$50 Power Supply Roundup

spend the extra $20-30 and get the corsair. they are great.
 
jon67 said:
The Seasonic S12-II 330W is just 59.99 at NewEgg, imo a much better choice than any of the units tested in this roundup.
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Anyone using one of these? I've been eyeing it to replace this POS compaq PSU I have (only 250W and handles the system fine so I don't need much power but, i don't like using it on my main rig)
 
i have 3 corsairs. 450vx, 520hx and 620hx smooth as silk. with various asus motherboards and core2dual and core2 quad.
on my old p4 i have a zalman psu. it is very reliable and cool running but it is old school 80mm fan
 
Great review guys thanks!!
I love good thouough power supply reviews.

I imagine you start seeing the better stuff around $100 and I'd love to see you guys do some tests in that range.
 
9mmx19 said:
Nice article. Im one of those people that still doesnt think too much about PSUs. Ive been using crappy ones forever and am not really convinced I need to change that. The reason is Im cheap so the price limit was a nice way to get me reading at least. :D

BTW FSP is the same as Sparkle Power right? I remember reading that somewhere.
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Someday when you lose a mainboard or a graphics card, or a hard disk, you'll realize that being cheap got you what you paid for. And when it happens, I will not feel sorry for you.

I've seen cheap PSU's take out multiple parts in a system before. I've seen capacitors blow on substandard units, seen sparks fly and scorch marks follow. And I've seen milder situations, where people "just couldn't understand why their system wasn't stable under load, or rebooted when playing their favorite game for 5-10 minutes; those issues can cause damage that occurs over time. Gambling with cheap power supplies is playing Russian roulette with the rest of your system. You probably paid good money for your other components; isn't it worth a few extra bucks to provide insurance for them in the form of a good power supply?

Finally, FSP stands for Fortron Sparkle Power. So yes, you are correct.
 
jonnyGURU said:
None. The UK version is also 230V only. Higher voltage means lower amperage. Lower amperage allows for cheaper parts to be used on the AC input of the PSU to incorporate PFC. At 115V input, your amperage is doubled and the components required to sustain that high of an amperage is about 50% greater.
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Please for the love of God! Say current instead of "amperage".
 
purplepencil said:
Please for the love of God! Say current instead of "amperage".
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:p :p :p

Seriously though, for the sake of dumbing things down. Components are rated in the amount of AMPERAGE they can handle. But sure, when you talk about it in the context I'm talking about it in you should actually say current.
 
IMO best buy on the planet at this point in time for any computer running any kind of OC at all and excluding super top end machines with quads and SLI/Xfire

Check the warranty. ;)
http://www.corsairmicro.com/products/vx.aspx


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

I gush more here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1229008

I looked at EVERY sub $$120 dollar supply on the egg with microscopic attention to rated power, etc. (of course I could not actually test them). and read every review on every one I could find that was not a "I installed it and hooked stuff up and it worked great so buy this one Bullshit review".

There are a couple of decent $50ish ones but if you are even thinking of OCIng and running a top end video card you are just asking for trouble.



Bah, Coulombs, now thats the ticket.
 
jonnyGURU said:
:p :p :p

Seriously though, for the sake of dumbing things down. Components are rated in the amount of AMPERAGE they can handle. But sure, when you talk about it in the context I'm talking about it in you should actually say current.
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Sorry to keep harking on about this, but....

Since when are any components rated in amperage? If we look at the datasheet for the venerable LM741 opamp:

http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM741.pdf

Then we see numerous references to current, but no mention of amperage - "Supply Current", "Output Short Circuit Current" etc.

I used to live in the UK, now living in Australia, and everything I've ever experienced was in current. Is this really different in the US? Maybe this is similar to the metric/imperial distinction. Or perhaps this is the way things are going unfortunately :( 'Potential Difference' became voltage a long time ago, I just hope we can hang on to current!

Dave
 
Wow. If you're THAT semantic sensitive, how do you not shit blood? :p

A rectifier is rated in AMPS, A diode is rated in AMPS. THAT is what I'm talking about and you know it.
 
