would be the EPS 12-volt Enermax 550watt, because it has translater cablling for standard ATX systems as well as supporting EPS 12-volt that may be necessary in future systems, making it more future-proof. This one here:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-437&depa=1


While that may not answer your questions directly, I hope it give you some insight that is useful to you.

zerodamage

From what you just wrote, I would say the Enermax is the way to go.

DriveEuro

I'd save my money and buy a Fortran 550w from newegg. There's five (yes FIVE) potentiometers inside to crank up the 12v, 3.3v, 5v, and two others i don't remember.

Nevermind, I just saw your rig... You really don't need more than 450w for you rig. Add a few more hard drives or a faster vid card then you need more wattage.

__________________
[color=orange]ASUS P4P800 Deluxe [color=black]-[/color] 2.4C --> 3300mhz [color=black]-[/color] Mushkin PC3200 at 220 5-2-2-2 (cpu limited) [color=black]-[/color] BBAti 9800Pro at 430/375 [/color]
[color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]01[/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]03[/color] 1600*1200 1280*1024