Cheap power supply in my new iBUYPOWER Supreme TG931SLC

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supyo

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Bought an ibuypower system that was on sale for a really good price (ordered through tigerdirect.ca). So far i'm liking it but the cheap 500W Apex/Allied AL-D500EXP power supply has me nervous.

This power supply is manufactured by the same people who made the crappy DEER PSU's years ago. Should I ditch it and buy something better? Have Apex/Allied PSU's gotten better over the years?

Its currently powering:

Core i7 3770 on a ASRock B75M-DGS motherboard
16GB DDR3
Radeon 7850
1-120GB ADATA SSD
1-2TB Seagate HDD
1-1TB Seagate HDD

Your thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Well... I would certainly be glad to be rid of that thing ..on the other hand since it is a prebuilt system what does ibuypower have to say about warranty if you make such a swap?

kind of a possibly amusing dilemma... as you are more likely to need the warranty (and or fire dept :rolleyes:) with that psu installed..but you may well lose your warranty if you swap it???
 
atarione has a good point. I wouldn't worry about it until your warranty is up and then I'd replace it with some quality.
 
Well, it's probably already supplying dirty power to your rig as it is, as these PSUs are trash. After a while stuff will fail, and you'll have to send the PC back, and they'll probably replace any broken components but not the PSU (unless that goes under first). I'd just contact the PC manufacturer to ask if it is ok for you to replace the PSU. Stuff like your SSD and hard drives are vulnerable to dirty DC power, so you have to take care backing up important data.
 
supyo said:
what do you guys think of this one: http://otvtech.com/catalogue?page=s...ge_stock.tpl&product_id=13683&category_id=531
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Okay, but you don't really need anywhere close to 750W on the PSU for that rig. In addition, the NAXN 82+ series PSUs are not true Enermax PSUs at all (despite the Enermax branding); rather, they are manufactured by Highpower/Sirfa for Enermax.

By the way, that Apex "500W" PSU realistically cannot handle even 250W without damaging some or all of the other components of that PC.
 
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E4g1e said:
Okay, but you don't really need anywhere close to 750W on the PSU for that rig. In addition, the NAXN 82+ series PSUs are not true Enermax PSUs at all (despite the Enermax branding); rather, they are manufactured by Highpower/Sirfa for Enermax.

By the way, that Apex "500W" PSU realistically cannot handle even 250W without damaging some or all of the other components of that PC.
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Thanks for the advice you guys. Here's what an ibuypower tech rep had to say. Doesn't really reassure me all that much.

The apex PSUs have gotten a lot better.

the main thing that we've done to at least help improve reliability is to force a "true wattage" standard with the vendors. A lot of cheap power supply makers realized that (for example) their 400W unit could easily push 500W without dying, so they re-stickered it and bumped up the price a little.

first off, we requested that we get the power supplies at their original specc'd wattage, and we also tested them at their full capacity and made sure that the voltages stayed constant. For example, on a power supply that is over-running it's spec, you will start to see the 12V rail producing less than 12V, which is bad.


all that being said, they are still cheap power supplies. The problem with them is not that they are all bad, I know people who've been using the "standard" psus in their machines for years without issues, but that the chance of getting a "bad egg" are much higher than with a name brand, since I guess they spend less time on their QC. ibuypower only burns the pc for a few hours, and a of times thats not enough to trigger problems with the psu.

For warranty concerns I recommend replacing the PSU around 1 year after owning the machine, I'd keep $50 in your back pocket for a replacement PSU in csae that one goes belly up. and if you EVER upgrade the video card, plan on upgrading the psu as well.
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supyo said:
Thanks for the advice you guys. Here's what an ibuypower tech rep had to say. Doesn't really reassure me all that much.
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Yep, not reassuring. Also doesn't answer whether you still have a warranty or not on the rest of the system if you do replace the power supply.

I'd contact them again and try to get a definite answer to that. If you replacing the power supply does not affect the warranty, get a new one. And like others here mention, no need to spend $90 on that overpowered Enermax (not made by them) that you linked before.

If it does affect the warranty, will have to decide whether or not you want to be "fully covered" if one of the system components goes up in smoke when that POS supply fails. I'd personally look at supply prices closer to the end of the warranty time if that's the case and have a new, quality on hand to install the day after your warranty expires.

Looking at that web site you linked, looks like you are in Canada. A quality supply around 500W should be more than enough for what you have in that system. A couple of options recommended by others in the past (I could find others, but I don't have all night ;)):

XFX Pro 550W Core Edition (made by Seasonic)

Antec Earthwatts EA-500 Green (made by Delta)

I'm sure other people can chip in with reliable choices in a similar price range or lower ($69 Canadian) as well.

DirectCanada is the "discount outlet" of NCIX.ca (those models are more expensive there) and offers free shipping across the country with purchases over $50.
 
well, I ended up buying the 750W Enermax. I had a $50 gift card so it only cost me $45. Overkill for this system but at least I have some peace of mind now.

It was a cinch to install and is much cleaner than that ugly Apex. Thanks for the replies and for motivating me to replace it.

edit: in Aida64 12V was reading 11.82 on the Apex, With the Enermax it now reads 12.25V :)
 
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(shakes fist at info left out) ;). If you had said that you were intending to buy there due to the gift certificate, could have recommended better ones for $90 CND that that shop carries.

That "Enermax" is far from the best you could get for that money. At least it received an average "Pass" from the review here, as opposed to a fail. Hope it works well for you.
 
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Fritingo said:
(shakes fist at info left out) ;) If you had said that you were intending to buy there due to the gift certificate, could have recommended better ones for $90 CND that that shop carries.

That "Enermax" is far from the best you could get for that money. At least it received an average "Pass" from the review here, as opposed to a fail.
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I have to admit I kind of rushed this and only did an hour of research before deciding I was going to buy the Enermax. At least its better than the crap that was in this system before.

I suppose I could take it back but I can live with this PSU.
 
Looking at reviews the power supply you got, while true it isn't a REAL Enermax PSU, you did get a quality unit. Efficiency is above 80% at full 750 watt load (which you'll never use that much anyways) and build quality looks pretty decent.

Could you have done BETTER for the price? Sure. However, you have a good product. No worries.
 
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