I'm an electronic engineer (not a young one either) and I've not heard the term amperage used over here in England by any professionals.
Components over here are rated in amps and current flow but not amperage.
 
jonnyGURU said:
Wow. If you're THAT semantic sensitive, how do you not shit blood? :p

A rectifier is rated in AMPS, A diode is rated in AMPS. THAT is what I'm talking about and you know it.
Click to expand...

And amps is the unit of current:

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/units.html


I had a look for 'amperage on Google and plenty of links came up, apparently it's a perfectly legitimate term in the US. Wikipedia redirects to a page on "Electric Current". Personally, the term just really grates on my nerves.

Sorry to get so off-topic everyone else. To be more on-topic; Spend a little more than $50 on your power supply, you'll be glad you did.


Dave
 
Good shit, one of the best articles you guys have written. "anyone serious about gaming, overclocking, or other taxing requirements would best be served by increasing their budget."
Some people still dont understand that.
 
i refer to amperage alot out of all the ratings of the psu becuase it seems that most of the psu rating is now dedicated to total amps on the 12v rail and thats what matters most today. so if someone says to me I need a good 550 watt psu, rattle says this psu has 41 amps on the 12v rail totaling 492 watts oh and its a corsair 550. I the total wattage rating means almost nothing to me.
 
Rattle said:
i refer to amperage alot out of all the ratings of the psu becuase it seems that most of the psu rating is now dedicated to total amps on the 12v rail and thats what matters most today. so if someone says to me I need a good 550 watt psu, rattle says this psu has 41 amps on the 12v rail totaling 492 watts oh and its a corsair 550. I the total wattage rating means almost nothing to me.
Click to expand...

well if the psu is rated 500w but puts out say 220 watts on the 5v + 3.3v rails, then you're left with 280watts on the 12v rail, meaning roughly 24 amps... and that's MAX rating, which we all know most PSUs don't like staying at.

so... you're right... it comes down to the amperage rating on the 12v rail... unless you have tons of hard drives, then the 5v rail is also important i believe.
 
When I started building custom pc's back in the late 90's, I could've really
used this review. I love the load tests...very revealing.

After trying several OEM power supplies in machines that were being used
for 3D and gaming, I came to settle on Sparkle power supplies. Back then,
they had the lowest failure/return rates...in systems that were properly cooled.
I just realized they're still in business, but they don't really seem to have much
of a presence in the general consumer/retail market.

I hope you continue to ADD to the review with some sort of an update a few months
from now. I know you can't probably do an exhaustive review, but a review with 8-10
psu's would be: 1) Awesome; and 2) great for generating traffic to the site; and
3) did I say Awesome? :)

Thanks.
 
This article isn't nearly long enough to completely evaluate 5 value PS's. Could you please do a followup article to help describe the differences in the opacity of the molex connector and detail any differences in the screws?

.......
 
postcolonial said:
When I started building custom pc's back in the late 90's, I could've really
used this review. I love the load tests...very revealing.

After trying several OEM power supplies in machines that were being used
for 3D and gaming, I came to settle on Sparkle power supplies.
Click to expand...


You can still buy them, but they're mostly sold on the consumer market as FSP. And yes, they're still very dependable units. My PSU of choice for basic-machine (office, point-of-sale lane PC, etc.) has been the FSP Blue Storm 400-watt. The egg sells them for $50. I've been very pleased with the reliability, I have yet to have a Blue Storm fail in the field. Beefier workstations and entry-level servers get Seasonic M12's. This is working out well for our two-man IT shop...we don't like angry end-users. :)

Todd in Cheesecurdistan
 
What about "Ultra" PSU's?

i have an 500watt X-connect that cost me less than 50 clams and the Quality and Performance is awesome.
Even on the V-Series the PSU are High Quality and great performance.
why is Ultra always overlooked?
 
pairdice said:
What about "Ultra" PSU's?

i have an 500watt X-connect that cost me less than 50 clams and the Quality and Performance is awesome.
Even on the V-Series the PSU are High Quality and great performance.
why is Ultra always overlooked?
Click to expand...

