which PSU to buy????

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 07:02 PM

Chieftech 420Watt (HPC-420-302DF or HPC-420-102DF->does this one have PFC,i know that first one have active PFC) or Levicom WIN-400PS 420W ( it has dual fan,aktiv PFC,Temperature Controller).
My spec is bellow.in near future i'll by r9500pro and already have HDD WD40GB JB 7200 in my drawer.

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 07:16 PM

I can't say that I am famliiar with either of those PSU's. Can you provide links to spec pages? Also, if they are available, might I recommend you look at Enermax and Antec PSU's - I am running a 431 watt Enermax PSU, and though my 12v rail runs slightly high and my 5v rail gets unhappy when I try and run my fans on silent mode (aka 5v.) since I have about 10 fans (including room fans) that are very large >1amp...

EDIT: "aktiv"? Bist du Deutscher?

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 07:25 PM

no i'm not from Germany,i just copied the text and forget to correct.well enermax and antec are too expensive for my pocket.here are 2 links for those PSU. levicom PSU ,the site is in german language and chieftec .for chieftec PSU didn't found other page.

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 07:34 PM

The chieftech sounds somewhat better on paper - it seems to have more amperage available on the important rails - 3.3, 5, and 12. That 12v amperage is important because that is what your fans and some of the other more power-intensive parts in your computer will be needing (like the motors in hard drives, etc.) and the 5v and 3.3v are pretty important for power for electronics (like PCI cards, the circuitry on various drives, the CPU, etc.). So overall, the chieftech looks better (electrically - the levicom is prettier

). As for the difference between the two Chieftechs, I couldn't say - thats a feature difference, and that is up to you whether you feel you want/need those differing features.

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 07:42 PM

but if u look in to this test on tom'shardware u'll see that levicom is better,but also lauder

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 07:46 PM

As I said, "The Chieftech sounds better on paper"

It's hard to make a judgement based on just this data, as these were individual power supplies being tested, and you cna't really draw conclusions from the testing of a single representative PSU, as there is a chance that it was a fluke and really good, or it was a fluke and really bad, and not truly representing the average performance of the PSU you might end up with. That said, it's pretty subjective between PSU's like this which are quite similar - I think that it is really up to you, how tight your budget is, and whether noise is a great consideration or not.

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 07:49 PM

thanks for your time man,i think i'll go with levicom.but if someone disagree,fell free to post a reply why not levicom

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 07:59 PM

No problem, always like to be available for help. Tell us how the Levicom turns out - good, bad, noisy, etc.!

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 08:08 PM

well for my review of levicom u gonna have to wait for 2 months tops,because i'm not buying it in my country(SLovenia),i'll buy in German on-line shop with sapphire r9500pro in february.and hope that my relative will bring it to me.
one more question about PSU.what do u know about thermaltake PSU.

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 08:10 PM

Thermaltake PSU's? I haven't heard much about them, though the little I have heard has been mixed - three of my "friends" (don't know em well) have Thermaltakes - one said its great, the other got one that was DOA, and the last one doesn't know what the PSU is since his cousin put the computer together :roll: If you want me to, I'll look around a bit online for some Thermaltake PSU's and reviews...

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 08:19 PM

that would be great,i saw one review of that PSU on www.3dgameman.com .the catch is that seller told me that they will have those PSUs in the store by the end of the january and the price will be much lower than enermax's is.but how low he didn't say

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 08:30 PM

http://www.2fastcpu.com/tt_silent420/page1.html

http://www.ocmodshop.com/default.aspx?a=101

http://www.tweakers.com.au/articles/...0apd/page1.asp

http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...review&dId=342

Are the 4 reviews aside from the 3dgameman one you found - I flipped though them and the reviews looked good, though the final determination on the PSU you end up buying should probably be based not just on reviews, but prices, as being "cheaper than the enermax" might not really mean much - it might be just 10 Euros cheaper, which really means its more expensive than you might be thinking...

ToshiroOC

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 08:47 PM

thanx for the links and 1 for those links was also 360W PSU that i'm thinking to buy it if 420W we'll be to expensive.can u tell me what is the diference between aktive and passive PFC?

