Somethingtodo's PSU roundup

[Joe42]

Just to add a few updates:

Coolermaster now have a 550w version of their brilliant real power series, as well as a 450w, which i am currently the proud owner of.
Both have slient blue led 120mm fans, high efficiency and low heat, as well as a blue led power metre.

www.coolermaster.com

Thermaltake have also released a number of new psu's which look identical to the coolermaster ones, and have a variety of features such as plug-in cables like the antec neo-power. Thermaltake psu's are known to be good and fairly cheap.

www.thermaltake.com

 

[madocks]

rrfrfrfrf

 

[Servo]

Hiper Type R 480W

Taken from the book

+5.........2.0A/32A
+12V1.....0.2A/18A
+12V2.....0.0A/16A
-12.........0.0A/0.8A
+5VSB.....0.0A/2.5A
+3.3........0.4A/28A

Total power of +5 and 3.3 =240W
Total power of 12v1 and 12v2 =350w
Total power of +5 +12 + 3.3 =460w
Max power shall be less than 530w

Just put one in my p4 rig, it replaced the top of the range *cough* Qtec

Its allowed me to o/c my pent4 3 gig prescott to 3.8

Volts and temp running prime95

3.3 = 3.38
12v = 12.10
5v = 5.08

Temps load 41-44 cpu
case 26-28

And its quiet ...

 

[Eliot]

are thermaltake psu's anygood?

 

[MAllen]

Hi Eliot,

Well, from current experience, the Thermaltake "Silent PurePower" 480W (W0100) PSU in my sig seems to be doing a decent enough job. Very quiet and supplying good quality power. I am not only running an A64 from it, but also two SCSI drives, a DVD and CD-RW, lights, spare fans, etc. Seems to be doing a fine old job here.

In my situation it was a "only thing available in town" purchase as I needed a quick answer when my Tagan played up.

+=+=+

As this is the PSU thread I should update my Tagan experience. Seems I had a faulty 12volt P4 connector on mine. Did not find this out until eight months after purchase as my old board didn't need that connector. When I upgraded to the A64 and MSI motherboard in my sig, I had a problem with the PSU. When it was plugged in to the board, and the mains lead plugged in - the whole system immeditaly started. Fans span, but nothing else. No boot sequence. Also the ATX case switch did nothing (including the 20second trick). Only way to stop it was pull the plug. And even then the fans kept spinning until the capacitors drained.

This did not "blow up" or cause any problem to the motherboard. PSU seemed to work on any board without a P4 connector. And it has now been RMA'd back to the supplier who have tested and confirmed the problem. When they return it to me, I will be placing it into this A64/MSI system as I still prefer it over my Thermaltake as it has a meaty 28A on the 12volt rail.

 

[kimandsally]

Thought I'd put my bit in regarding Tagen customer service, it doesn't exist, I have now e mailed all the different departments 7 e mails have gone out in just over 3 weeks not one has been replied to.

Mine doesn't just tick it gets really hot and shuts down after about a hour on being turned on even if I'm just on the internet, it would seem that something is breaking down I darn't leave it on whilst I not with it now.

If I don't get a reply soon I shall call in at Nanopoint with it.

I am a very unhappy customer.

 

[MAllen]

Well - ya must have been unlucky. I was surprised when I not only got a reply within 24 hours, but it was also very detailed. It also offered me a direct RMA, even though I was in the process of dealing with my supplier. The e-mail address involved was [email protected]

The guy who replied wrote in broken english, so be polite to them. And clear as to what your problem is. And you will probally get a quicker answer.

I assume you have already tried talking to the supplier of your PSU?

 

[kimandsally]

Well - ya must have been unlucky. I was surprised when I not only got a reply within 24 hours, but it was also very detailed. It also offered me a direct RMA, even though I was in the process of dealing with my supplier. The e-mail address involved was [email protected]

The guy who replied wrote in broken english, so be polite to them. And clear as to what your problem is. And you will probally get a quicker answer.

I assume you have already tried talking to the supplier of your PSU?

Thanks for your help, I have e mailed the addresses you gave me nanopoint as well, first just a note saying it's ticking and overheating, and asking for advice, then since I have taken the psu out of the computer so it's running on the bench with only the bare essentials it runs for around 45 mis to an hour then cuts out the exhaust temp is 72 degree's C even tried it in another computer with the same results, so on the third week I sent a more detailed just like above, absolutely no response whatsoever.

I shall just take it to Nanopoint when I'm in the area as the shop I bought it from has gone out of business, I just feel cheesed off because it was a great psu and I was jsut going to buy another for my other computer until now I think I'll go for a Enermax I just can't be bothered with companies who give poor support.

 

[phillai]

I recently got the Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN) PSU.
It's so fricking good - It's handle anything!
It's soooo quiet too!
My Gainward Geforce 6800 Ultra on the other hand is soooo noisy when compared to my PSU though...

 

[kimandsally]

I recently got the Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN) PSU.
It's so fricking good - It's handle anything!
It's soooo quiet too!
My Gainward Geforce 6800 Ultra on the other hand is soooo noisy when compared to my PSU though...

I went Enermax also very happy, well worth the money

 

[PaulW]

i'm new to the forum, i need advice on a psu plz

Hi All,

i have been reading through this thread and it has lots of useful info on psus , however SilentX psu are hardly mentioned.

I am looking to buy a Silent psu in the next few days does anyone have any recommendations, originally i was going to get a SilentX 480w psu but they seem very expensive . i also notice some of you have mentioned Enermax Noisetaker the Akasa and the coolermaster real power ones too.