I think the BIG reason here is that Paul pulled all of the units from Newegg and Newegg doesn't sell Ultra.
 
Paul_Johnson said:
We are constantly evaluating what would make good content so it is possible we could do something under or over $50 in the future.
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I would LOVE to see you continue this trest series with a "phase 2" test, and so on. It is my lot in life to produce lots of workstations with a <100w cpu, decent (but not REAL hungry) video card, a small local disk and a dvd reader. I can live with a 400w psu and I expect to be able to find them in the range of this review.

But, I want to digress for a moment. I've visited [H] for years and never felt I wasted my time. Turns out that's not that easy to acheive. I offer up, as an example, Overclockers.coxxx. Great name. At one time, great and helpful content. For years now, full of anti-p2p stuff and amd update news. No longer anything to do with the name or original approach. I don't spend 5 minutes a week there. Somehow, they lost their focus. Lots of other examples..

So, retaining the focus while evoloving turns out to be damn hard to do. Few places I know have done it as well as [H] I guess this is because of Kyle. Whatever the source, I know that when I come to [H] I'm gonna get "news you can use" I'm gonna read reviews that are relevant to my needs, that ask the questions I want asked, that measure things in ways that quantify performance differences I will actually see and help me make good buying choices. I don't know how much more I could ask, especially for free. Here's the executive summary: [H] has made me money.

So, I've watched the psu reviews. They are completely within the [H] tradition of "news you can use" Real world focus. Objective, authoritative, transparent, helpful. These new PSU reviews are pretty much like every video card and mb review I ever read, here. I do give a nod to JonnyGuru and his use of GREAT testing methodolgies and repeatable, template results measurement. With any luck, he will have changed PSU testing in many forums on the inertnet. (Also, with any luck, he will loose that current "BeaverLove" bullshit that makes me want to spew. Anybody who wants a cute psu review raise your hand...anybody...anybody...) Which reminds me that PJ's reviews were well written from the start and are getting even better.

Hoookay. Which brings me to a couple little suggestions.
1. In the "ongoing saga" of $50 psu's I hope you begin, please check HEC and Fortran. I can get 400 watt or so, psu's of these models shipped to my door under $50 anytime. I've had great results with about a 50 unit sample size. If they're dogs, save me!
2. Please list the weight of the psu's you test. I still heft 'em up and think better of the heavier ones. Best I remember, ALL the I never see the weight listed in many reviews and I'd sure like to.
3. Any way you could examine psu mfg warranty support? No one does and I usually just throw them away. But, as I migrate to better psu's, I'm wondering whether the mfg support is more like, well, XFX or BFG. It would be a factor in my choice. It's also something you guys do really well when you do it.
4. Can you please place the physical dimensions in an easy to read spot? As I am encountering so many that flirt with 200mm depth, I'm always looking for this.
4. Could you offer up a summary "recommended PSU" list like JG's old one? That was very helpful to me and saved LOTS of time and guessing.

So, thanks VERY MUCH for a a review series that has quickly become one of my favorites on [H]
 
I hadn't seen the first link, thanks, looks interesting. Your second link is the one I was referring to; it's been VERY helpful to me.
 
Hi All, first post - be gentle please!

I read this article with interest, as I have a Hiper Type R 480w, bought in the UK a couple of years ago. Was surprised to see it do so badly as I'd researched it fairly carefully before buying it and it had a decent review at NordicHardware, a site that tests PSUs to their full load (though doesn't test them at higher temperatures).

In short, this isn't the same product that launched in Europe under the 480w Type R name a few years ago. In some ways it's been updated - there's now a 6 pin PCI-E connector for example. Obviously they've kept the literature from the old model, hence the lack of mention for the PCI-E connector.

