I'm looking for a 250 W PSU 80+ micro-ATX in Europe and I have trouble
to find one. Dell sells some Desktop PC with PSU of this type, but I'm
building a PC myself and so I need it alone.

Does someone has some hints?

Best regards to everyone and thanks to replying people,

Andrea

Andy and Steve, thank you ... but ;-)

they are 300 W, it is about 20% more than the desired.
I'm not obsessed by 250 (also 240, 255, 235 or 260 do work :-).
The point is that this Tom's hardware article
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...cy,2069-5.html
I found very interesting, demonstrates that a PSU really well sized (in
such case 220 W) gives a power saving of some tens percents, because the
PSU works at a load level where it yelds really much and better.

My system will be a bit energy hungrier than such of the article; it is
my CPU will be the E7500 (2,93 Ghz) instead of the E7200 (2,53 Ghz),
I'll have 2 hard disks (but green, it is WD SATA 500GB 32Mb cache), and
then also 4 GB of RAM and a DVD writer, so, instead of a 220 W PSU a 250
should work right, but a 300 will be at least a bit oversized and so
overconsuming.

Regards and thanks again,

Andrea

Steve ha scritto:
> In article <hcpts5$5ff$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed) says...
>> Andy and Steve, thank you ... but ;-)
>>
>> they are 300 W, it is about 20% more than the desired.
>> I'm not obsessed by 250 (also 240, 255, 235 or 260 do work :-).
>> The point is that this Tom's hardware article
>> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...cy,2069-5.html
>> I found very interesting, demonstrates that a PSU really well sized (in
>> such case 220 W) gives a power saving of some tens percents, because the
>> PSU works at a load level where it yelds really much and better.
>>
>> My system will be a bit energy hungrier than such of the article; it is
>> my CPU will be the E7500 (2,93 Ghz) instead of the E7200 (2,53 Ghz),
>> I'll have 2 hard disks (but green, it is WD SATA 500GB 32Mb cache), and
>> then also 4 GB of RAM and a DVD writer, so, instead of a 220 W PSU a 250
>> should work right, but a 300 will be at least a bit oversized and so
>> overconsuming.
>>
>> Regards and thanks again,
>>
>> Andrea
>
> 300W rating was the smallest I found with 80+ certification.
> Do report back if you happen to find 250W P/S that are 80+ certified
> and available for sale.

The problem is "available for sale"; it is b.e. Dell uses in some of its
Desktop, 80+ (or better) PSUs. I don't understand why they are so
difficult to find because, if you use the PC many hours a day, b.e. in
office context, then in few years you can get back the money you spent
to buy them or more because the difference is not so big (from about 30$
to about $50) and you are environment friendly.
I've found this one, Seasonic SS-250SU, but I fear that it can't match
with my micro ATX mobo, now I'll check and then if it doesn't work I'll
go for a 300 W (I've found one for sale, new also here in Italy). I'd
like also if it can be quiet.

Regards and thanks again

twistedbrain ha scritto:
> Steve ha scritto:
>> In article <hcpts5$5ff$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed) says...
>>> Andy and Steve, thank you ... but ;-)
>>>
>>> they are 300 W, it is about 20% more than the desired.
>>> I'm not obsessed by 250 (also 240, 255, 235 or 260 do work :-).
>>> The point is that this Tom's hardware article
>>> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...cy,2069-5.html
>>> I found very interesting, demonstrates that a PSU really well sized
>>> (in such case 220 W) gives a power saving of some tens percents,
>>> because the PSU works at a load level where it yelds really much and
>>> better.
>>>
>>> My system will be a bit energy hungrier than such of the article; it
>>> is my CPU will be the E7500 (2,93 Ghz) instead of the E7200 (2,53
>>> Ghz), I'll have 2 hard disks (but green, it is WD SATA 500GB 32Mb
>>> cache), and then also 4 GB of RAM and a DVD writer, so, instead of a
>>> 220 W PSU a 250 should work right, but a 300 will be at least a bit
>>> oversized and so overconsuming.
>>>
>>> Regards and thanks again,
>>>
>>> Andrea
>>
>> 300W rating was the smallest I found with 80+ certification.
>> Do report back if you happen to find 250W P/S that are 80+ certified
>> and available for sale.
>
> The problem is "available for sale"; it is b.e. Dell uses in some of its
> Desktop, 80+ (or better) PSUs. I don't understand why they are so
> difficult to find because, if you use the PC many hours a day, b.e. in
> office context, then in few years you can get back the money you spent
> to buy them or more because the difference is not so big (from about 30$
> to about $50) and you are environment friendly.
> I've found this one, Seasonic SS-250SU, but I fear that it can't match
> with my micro ATX mobo, now I'll check and then if it doesn't work I'll
> go for a 300 W (I've found one for sale, new also here in Italy). I'd
> like also if it can be quiet.
>
> Regards and thanks again

I think I was wrong, if I understand well it is "up to 80%", so it's not
80+. Then I saw also that less powerfull is the PSU more quickly turns
its fan when the power required grows because it become hotter and so
more noisy. I'm wondering if are there fanless PSUs, 80+, 240-260 W and
I'm almost sure that there aren't.

regards

Hello world!

