looking for a good "el cheapo" hi watt psu... questions

The_Neon_Cowboy · May 25, 2004, 11:29 PM

looking for a good "el cheapo" hi watt psu take look at this

looks good expect whats the deal with the low - rails -.8a or example my current 400w psu has -1a

looking for a psu that will be handle my system when i decide to upgrade but i'm on a severe buget

EDIT:
then again I see this 600W psu the have all the same nubers as this one but a +5 of about 50A
http://www.buypcdirect.com/product.a...d=psu-as-p600w

Necrosis · May 26, 2004, 01:58 AM

You'll notice most supplies have low amperage for the -V's. Have you thought about a Sparkle?

The_Neon_Cowboy · May 26, 2004, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Necrosis
You'll notice most supplies have low amperage for the -V's. Have you thought about a Sparkle?

too pricey i'm looking at the same price as these with just a 300W sparkle

Necrosis · May 26, 2004, 02:22 AM

Hmm..I don't know man you'd be better off with a well known manufacture. Fortron is pretty good too.

Matth · May 26, 2004, 11:42 PM

Very little uses the -V rails these days
PCI appears to have access to -12 but not to -5 - probably used by a PCI serial port adapter.

If they put more than the bare minimum as a arating, it's often just to bump the overall figures.

There seems to be one crucial figure missing - combined +5 / +3.3 loading - many PSU's shout huge figures on both.
Deducting all the others (+12 and all minor rails) from the total, I get 288W for the combined

With 200W max on the +5 and 92W for the +3.3

That suggests the 550W max is over-optimistic, as very few CAN take full load on both those rails at once - a more honest rating for that model would probably be 450-500, unless it actually has fully independent +5 / +3.3 regulation, down to not sharing a heatsink (or the heatsink being fully adequate - but if they share a heatsink, there is normally a trade-off possible between their loadings)

tek · May 26, 2004, 11:55 PM

I'd rather get a 400W Antec PSU for about the same price as that P.O.S. 550W thing.... those are dangerous dude

pr0digal jenius · May 27, 2004, 01:32 AM

www.frozencpu.com had a pretty good deal on my 470 watt vantec

grog · May 29, 2004, 07:27 AM

I don't think you will find any reviews for the Rhycom 550w unit.

Personally I would stay as far away as possible from the dirt cheap power-supply line.

I saw the Rhycom 550w for $20.00. If they put a price of $20.00 on the unit you know it cost them 1/4 that price or more to make it. Cheap power-supplies cut corners, cheap caps, under-rated resistors, etc...

Good article on selecting a power-supply "name brand".

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/2...pplies-03.html

My ASUS K8V Athlon system barebone came with a Cheap $13.00 Hecules 450W Power-Supply that fried.
I really can not see spending a lot of money for a system and trusting it to the cheapest power-supply you can find. In the long run it is better to get quality.
I knew I needed to replace the power-supply I had in my system and it was on my list of "things to do". I waited longer than I should, but thankfully I did not lose my motherboard, processor and ATI AIW 9700 PRO, I could have when the 3.3V line went to 2.2V.

I went with the Antec True Control 550W power-supply and I am glad I did.

Greg

pr0digal jenius · May 30, 2004, 02:46 AM

yea...PSU is somethign that if it dies...your entire system can be wasted, so I wouldn't skimp on $$ there...if I had to go dirt poor on something, it would be optical drives, and possibly processors(OCing can make up for price tags

)

May 25, 2004, 11:29 PM	#1
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	looking for a good "el cheapo" hi watt psu... questions looking for a good "el cheapo" hi watt psu take look at this looks good expect whats the deal with the low - rails -.8a or example my current 400w psu has -1a looking for a psu that will be handle my system when i decide to upgrade but i'm on a severe buget EDIT: then again I see this 600W psu the have all the same nubers as this one but a +5 of about 50A http://www.buypcdirect.com/product.a...d=psu-as-p600w __________________ Last edited by The_Neon_Cowboy; May 25, 2004 at 11:36 PM.

May 26, 2004, 11:55 PM	#6
tek DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Boston, US Posts: 2,103 Rep Power: 0	I'd rather get a 400W Antec PSU for about the same price as that P.O.S. 550W thing.... those are dangerous dude __________________ [COLOR=White][/COLOR]

May 29, 2004, 07:27 AM	#8
grog Roxy Music Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 623 Rep Power: 66 System Specs	I don't think you will find any reviews for the Rhycom 550w unit. Personally I would stay as far away as possible from the dirt cheap power-supply line. I saw the Rhycom 550w for $20.00. If they put a price of $20.00 on the unit you know it cost them 1/4 that price or more to make it. Cheap power-supplies cut corners, cheap caps, under-rated resistors, etc... Good article on selecting a power-supply "name brand". http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/2...pplies-03.html My ASUS K8V Athlon system barebone came with a Cheap $13.00 Hecules 450W Power-Supply that fried. I really can not see spending a lot of money for a system and trusting it to the cheapest power-supply you can find. In the long run it is better to get quality. I knew I needed to replace the power-supply I had in my system and it was on my list of "things to do". I waited longer than I should, but thankfully I did not lose my motherboard, processor and ATI AIW 9700 PRO, I could have when the 3.3V line went to 2.2V. I went with the Antec True Control 550W power-supply and I am glad I did. Greg __________________ Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24" LCD Philips 47" 1080p 47pfl7422d/37 LCD ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi BIOS 1406, AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz, G.SKILL 8GB(4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 (PC2 6400) ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M PCI Express 2.0 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Sound Card, 1TB Hard Disk storage Thermaltake Tai-Chi VB5001SNA Black/ Silver Computer Case with liquid cooling AeroCool GateWatch-SV Silver GateWatch with LCD display, PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC 510W APC Back-UPS XS 1000 UPS, 1000 VA, 600 Watts Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit VM's (Fedora, RHEL4..etc) Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1

May 26, 2004, 01:58 AM	#2
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	You'll notice most supplies have low amperage for the -V's. Have you thought about a Sparkle?

May 26, 2004, 02:22 AM	#4
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Hmm..I don't know man you'd be better off with a well known manufacture. Fortron is pretty good too.

May 26, 2004, 11:42 PM	#5
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	Very little uses the -V rails these days PCI appears to have access to -12 but not to -5 - probably used by a PCI serial port adapter. If they put more than the bare minimum as a arating, it's often just to bump the overall figures. There seems to be one crucial figure missing - combined +5 / +3.3 loading - many PSU's shout huge figures on both. Deducting all the others (+12 and all minor rails) from the total, I get 288W for the combined With 200W max on the +5 and 92W for the +3.3 That suggests the 550W max is over-optimistic, as very few CAN take full load on both those rails at once - a more honest rating for that model would probably be 450-500, unless it actually has fully independent +5 / +3.3 regulation, down to not sharing a heatsink (or the heatsink being fully adequate - but if they share a heatsink, there is normally a trade-off possible between their loadings)

May 27, 2004, 01:32 AM	#7
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	www.frozencpu.com had a pretty good deal on my 470 watt vantec

May 30, 2004, 02:46 AM	#9
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	yea...PSU is somethign that if it dies...your entire system can be wasted, so I wouldn't skimp on $$ there...if I had to go dirt poor on something, it would be optical drives, and possibly processors(OCing can make up for price tags )