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 08:49 PM

To be perfectly honest, I don't know what a PFC is - I'll look it up and see what I can find about it...

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ToshiroOC
To be perfectly honest, I don't know what a PFC is - I'll look it up and see what I can find about it...

What is the PFC?
(Power Factor Correction)

Many loads are highly inductive, such a lightly loaded motors and illumination transformers and ballasts. You may want to correct the power factor by adding parallel capacitors. You can also add series capacitors to "remove" the effect of leakage inductance that limits the output current.(Jim Lux -2002).

Non-PFC offers around 0.5~0.6 PF (Power Frequency), 40%~50% power lost.

Active PFC provides more efficient PF(Power Frequency), 0.95~0.99, it means only 1%~5% power has gone.
u don't have to look it up.i just wanna know diference between aktiv and passive PFC?

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 08:56 PM

Well, thats different from the definition I had always had for it - that active PFC automatically compensates for different AC voltages, and passive made you flip a switch to either 115v or 230v to select the incoming voltage... I would assume active PFC is better than passive PFC, just as a general guess as active things normally are more useful than passive things (ya, pretty weak, I know). I'm going to try and see if I can find more definitions... Also, that definition for PFC that you have there looks like its talking about non-computer-specific usage, so PFC might be slightly different in a computer context...

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 08:58 PM

that definition i copied from thermaltake site.

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 09:01 PM

O.K., we were both right.

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/pfc.html

Read that - it goes over everything.

To sum it up, active can compensate for different wall voltages without changing DC voltages too much (practically - it also has to do a bit with efficiency, but I don't think its overly relevant so long as the PSU can handle your computer satisfactorily), and passive can only hold voltages steady with a constand wall voltage.

I might be wrong above, but thats my understanding of it...

ToshiroOC

I'm going home now, probably won't be posting for another half-hour or so... I'll check this thread then..

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 09:09 PM

the last link was i was looking for.thanx and happy new year 2003.

ToshiroOC · Jan 1, 2003, 11:48 PM

You're welcome! Hope you enjoy your new PSU when you get it!

boby · Jan 1, 2003, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ToshiroOC
You're welcome! Hope you enjoy your new PSU when you get it!