Well, after many Internet search I've found two 300 W PSU 80+ (one ATX,
the other micro ATX) that I can get here where I live without customs
taxes and in short times.

They are the Seasonic SS-300SFD Micro ATX, that I can get all included
for about 64 EUR and the Thermaltake TR2 QFan 300W that I can get at
about 54 EUR.

The micro ATX case I choose should support both (micro ATX and ATX).
What would you sugggest and why?

Thanks to replying people, regards to all,

Andrea

twistedbrain wrote:
> Hello world!
>
> Well, after many Internet search I've found two 300 W PSU 80+ (one ATX,
> the other micro ATX) that I can get here where I live without customs
> taxes and in short times.
>
> They are the Seasonic SS-300SFD Micro ATX, that I can get all included
> for about 64 EUR and the Thermaltake TR2 QFan 300W that I can get at
> about 54 EUR.
>
> The micro ATX case I choose should support both (micro ATX and ATX).
> What would you sugggest and why?
>
> Thanks to replying people, regards to all,
>
> Andrea

The Seasonic is fixed 220VAC input. As long as that is what you're looking
for, the specs look great. They look better than any other microATX
I was looking at yesterday. Active PFC works against efficiency, but
is mandated for operation in Europe.

http://www.seasonic.com/pdf/datashee...tive%20PFC.pdf

3.3 @ 20A, 5V @ 20A, 12V @ 22.5A, -12V @ 0.8, +5VSB @ 2A
<---- 125W max ----> <-- 270W -->
<------------------------- 300W max ------------------->

The Thermaltake has slightly weaker low voltage rails. There is a
whole family of power supplies with TR2 in the name, so it is quite
possible the one you're looking at, is a different model.

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/...r2-qfan/04.jpg

Paul

Paul thank You,
> The Seasonic is fixed 220VAC input. As long as that is what you're looking
> for, the specs look great. They look better than any other microATX
> I was looking at yesterday. Active PFC works against efficiency, but
> is mandated for operation in Europe.

I have to say that I know about nothing about that, so what I'm going
to write
could be fully wrong, but I report only things (maybe false or
misunderstood)
I read, it is, I read that Active PFC enhance efficiency in some
different places
and (but it's unrelated - I think) I saw that 220 vattage instead of
110 could be
good for efficiency because in a comparartive table of most efficient
PSU there
were more model at 220 than at 110 and at 220 was given also the
category of
Platinum 80 (also if it was empty).
Anyway this last consideration about vattage is absolutely unsure and
unerliable,
insead, about Active PFC I read that in some different and also
normally reliable
places like Anandtech.

> http://www.seasonic.com/pdf/datashee...S-300SFD%20Act...
>
> 3.3 @ 20A, 5V @ 20A, 12V @ 22.5A, -12V @ 0.8, +5VSB @ 2A
> <---- 125W max ----> <-- 270W -->
> <------------------------- 300W max ------------------->
>
> The Thermaltake has slightly weaker low voltage rails. There is a
> whole family of power supplies with TR2 in the name, so it is quite
> possible the one you're looking at, is a different model.

Thank you again, good to know.

Andrea

twistedbrain wrote:
> Paul thank You,
>> The Seasonic is fixed 220VAC input. As long as that is what you're looking
>> for, the specs look great. They look better than any other microATX
>> I was looking at yesterday. Active PFC works against efficiency, but
>> is mandated for operation in Europe.
>
> I have to say that I know about nothing about that, so what I'm going
> to write
> could be fully wrong, but I report only things (maybe false or
> misunderstood)
> I read, it is, I read that Active PFC enhance efficiency in some
> different places
> and (but it's unrelated - I think) I saw that 220 vattage instead of
> 110 could be
> good for efficiency because in a comparartive table of most efficient
> PSU there
> were more model at 220 than at 110 and at 220 was given also the
> category of
> Platinum 80 (also if it was empty).
> Anyway this last consideration about vattage is absolutely unsure and
> unerliable,
> insead, about Active PFC I read that in some different and also
> normally reliable
> places like Anandtech.
>

Active PFC helps the power company. It may cost the user a small amount
of efficiency. I don't think it is completely neutral in terms
of its effects on the user's power bill. The power supply still meets
its stated efficiency. My comment was more about the conflicting
nature of PFC - active power factor correction helps the power company,
but may not always work in the favor of the end user. If you look
at the power supplies sold in North America, there isn't the
same emphasis on PFC, and I don't think any of the supplies
I own, have PFC.