My main criteria is

1) to be as silent as possible
2) to not be that expensive (£70 limit really)
3) to last me at least one more upgrade of my system before i have to buy a new one

If anyone has any real opinions on which one to get i would really appreciate them.

would also like to know if anyone has a silent X psu and how you rate it.

Thanks in advance

Paul

 

[kimandsally]

Hi All,

i have been reading through this thread and it has lots of useful info on psus , however SilentX psu are hardly mentioned.

I am looking to buy a Silent psu in the next few days does anyone have any recommendations, originally i was going to get a SilentX 480w psu but they seem very expensive . i also notice some of you have mentioned Enermax Noisetaker the Akasa and the coolermaster real power ones too.

My main criteria is

1) to be as silent as possible
2) to not be that expensive (£70 limit really)
3) to last me at least one more upgrade of my system before i have to buy a new one

If anyone has any real opinions on which one to get i would really appreciate them.

would also like to know if anyone has a silent X psu and how you rate it.

Thanks in advance

Paul

Hi I have had a Silenx Ixtema 400 and honestly they are not silent the Tagen blows it away.
Now here's the bad bit I've had one of those and it was a ticker, unfortunately not from OcUK as they have a arrangement with Tagen a swapout service.

So I've had Silenx, Enermax, Tagen, Antec, and the dreaded QTec.

The quietest by far is the Tagen followed by the Silenx which runs hot, then the Enermax Antec and last the QTec.

I'm back with 2x Tagen 480's both from OcUK so if there comes a problem it will just be a swapout.

The Tagen is extremely quiet, very heavy, masses of cables, and about as stable as you get the only one more stable was the Enermax 701 600watts.

Hope this helps as you can imagine I would not recommend Tagen if they were not the best I had an awfull problem with the ticker because I didn't buy from OcUK I ended up throwing it away.

 

[MAllen]

My Tagan - both of them - have both been incredibly quiet. I currently am using a Thermaltake which is also very quiet.

Just go a-hunting for that Decibel rating. If they aren't boasting about it, then don't bother with that PSU.

For the record, the Thermaltake claims 17dB and the Tagan 21dB. Both of them throttle the PSU back when the full power is not needed, so when surfing the net it is even quieter than normal.

When I first assembled my PC, I turned it on without the hard drives plugged in. And I could not hear it!! The only reason I knew it was on was seeing the fans were moving.

(As an aside... any quiet component in my PC is fighting a loosing battle once the 10,000rpm SCSIs start winding up to speed.....)

 

[manveruppd]

Can't reccomend my Neopower if silence is paramount: it's quieter than most 2-fan PSUs but not as quiet as other single-fans I've had the chance to compare it to. It also runs pretty hot. The Akasas on sale here are supposed to be as close as you can get unless you're willing to splash out for the Zalman fanless one.

 

[Joe42]

Coolermaster Realpower for silence.
I've got the 450w version and i have never heard it make any noise.
Even with all my case fans off, i cannot hear it. It is completely silent.
If you load it up a lot or it gets very hot, it will probably make a very small amount of noise, as it uses a 120mm coolermaster fan, and they do make a noise when going full speed.
Having a number of coolermaster 120mm fans in my case, i can compare them to the fan in the psu, and i can tell that the fan in the psu goes very slowly. It also has blue leds and included a watt metre, which tells me i'm using about 200w max, so i can say that under that load its completely silent.
Its also rated by toms hardware as being one of the most efficient psu's around.
Highly Recomended
One of OCUK's competitors does them for under £70, i think about £60

 

[PaulW]

think im going to go for a Targen psu

OK thanks guys

i think im going to go with a Targen as its has a lot more connectors and its on the week only on OCUK which is great . i haven't recieved any negative comments about the targen's on this thread so i think their the ones for me.

thanks all for your comments

Paul

 

[kimandsally]

OK thanks guys

i think im going to go with a Targen as its has a lot more connectors and its on the week only on OCUK which is great . i haven't recieved any negative comments about the targen's on this thread so i think their the ones for me.

thanks all for your comments

Paul

Do make sure you buy from OcUK to get the advantage of their special warranty arrangement then you should be fine if the worst happens.

Have a look at the tg480 u22 as well as that has 2x12v rails so is more futureproof

 

[PaulW]

ok thx it is rather expensive,

but could you tell me why 2x12v rails are needed in the future, sorry to sound dumb but i dont upgrade very oftern and have become unfamilier with the latest hardware advances

Cheers

Paul

 

[kimandsally]

ok thx it is rather expensive,

but could you tell me why 2x12v rails are needed in the future, sorry to sound dumb but i dont upgrade very oftern and have become unfamilier with the latest hardware advances

Cheers

Paul

I was hoping you wouldn't ask that because I don't know, it's something to do with the new motherboards needing a separate 12v supply for the cpu ( I think)

I don't think you would be dissapointed by the tg480uo1 as it's basically the same as the u22 other than it gives 2 more amps on the 12v rail and has an option of 2 separate 12v rails.

I have had a uo1 which was excellent apart from it was a ticker which they have now sorted out, I bought a u22 on saturday it doesn't tick and is relatively stable, the 12v rail varies by around 0.1v which is well within the spec, on my motherboard the smart gaurdian motherboard monitor shows the 12v as 11.77v but that is a problem with the software as I have measured the voltages with a quality multimeter and the 12v is 12.01v which is as good as you'll ever get 1/100th of a volt over is the best I've ever seen.

Don't forget the this weeks offer ends today, place your order and I'm sure you will be a happy customer.

 

[PaulW]

ok thx

does anyone know why you need a seprate 12v rails

i have a few hours before i buy from OC's

thanks

paul