Brands?

[faring]

I'm woefully out of touch on the state of PSUs. Both my boxes are running on ~4 year old Antecs, which are still doing fine, but I'm getting tired of having this rat's nest of power adapters that grows every time I change out a piece of gear. Thinking of upgrading at least to something with all the modern connections, probably a modular for a bit of future-proofing. I don't mind doing the research on particular models, just need a starting point. So what's the current low-down on PSU brands to look for and/or avoid?

 

[{NG}Fidel]

Antec is good. Seasonic is good, XFX seems to be ok so far from the reviews I have seen. PC Power and cooling is good too.

 

[rsgunter]

Just check Hardocp (duh).

 

[Tsumi]

Check Hardocp. Many manufacturers have both good lines and crap lines. Antec and OCZ are two examples of this. Others have decent lines and good lines, like Corsair. Seasonic, Silverstone, Enermax, and Sparkle (the graphics card company) also have good power supplies, but as I said, it comes down to the model, and you can't judge based on brand.

 

[Spooony]

^sparkle or sapphire? Sapphire got some good ones out as well. Rebranded Enermax units. Sentey also released a good one in the 850w Golden Steel Unit

 

[evilcartman]

Seasonic and Corsair are good bets when it comes to PSUs. I've had 2 Seasonics and they both have been great. I only replaced my first one because I wanted some more headroom for my new build.

 

[Menelmarar]

I love my modular its nice, for eliminating unnecessary cabling that potentially blocks airflow and looks rat-nestish, but it's not critical, and it does nothing for future-proofing. Prior to my modular, I bundled and shoved the excess on top of the 5.25" optical drive. Out of sight, out of airflow, solved.

Enermax, is my fave, been around for ages, almost the only company who do their own designs, lots of innovation, they have an incredible track record for quality.

PC power and cooling also have an incredible track record top quality., but most use 80mm fans, which have potential for being audibly noiser, 120-140mm fan would be a major prerequisite for me.

Corsair is my number 2 pick. jumped in a few years ago, rebrands third-party designs but have proven themselves. Specifies very high quality power supplies to be build for them.

Most online reviews of PSU's are junk, HardOCP, PCPer, and JonnyGuru do good through reviews of power supplies. I'd try to make sure you find a review of the specific model your interested in.

 

[magoo]

Honestly, there are a good number of suppliers of good PSUs. Read [H] or JonnyGuru for reviews of your choices.

My first choice however is Corsair, hands down.

All of my computers are powered by Corsair and all are modular designs.....620HX,850HX, and the 1200AX......they are all highly rated and built to very tight specs....of course, some OEM makes the supplies for Corsair.

If you don't neeed modular, the TX line is excellent, I have a couple of those as well. Currently one TX750 and one TX850. These have recently been revised to Rev 2.0.

You can find good PSUs from other companies, but the Corsair service is what stands out. There is generally never an issue about RMA and turn-around is less than a week, with most of the work handled on-line. I broke a connector on my AX 1200 about a week ago.....sent in a inquiry, and this week received a little package with a brand new cable in it, no questions asked, except for the serial number of my unit........awesome customer service.

I've used PC P&C in the past faithfully, but the 80mm fans just are way too loud, and they don't have any modular units.

 

[faring]

Thanks guys, this gives me some good info.

I love my modular its nice, for eliminating unnecessary cabling that potentially blocks airflow and looks rat-nestish, but it's not critical, and it does nothing for future-proofing. Prior to my modular, I bundled and shoved the excess on top of the 5.25" optical drive. Out of sight, out of airflow, solved.

I had assumed that with the modulars I'd just be able to buy a new cable when a new connector comes out (say if the PCIE connector grows to 10 pins with the next generation). If that's not the case I may as well just keep buying molex-to-whatever adapters.

 

[Menelmarar]

Thanks guys, this gives me some good info.


I had assumed that with the modulars I'd just be able to buy a new cable when a new connector comes out (say if the PCIE connector grows to 10 pins with the next generation). If that's not the case I may as well just keep buying molex-to-whatever adapters.

It's not the case, you pretty much get the cable set it comes with, any future support is huge. Every manufacturer uses a different cable to PSU interface, and I'm not even sure each manufacturer sticks to one standard generation to generation of their power supplies.

It would be totally upto luck that down the road, that a manufacturer releases a new model power supply with new power connector standard that just happen to use the same PSU interface connectors compatible with your old PSU. And out of goodwill you can talk one of their support guys into sending you one of the new cable assemblies.

 

[NeoMatriX724]

SeaSonic hands down...Quiet, efficient, and solid overall (as long as you get one of their higher end models). If I remember correctly, Corsair uses them as one of their OEM builders.