There could be a difference between efficiency at 110 versus 220 volts.
But in the case of the Seasonic, that particular one only operates
at 220 volts. I mentioned that, so that you'd check to see whether
your power source is 220V or not. If you're in a country using 110V,
then that particular Seasonic could not be used.

If you have room in the computer case for a regular sized ATX supply,
there are supplies with a higher efficiency than 80%. This model, for
example, claim 87%. It appears to use a DC-DC converter, to convert
12V to 3.3V and 5V. So the main part of the supply is just a 12V
circuit. It means the path to 3.3V and 5V, goes through two conversion
steps.

http://www.seasonicusa.com/X.htm

AC ---- DC --+----------12V
|
+----DC----3.3V/5V

Scroll down, and look at the test results carefully. This new
design works best, if there is minimal 3.3V/5V loading. So for
computers that draw most of their power from 12V, the supply
gets around 90% efficiency. If you heavily load the 3.3V and
5V rails, the efficiency drops to 85%. You could see
very good results here, as long as the motherboard doesn't
need too much to run the chipset and peripheral chips.
Of course, you need room in your computer case to fit this.
You may want to verify the dimensions, and see how well
it fits your computer case.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...print&reid=169

3.3V @ 1A, 5V @ 1A, 12V @ 10A, 23C temp 90.5% efficient

3.3V @ 14A, 5V @ 14A, 12V @ 1A, 29C temp 87.5% efficient

3.3V @ 14A, 5V @ 14A, 12V @ 1A, 35C temp 85.0% efficient

So you can get some fairly good numbers, if price is no object.
The price here is $180 USD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151088

Paul

On 5 Nov, 20:01, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:

> There could be a difference between efficiency at 110 versus 220 volts.
> But in the case of the Seasonic, that particular one only operates
> at 220 volts. I mentioned that, so that you'd check to see whether
> your power source is 220V or not. If you're in a country using 110V,
> then that particular Seasonic could not be used.

In Europe (at least the normal part of it, not England and Sicily :-)
we are
using 220V, so I'm right.

> If you have room in the computer case for a regular sized ATX supply,
> there are supplies with a higher efficiency than 80%. This model, for
> example, claim 87%. It appears to use a DC-DC converter, to convert

[...]

> http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...print&reid=169
>
> * 3.3V @ *1A, 5V @ *1A, 12V @ 10A, 23C temp * 90.5% efficient
>
> * 3.3V @ 14A, 5V @ 14A, 12V @ *1A, 29C temp * 87.5% efficient
>
> * 3.3V @ 14A, 5V @ 14A, 12V @ *1A, 35C temp * 85.0% efficient
>
> So you can get some fairly good numbers, if price is no object.
> The price here is $180 USD.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151088

It's really interesting and beautiful, but for me, really oversized
because I'll have a
CPU not very energy hangry (max 65 W, Intel E7500), a mobo +
integrated graphic
card too (G31 chipset), then two HD, but green (I think for sure less
than 10 W each),
then 4 GB RAM DDR2 800 Mhz (I don't know how much they absorbe, but I
don't think
very much) and a DVD writer. So my system doesn't use almost never
more than
200-250 W and for the most time between 50 and 150. A 650 W PSU is not
well suited for
that. Then it isn't cheap at all.

I'll have 3 SATA devices. Do you know what can I do if the PSU gives
only 2 SATA power
connection. Can I take power from some other connection with some
converter?

Regards,

Andrea

On 5 Nov, 21:14, Steve <iva...@invalid.com> wrote:
> In article <hct7om$15...@aioe.org>, andrea.ferra...@gmail.com says...
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hello world!
>
> > Well, after many Internet search I've found two 300 W PSU 80+ (one ATX,
> > the other micro ATX) that I can get here where I live without customs
> > taxes and in short times.
>
> > They are the Seasonic SS-300SFD Micro ATX, that I can get all included
> > for about 64 EUR and the Thermaltake TR2 QFan 300W that I can get at
> > about 54 EUR.
>
> > The micro ATX case I choose should support both (micro ATX and ATX).
> > What would you sugggest and why?
>
> > Thanks to replying people, regards to all,
>
> > Andrea
>
> If your case can take an ATX size P/S you might want to look at a
>
> *SeaSonic S12II 330 Bronze 330W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified
> Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
> Energy Star 5.0 Ready
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151073

It's not a bad idea.
I saw it and I don't know, because it is a litle better then the
SS-300SFD, it is
more efficient, but it is also a litle bigger (330 instead of 300 and
I wonted a 250)
and a litle more expensive, so I don't know.

Thank you and regards,

Andrea