Requesting power supply recomendation

[Sam]

I am trying to piece together a decent P4 based computer and I am not
sure which power supply to buy. I have read various reviews and they
seem to concentrate on which PSU's are good for AMD chips due to
output on various voltage rails.

I would like to hear people's opinion on which power supply I should
buy. I would like to keep the price down as much as possible too.

Here is what will be in the machine:
ABIT IS7 Motherboard
Intel P4 2.4C
Nvidia GeForceFX5900 128mb
CDROM
CDRW
40 GB 5400rpm hard drive
80 GB 7200rpm hard drive

I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Chris Simpson]

An Antech 400 should work for you... They cost alot of $$$$ but are
worth it...

 

[WooduCoodu]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/index.php

look in the recommened section there. if i were getting a new PSU today i'd
go with either the seasonic super silencer or super tornado. if the PSUs
listed are too expensive keep in mind that many of the other quiet PSUs
listed (Nexus, Zalman, Silenx, etc...) are actually just slightly modified
(different fan and maybe different fan controller) versions of Fortron PSUs,
which can be had for much cheaper.

here's a good review to check for other PSUs.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841

 

[Timothy Daniels]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/index.php

look in the recommened section there. if i were getting a new PSU today i'd
go with either the seasonic super silencer or super tornado. if the PSUs
listed are too expensive keep in mind that many of the other quiet PSUs
listed (Nexus, Zalman, Silenx, etc...) are actually just slightly modified
(different fan and maybe different fan controller) versions of Fortron PSUs,
which can be had for much cheaper.

here's a good review to check for other PSUs.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841

Facinating links. I wonder how much of the flipped memory
bits in the AnandTech review might be due to poor filtering
of the output rather than poor cable shielding.


*TimDaniels

 

[DaveW]

Buy an Antec PS. It's one of the heaviest duty well-built one's available.

 

[Guest]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/index.php

look in the recommened section there.

One of the rare web sites with fairly well done power supply reviews.
I only wish they would intentionally overload the supplies to test
their protection circuitry.

here's a good review to check for other PSUs.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1841

Very bad reviews, useless for anything but noise measurements, with no
full-load testing done.

 

[Sam]

Thanks a lot for all the replies! Hopefully once I get a chance to
look through all these PSU's I will be purchasing something soon.

Thanks again.

 

[Phisherman]

Antec power supplies are a safe bet. Yet, all the computer shows I've
attended all the vendors had weird off-brand power supplies.
Selecting a proper power supply is more confusing than expected, but
this is one area not to skimp! A bad power supply can cause all
kinds of strange behavior that can troubleshooting a major challenge.

 

[Fleabus]

I am trying to piece together a decent P4 based computer and I am not
sure which power supply to buy. I have read various reviews and they
seem to concentrate on which PSU's are good for AMD chips due to
output on various voltage rails.

I would like to hear people's opinion on which power supply I should
buy. I would like to keep the price down as much as possible too.

Here is what will be in the machine:
ABIT IS7 Motherboard
Intel P4 2.4C
Nvidia GeForceFX5900 128mb
CDROM
CDRW
40 GB 5400rpm hard drive
80 GB 7200rpm hard drive

I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

Hi:

http://www.enermax.com.tw/eg651p-ve-fma.htm

This is what I use. The second (back) fan being manually adjustable is
a nice touch.

Asus P4T533-C s478/i850e
P4 2.8GHz/533MHz FSB retail
1GB (4x256MB) OCZ PC1066 RIMMs
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB AGP retail
Toshiba SD-M1612 DVD-ROM
Plextor PX-W4012TA CD-R/RW
Promise Ultra133 TX2 PCI controller card
2x 80GB Maxtor D740x 7200RPM ATA-133 HDDs
TerraTec DMX 6fire LT sound card
etc

Happy trails,

 

[Sam]

I received an email pertaining to this thread. I thought I would post
it here (with permission of the author of course) for the good of
anyone else who might come across this thread. Here it is:

--------------------------------------------------

A high quality 350W power supply is all you need, and it's much, much
better to use a high quality 350W than a low quality 400W or even
500W.
Since this motherboard runs the CPU from the +5V rail (onboard
regulator
reduces this down to the core voltage), you don't need a high amp
rating
for the +12V line. For motherboards that contain a square 4-pin
connector
(or, in the case of some Asus models, a disk drive power connector),
you
need a +12V capacity of at least 15A because not only do the disk
drive
motors depend on this voltage, but so will the CPU, drawing 5-10A from
it.

Advertised power ratings cannot be trusted because companies vary
greatly in how liberal or conservative they are with them.

Some first rate brands of power supplies include:

FSP: Fortron, Source, Powerman, Sparkle, Hi-Q, Trend, Aopen
Antec TruePower
Zippy-Emacs
Delta: makes many OEM supplies, including Acer
PC Power & Cooling: some made by Zippy, others by FSP
Lite-On: the LED and CD drive maker
NMB: The ball bearing, fan, and keyboard maker

The "definitely avoid" list includes:

A+GPB

Deer: Logic, Mustang, Austin, Eagle, L&C, Codegen, Allied, Foxconn,
et al

Leadman: Powmax, Raidmax, Robanton. Actually the best of the worst
brands

www.newegg.com and www.directron.com sell 350W Fortron or Sparkle
supplies
for only $27-40, and there is rarely a need for anything else. If
you're especially
interested in low noise, check their single 120mm fan models.

Beware that there's a huge amount of misinformation on the web about
power
supplies, and 98% of the reviews are worthless, except for noise
measurements
and judgments, because they make no power or amp measurements and
actually test with only light loads of 200-300W. One of the few sites
that tests
power supplies properly is www.silentpcreview.com, but they rarely
cover
mainstream supplies, unless rated for at least 400W, because they're
interested
mostly in quiet operation.

 

[Guest]

Antec power supplies are a safe bet.

At least their True Powers are. Other safe bets are Fortron and
Sparkle, which are also slightly cheaper and, at least for their 120mm
fan models, quieter.

Yet, all the computer shows I've attended all the vendors had
weird off-brand power supplies. Selecting a proper power supply
is more confusing than expected, but this is one area not to skimp!
A bad power supply can cause all kinds of strange behavior that can
troubleshooting a major challenge.

People also shouldn't put much faith in claims about reliability (MTBF
always seems to be either 50,000 or 100,000 hours and is probably
rarely based on actual testing), protective features (they're always
included but don't always work well enough in the cheaper supplies),
or power ratings (some of the better 300W supplies can put out more
power than some cheap 450W products).

 

[alvin york]

Hey Sam!

Who was the author of the e-mail you quoted with his/her permission?

 

[Sam]

I was allowed to post the email on the condition that I not post their
address. Sorry.

 

[alvin york]

I was allowed to post the email on the condition that I not post their
address. Sorry.

Quoting an unnamed "reliable" source is the same very annoying practice that
news media do all the time.

I find it difficult to accept any information from a source who does not
wish to be identified.

A source who chooses not to identify himself/herself obviously does not want
anyone to have the opportunity to challenge his/her opinions.

 

[Sam]

I only posted what was in the email to me. I did not try to deceive
anyone and I thought I posted it for what it was: an email I received
pertaining to the message. You have no obligation to accept any of
the information posted here or anywhere. I understand that the lack
of a listed source can take away from the credibility of a post, but
how credible is an email address of any other post?

Also, I do not see how the source has taken away the ability to
challenge their opinions. The thread is not closed so people are free
to dispute the message if they would like to. Please continue to post
comments on all of the messages. It will benefit us all.