Pick a PSU

What PSU would you buy?

  • SeaSonic 600Watt

    Votes: 4 25.0%

  • SeaSonic 550Watt

    Votes: 3 18.8%

  • Corsair 520Watt

    Votes: 6 37.5%

  • Other (link please)

    Votes: 3 18.8%
  • Total voters
    16
[edit] I don't remember posting in this thread at all. Wtf.
 
I voted for the Corsair one. Since they all fit your needs, I figured the modular-ness of the third option would also help to reduce clutter in your case.
 
I voted for corsair because it is solid and the the modular cables are nice, however be warned, it can be a bit difficult to use in a case with the power supply at the bottom. The cables are not very flexible and the 4-pin power connector barely reached for me. It's at the top of my mobo and I had to route it between the mobo and the graphics card. Made me a little nervous, but it seems to be doing alright.
 
ehudyoda said:
http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Power/ToughPower/W0116/w0116.asp
Click to expand...

Indeed here is a review.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=17

Weird though how it's really expensive on newegg, but much cheaper on a dutch online store.
To me seasonic were always way too expensive.
Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153036
Dutch store:
http://azerty.nl/producten/product_detail/52/8775/toughpower.html

And a modular seasonic 700w on the same dutch site:
http://azerty.nl/producten/product_detail/52/10561/m12-700.html
 
I'm trying to find reviews for some of the other brands you guys listed but not sure what model to look for.

What about Enermax or PC Power & Cooling?
staticprimer said:
I voted for corsair because it is solid and the the modular cables are nice, however be warned, it can be a bit difficult to use in a case with the power supply at the bottom. The cables are not very flexible and the 4-pin power connector barely reached for me. It's at the top of my mobo and I had to route it between the mobo and the graphics card. Made me a little nervous, but it seems to be doing alright.
Click to expand...
My current 4pin plug goes up between the GPU and motherboard with a little slack. And the PSU itself is at the bottom in a P180 case. The cable is 20 inches long. The Corsair's 4pin is about the same length so I bet it would work as long as it is flexible enough to fit. ATM I just have my GPU in the way. No other expansion cards.
 
Looks like the Corsair is winning.

Although Seasonic's modular PSU hardly had any ripple. the Corsair a bit more, the Thermaltake's almost hit out of spec.

I'm not sure how much I need a modular PSU. I really am leaning toward the Corsair but because of Zipzoomfly's price. The only other one I'm thinking of is Seasonic's S12 Energy Plus model because it has a bit more Watts and higher rated efficiency (88 vs 85%). Although the higher efficency would probably only save $10 a year.

edit:
doh! (PDF file) new seasonic models coming out with solid caps - S12 II
EDIT
Asus said:
D:
$105 shipped + $10 mail-in
Click to expand...
Put an order in this Monday. Supposed to be here on Wednesday (2.99 for 2day shipping). woot
 
My power supply ran me $130 over a year ago, and its a 650W...also has some fancy LEDs in it that brighten and dim with the adjustable fan speed...
 
Ridge said:
My power supply ran me $130 over a year ago, and its a 650W...also has some fancy LEDs in it that brighten and dim with the adjustable fan speed...
Click to expand...
But Aspire are known to be poor quality PSUs. They often run out of spec and many users complain that they just fail over time. But more to the point of this thread, most of the units perform ~70% efficiency while I was looking for 80%+ and <25 dba.

(example)
Lets say all the components in your PC take 400Watts (DC) from the PSU to run when under full load, playing a game etc. Now all power supplies are not 100% efficient so they take more power when converting AC(wall) -> DC(inside the pc). Now you ask, how much is that PSU going to pull from the wall in order to get 400Watts (DC) to run your stuff?
400 Watts DC / .7 (% efficiency) = 571.4 W pulled from the wall
400 Watts DC / .84 (% efficiency) = 476.2 W pulled from the wall
Lets say you pay $.10KWH.

571.4W = .5714KW
.5714 * $.1 * 24 (hrs in a day) * 365 (days in a year) = $500.55 to power the PC for a year.

476.2W = .4762KW
.4762 * $.1 * 24 * 365 = $417.15 to power the PC for a year.

Although most people do not have their PC under this load 24/7.
 
out of the three I'd go for the seasonic only because of proven reliability ..dont know about corsair ...also consider the enermax, you can find it cheaper elsewhere:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194004

or splurge:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194021


the enermax units are modular and have long cables, perfect for your antec p180 (if I remember correctly) ..and most importantly a high efficiancy rate: 82 - 85% for the pricey one and 80% for the cheaper one
 
Those are nice. I wonder why Enermax is not more popular. I've read a few reviews at least on the Infiniti and it did really really well.
Although it looks like a number of DOAs on the Liberty from newegg's ratings. Similar to the Seasonic S12 600Watt. I wonder if it's just a bad batch that newegg has or if the manufactures are having issues with those models.
 
Asus said:
Those are nice. I wonder why Enermax is not more popular. I've read a few reviews at least on the Infiniti and it did really really well.
Although it looks like a number of DOAs on the Liberty from newegg's ratings. Similar to the Seasonic S12 600Watt. I wonder if it's just a bad batch that newegg has or if the manufactures are having issues with those models.
Click to expand...

never had any problems with enermax which I've been using exclusively for the past 5 years with 3 different units

enermax has been around for quite some time, they've always had a good reputation as server power supplies but have a loyal but low profile cult following
 
Yeah, I have an EG465P Enermax PSU. Had it for 4 years or so and still works great.
 
oh heh, then no use preaching to the choir :) ..they're great psu's I'll continue buying them for years to come
 
CptStern said:
out of the three I'd go for the seasonic only because of proven reliability ..dont know about corsair
Click to expand...

Just thought i'd mention that Corsair PSU's are actually Seasonic units. Seasonic make them and they are re-branded with Corsair logo's etc. So they are basically identical, if not just very slightly better value, from the prices i've seen in the uk at least.

:)
 
3ssence said:
Just thought i'd mention that Corsair PSU's are actually Seasonic units. Seasonic make them and they are re-branded with Corsair logo's etc. So they are basically identical, if not just very slightly better value, from the prices i've seen in the uk at least.

:)
Click to expand...
While the Corsair's are great quality units and are based on the M12 models, in general you can't always assume that a power supply made for a brand by different manufacture matches the quality control and quality parts that they use for their own units. In fact there are a couple caps that are different in the Corsair unit...although for the better (rated for higher temperature). hehe
 
Cool&Quiet is enabled so the CPU clocked to 1GHz when idle. Just my PC is plugged into the battery backup. The APC battery backup has a USB data cord and software that gives me feedback, like how much power is being pulled from the battery or wall. This isn't that accurate as I did not average multiple readings but I just took a screen shot once the number had steadied. I did play online for a bit and ran the stress test a number of times before taking the screen shots.

My previous Fortron AX500 PSU:
146 watts @ idle
238 watts - playing CS Source online
259 watts - running CS Source stress test and putting a light load on the hard drives and network via downloads.

The Corsair 520HX I ordered:
108 watts @ idle
189 watts - playing CS Source online
216 watts - running CS Source stress test and putting a light load on the hard drives and network via downloads.

Looks a lot more efficient to me.
I can't tell any difference in sound because they both are more quiet than the Zalman's fan I have on my GPU and case/cpu fans.
 
That's a pretty impressive result. Especially given that Fortron are a pretty decent brand themselves !
 
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