Replacing power supply - what type?

[toronado455]

A good 300W that can put out at least 15-16A on the +12V rail, such as
a Fortron or Antec, will be fine. Be sure to check the amp ratings of
each voltage rail because newer designs emphasize +12V power while
older designs emphasize +3.3V and +5.0V power, and some companies make
similar-looking, similarly priced PSUs that differ in those respects.
There's a thread, "How much will a 300W Power Supply Run?" at
SilentPCReview.com:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=3075

Apparently, quite a lot, and this was confirmed formally in one of
their articles, "Power Distribution Within Six PCs", which included one
computer containing an Athlon 64 3500+, 6800GT PCIe VGA card, and 2 x
300 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 HDDs (in RAID):

www.silentpcreview.com/article265-page1.html

Thanks for the links. I actually found that site just after I posted my
message and have been reading about this. Excellent site!

OTOH power ratings aren't always honest, as Jonny Guru showed in his
review of two " 500W" Powmaxes that konked out at just 200-300W:

www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/Assassin/Powmax_Assassin.html

Notice how lightweight it looks in the photo second from the bottom,
sort of like most 200W PSUs. In comparison, he was able to squeeze
500W out of a 350W Fortron, which is comparabl to the 454W that
TomsHardware.com got from one a few years ago.


www.jonnyguru.com, www.xbitlabs.com, and www.silentpcreview.com have
informatoin about this, and it seems that Antec NeoHE and Seasonic are
some of the quietest ones. The NeoHE is actually built by Seasonic for
Antec (be sure to get version A3 or later). Don't buy a fanless PSU
because even the best, most efficient ones run hot.

The NeoHE has received some mixed/mediocre comments from NewEgg users.
Perhaps that was the earlier version and the A3 revision is more
reliable?

ATX PSUs have four holes for the mounting screws, and the hole that's
not in one of the corners goes on top and makes any 120mm fan face
downward.

The PSUs do. But the computer cases differ in this arrangement. I
looked at all of my tower cases and half of them have the offset screw
hole (the one that isn't in the corner) located on the top left-hand
side, and the other half have it on the lower right hand side. The PC
in question right now has the latter so I'm looking for a more
traditional PSU with the fan in back to work with this case.

OTOH, I'm considering completely disassembling two systems and swapping
cases so as to facilitate the 12cm PSU for this system.
To be honest, I just got this system and I'm still deciding what I'm
going to do with it.

I don't know what the suction from this fan does to CPU
cooling, but apparently not much if there's at least 1/2" of space
between the PSU and CPU fans. If space is tight, consider one of those
shorter heatsinks made with either really thin fins that fit closely
together or copper fins.

If I went with the 12cm down fan type PSU in this system there would be
about 1/2" clearance between the SIDE of the CPU HSF and the BOTTOM of
the PSU. In other words, the fans would be at right angles to one
another, not parallel. The CPU fan is pushing air down onto the CPU
heatsink and the PSU fan would be sucking air up from the SIDE of the
CPU heatsink. So I don't know if that's a problem or not. I'm thinking
it might actually help and not hurt.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

larry moe 'n curly wrote:

The NeoHE has received some mixed/mediocre comments from NewEgg users.
Perhaps that was the earlier version and the A3 revision is more reliable?

The A3 redesign is supposed to be one of the newest revisions and
solves the problem of its voltages dropping when certain mobos go into
power-saving mode and don't draw enough power to let older NeoHEs
regulate their voltages properly. This can damage the switching voltage
regulators on mobos by making them overcompensate for the low voltage
(why regulators and PSUs are supposed to have undervoltage as well as
overvoltage protection). Here's a long thread about the Neo's
problems:

www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=970367

I would definitely not buy a NeoHE unless I was guaranteed that a
revision A3 or later unit would be delivered.

Having a fan located within 1/2" of a flat surface can make the noise
level go way up. Maybe gluing a piece of felt on that surface will
help. I've tried 1/2" sponge, but it made no difference with PSUs,
just HDs.