i hope to

Jan 1, 2003, 07:02 PM	#1
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	which PSU to buy???? Chieftech 420Watt (HPC-420-302DF or HPC-420-102DF->does this one have PFC,i know that first one have active PFC) or Levicom WIN-400PS 420W ( it has dual fan,aktiv PFC,Temperature Controller). My spec is bellow.in near future i'll by r9500pro and already have HDD WD40GB JB 7200 in my drawer. __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 07:16 PM	#2
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	I can't say that I am famliiar with either of those PSU's. Can you provide links to spec pages? Also, if they are available, might I recommend you look at Enermax and Antec PSU's - I am running a 431 watt Enermax PSU, and though my 12v rail runs slightly high and my 5v rail gets unhappy when I try and run my fans on silent mode (aka 5v.) since I have about 10 fans (including room fans) that are very large >1amp... EDIT: "aktiv"? Bist du Deutscher? __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 07:25 PM	Thread Starter #3
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	no i'm not from Germany,i just copied the text and forget to correct.well enermax and antec are too expensive for my pocket.here are 2 links for those PSU. levicom PSU ,the site is in german language and chieftec .for chieftec PSU didn't found other page. __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 07:34 PM	#4
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	The chieftech sounds somewhat better on paper - it seems to have more amperage available on the important rails - 3.3, 5, and 12. That 12v amperage is important because that is what your fans and some of the other more power-intensive parts in your computer will be needing (like the motors in hard drives, etc.) and the 5v and 3.3v are pretty important for power for electronics (like PCI cards, the circuitry on various drives, the CPU, etc.). So overall, the chieftech looks better (electrically - the levicom is prettier ). As for the difference between the two Chieftechs, I couldn't say - thats a feature difference, and that is up to you whether you feel you want/need those differing features. __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 07:42 PM	Thread Starter #5
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	but if u look in to this test on tom'shardware u'll see that levicom is better,but also lauder __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 07:46 PM	#6
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	As I said, "The Chieftech sounds better on paper" It's hard to make a judgement based on just this data, as these were individual power supplies being tested, and you cna't really draw conclusions from the testing of a single representative PSU, as there is a chance that it was a fluke and really good, or it was a fluke and really bad, and not truly representing the average performance of the PSU you might end up with. That said, it's pretty subjective between PSU's like this which are quite similar - I think that it is really up to you, how tight your budget is, and whether noise is a great consideration or not. __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 07:49 PM	Thread Starter #7
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	thanks for your time man,i think i'll go with levicom.but if someone disagree,fell free to post a reply why not levicom __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 07:59 PM	#8
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	No problem, always like to be available for help. Tell us how the Levicom turns out - good, bad, noisy, etc.! __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:08 PM	Thread Starter #9
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	well for my review of levicom u gonna have to wait for 2 months tops,because i'm not buying it in my country(SLovenia),i'll buy in German on-line shop with sapphire r9500pro in february.and hope that my relative will bring it to me. one more question about PSU.what do u know about thermaltake PSU. __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:10 PM	#10
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	Thermaltake PSU's? I haven't heard much about them, though the little I have heard has been mixed - three of my "friends" (don't know em well) have Thermaltakes - one said its great, the other got one that was DOA, and the last one doesn't know what the PSU is since his cousin put the computer together :roll: If you want me to, I'll look around a bit online for some Thermaltake PSU's and reviews... __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:19 PM	Thread Starter #11
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	that would be great,i saw one review of that PSU on www.3dgameman.com .the catch is that seller told me that they will have those PSUs in the store by the end of the january and the price will be much lower than enermax's is.but how low he didn't say __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:30 PM	#12
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	http://www.2fastcpu.com/tt_silent420/page1.html http://www.ocmodshop.com/default.aspx?a=101 http://www.tweakers.com.au/articles/...0apd/page1.asp http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...review&dId=342 Are the 4 reviews aside from the 3dgameman one you found - I flipped though them and the reviews looked good, though the final determination on the PSU you end up buying should probably be based not just on reviews, but prices, as being "cheaper than the enermax" might not really mean much - it might be just 10 Euros cheaper, which really means its more expensive than you might be thinking... ToshiroOC __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:47 PM	Thread Starter #13
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	thanx for the links and 1 for those links was also 360W PSU that i'm thinking to buy it if 420W we'll be to expensive.can u tell me what is the diference between aktive and passive PFC? __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:49 PM	#14
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	To be perfectly honest, I don't know what a PFC is - I'll look it up and see what I can find about it... __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:56 PM	#16
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	Well, thats different from the definition I had always had for it - that active PFC automatically compensates for different AC voltages, and passive made you flip a switch to either 115v or 230v to select the incoming voltage... I would assume active PFC is better than passive PFC, just as a general guess as active things normally are more useful than passive things (ya, pretty weak, I know). I'm going to try and see if I can find more definitions... Also, that definition for PFC that you have there looks like its talking about non-computer-specific usage, so PFC might be slightly different in a computer context... __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 08:58 PM	Thread Starter #17
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	that definition i copied from thermaltake site. __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 09:01 PM	#18
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	O.K., we were both right. http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/pfc.html Read that - it goes over everything. To sum it up, active can compensate for different wall voltages without changing DC voltages too much (practically - it also has to do a bit with efficiency, but I don't think its overly relevant so long as the PSU can handle your computer satisfactorily), and passive can only hold voltages steady with a constand wall voltage. I might be wrong above, but thats my understanding of it... ToshiroOC I'm going home now, probably won't be posting for another half-hour or so... I'll check this thread then.. __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Jan 1, 2003, 09:09 PM	Thread Starter #19
boby DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: slovenia-maribor Posts: 326 Rep Power: 0	the last link was i was looking for.thanx and happy new year 2003. __________________ NF7-S,AMD 2500+@2300MHz-&SP97+ 92mm vantec tornado on 2800rpm, MSi 5900SP 2X256MB Hyperx PC3200 DM+9 120GB SATA HDD Yamaha cd-rw 20/10/40 WIN XP PRO(SP1)

Jan 1, 2003, 11:48 PM	#20
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	You're welcome! Hope you enjoy your new PSU when you get it! __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)