Some things in this revision definitely have changed for the worse. The two 12v rails combined give 34a on the old model for instance. The main difference seems to be that the earlier revision did what it said on the box - 480w sustained or 530w peak. Hiper launched a few very good PSUs a few years ago and built a decent reputation in europe. Unfortunately, they've seem to have been undermining that reputation since then. I've heard some horror stories about the modular 580w Type R.

Here's the nordic hardware review: http://www.nordichardware.com/Reviews/?page=4&skrivelse=364 . A couple of other sites gave it good reviews at the time but they were of the usual 'put it in a PC and see if it works' variety, so can be discounted.
 
Tivon said:
50$ PSU, If NOT Stolen, Probably = BOOM! :p
Click to expand...
Here are the PSUs I've bought over the past four years:

300W Antec (w/ case) $5
350W Antec $0.00
350W Antec (w/ case) $5
300W Delta $10
400W Ultra V-series $0.00
500W Antec SmartPower $5
500W Antec Basiq $5
350W Enermax (w/ case) $10
300W MaxPower/Key Mouse (w/ case) $0.00

Only the last one is a true piece of junk, although I expect all the Antecs but the Basiq to fail early because of bad capacitors.
 
larrymoencurly said:
Here are the PSUs I've bought over the past four years:

300W Antec (w/ case) $5
350W Antec $0.00
350W Antec (w/ case) $5
300W Delta $10
400W Ultra V-series $0.00
500W Antec SmartPower $5
500W Antec Basiq $5
350W Enermax (w/ case) $10
300W MaxPower/Key Mouse (w/ case) $0.00

Only the last one is a true piece of junk, although I expect all the Antecs but the Basiq to fail early because of bad capacitors.
Click to expand...

By that reasoning I'd toss the bad cap Antecs in there so thats 4 more bad ones.
 
You unit could indeed have a different revision or even a different unit altogether as we noted in the review the unit was a bit ambigouisly labeled.


ear8dmg said:
Hi All, first post - be gentle please!

I read this article with interest, as I have a Hiper Type R 480w, bought in the UK a couple of years ago. Was surprised to see it do so badly as I'd researched it fairly carefully before buying it and it had a decent review at NordicHardware, a site that tests PSUs to their full load (though doesn't test them at higher temperatures).

In short, this isn't the same product that launched in Europe under the 480w Type R name a few years ago. In some ways it's been updated - there's now a 6 pin PCI-E connector for example. Obviously they've kept the literature from the old model, hence the lack of mention for the PCI-E connector.

Some things in this revision definitely have changed for the worse. The two 12v rails combined give 34a on the old model for instance. The main difference seems to be that the earlier revision did what it said on the box - 480w sustained or 530w peak. Hiper launched a few very good PSUs a few years ago and built a decent reputation in europe. Unfortunately, they've seem to have been undermining that reputation since then. I've heard some horror stories about the modular 580w Type R.

Here's the nordic hardware review: http://www.nordichardware.com/Reviews/?page=4&skrivelse=364 . A couple of other sites gave it good reviews at the time but they were of the usual 'put it in a PC and see if it works' variety, so can be discounted.
Click to expand...
 
Paul Johnson:

Do you think it makes sense for you to list the weight and dimensions of the psu, maybe near the table you publish of the cable connectors?
 
ickywu said:
Paul Johnson:

Do you think it makes sense for you to list the weight and dimensions of the psu, maybe near the table you publish of the cable connectors?
Click to expand...

Not really. The length is already given and the width and height are governed by the ATX12v specifications. The weight is fairly meaningless in this day when you can have a 20lb Koolance/CWT and a 2lb FSP Epsilon with the same charecteristics.
 
As far as the length, I guess I'm just lazy. Seems like whenever I need the number I've got to screw around to find it. It would be great to have it in the same place all the time.

Paul, do I understand you right that you don't see psu weight as a useful consideration any longer? Wow. Do you see big fans or push-pull arrangements (or just whatever type of more efficient cooling) as obsoleting big hunkin' heatsinks? That's a shock and it's hard to leave old habits behind. When I think 2 pounds I think PowMax and leaky caps, you know?
 
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