Good $100 PSU's

D

DarkLegacy

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http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=868586

That situatuion is currently leading me into purchasing a new PSU. Mostly to see if that was the problem to begin with, & one that will supply me with enough power if I decide to get a much better videoo card down the road/ Referring to a 6800GT at the moment. Im using the Antec Smartblue 350W PSU at the moment & from what I hear, it may not supply enough power t oboot my system. People who used PSU's with there MSI K8N NEO plats can defitnly recommend what they used, or currently using. This is what I currently have.

MSI Neo Platinum
AMD 64 3200+
Corsair XMS PC3200PT 512mb (May sell this if this is causing the problems)
WD 80 gig 8mb HD
SB Audigy 2 ZS
Memorex DVD/CD RW Combo
Dual cold Cathode Kit
Standard Floppy
Antec Smartblue 350W PSU Works fine in the system im using now. It powers up everything through the MSI Neo board. Cathodes, HD, Drives, Fans, etc, just dont think enough juice is going to the cpu or something. Would really like to get this machine going so imma have to spend money to filter out the cheaper parts. All help is appreciated =).

-DarkLegacy
 
I have like enermax PSU for a long time, great price perfomance ratio, and that noisy.

This one I own, very good rails, but a little of your budget,

ENERMAX EG475P-VE Noisetaker 2.0 470W ATX12V Ver 2.0 24-pin PSU $115
http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?dept%5Fid=18&pid=9689&sid=QQAS8K4DWJW88JDLWSFLU6T5UGQ8ETW0

Another good almost in your budget,

Enermax EG485P-SFMA24 480W ATX Power Supply Retail *** Free 2nd Day *** $109
http://http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=270314


ENERMAX Noisetaker 485W Power Supply, Support LGA 775, Model "EG495P-VE SFMA 2.0 Version" -RETAIL $108
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-457&depa=0
 
From the FAQ:

The links may or may not still be valid.

computerpro3 said:
Mid-High End = Under$100

These are generally the minumum PSU's that I reccomend to people. You are very unlikely to need more than this to power your rig.
Zippy/Emacs 300w psu = $76 (22@ on 12v line for 300w psu is astounding, performance is comparable if not better than pcp&c. Prohibitivley expensive however)


Fortron 350w ATX12v2.0 psu = $62


Zippy/Emacs 350w psu = $83 (26@ on 12v line is better than antec 550, performance is comparable if not better than pcp&c. Prohibitivley expensive however)


Zippy/Emacs 400w psu = $95 (30amps 12v line )


Sparkle 530w PSU = $74


Fortron 530w PSU = $75


Enermax Noisetaker 420w PSU = $78


Vantec 420w psu = $81


Fortron Blue Storm ATX12v2.0 500w psu = $92


Zalman Noise Free 400w psu APFC = $95


Tagan 480w PSU = $79


Vantec 520w psu = $99


Enermax 460w PSU (33amps on 12v line )= $85


Pc Power and Cooling 410 Silencer = $85


OCZ Powerstream 420w PSU = $85


Seasonic 400w PSU = $86


Antec Tru480 = $87


Vantec 520W PSU = $96
Click to expand...

See this link for links to PSU's at the egg and for general buying info.
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1026458970&postcount=1
 
list above has all bad links... u cant just copy and paste because hardforum makes links look shorter and u copied the shorter veersions
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
list above has all bad links... u cant just copy and paste because hardforum makes links look shorter and u copied the shorter veersions
Click to expand...

Damn vbulletin. Thanks. Removed them and posted the link to the sticky.
 
Ok, just a few more questions before narrowing down my choices.

1: I should be looking for a PSU that has 12vv 2.0 correct?
2: One with atleast 30 or more amps going through it, to be on the safe side

Thats all I wanted to know so I dont screw up & by something sucky lol, thx =).

-DarkLegacy
 
Ahh ok, still will look around. Learning how to read all the ratings on a PSU so that seems to be helping.

-DarkLegacy
 
DarkLegacy said:
Ok, just a few more questions before narrowing down my choices.

1: I should be looking for a PSU that has 12vv 2.0 correct?
2: One with atleast 30 or more amps going through it, to be on the safe side

Thats all I wanted to know so I dont screw up & by something sucky lol, thx =).

-DarkLegacy
Click to expand...


Answers:

1. No
2. No
...3. the ATX 12(it's a 'v' not a 'w') specifations are all the nerd talk... just know if you need an EPS (for servers or Dual Processors) or NOT. As long you buy a new one it should have close enough ATX 12v specifications that are going to be fine.
Let someone else pick one out for you until you take a class on electronic fundamentals. :p
 
Maybe he meant ATX 12volt vesion 2.0. As opposed to 2.1? To me it looks like the font here putting 2 v's in line looks exactly like a w. vv. w. Yup.. looks the same. OH, and notice how oyu can highlight down the middle of the "w". its definitely two v's.
 
I know what he meant. Read the F'ing posts before you bring the $$$$.

I just wanted to give him a hard time. Either way I looked at it and I knew it was a typo, but the second question did it for me.

Legacy-
if you're gonna spend $105+16+tax, why not just buy a NEOPower 480, I think they're $125. Maybe not on sale anymore, I don't know.
 
me thinking about getting the neopower 480...but the enermax looks very nice...is the neopower worth the extra 20 bucks?
 
:eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEAH


They are the most future-proof out of the box, Stable, Beautifully Nickel, Feature packed PSU. my voltages are only 0.07-0.01 lower than "Perfect", and that could be the error of the mobo monitoring probes or whatever.

And, it's SILENT. Not just "drowned out by ambient noise, it is SILENT.
 
500watt blue storm ts got dual 15Amp rails its stable and sleeved...24pin ATX plug making it future complient
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
500watt blue storm ts got dual 15Amp rails its stable and sleeved...24pin ATX plug making it future complient
Click to expand...

yes..it's specs are great, but I heard somewhere they are not as good as the fortron 530w...which I think is wrong...anyone can verify this for me? heh
 
You don't have a whole lot going on with your board so right now your power demands aren't very high at all. What you really need is moderate power with great stability. You could easily go with a Enermax Noisetaker 420w. It would have enough umph to power for what you have now, or even in the future with a faster CPU & video card. Not to mention, I have seen them as cheap as $71 delivered. :eek:
 
i have the vantec 520w, i would recomend any of the vantec power supplys to anybody here, solid rails, quite fans, clean/sleek look, plenty of power, good amps, and 24pin connector.
 
aZn_plyR said:
yes..it's specs are great, but I heard somewhere they are not as good as the fortron 530w...which I think is wrong...anyone can verify this for me? heh
Click to expand...
The Fortron 530W is a v1.3 PSU. Nice for legacy machines, but getting one is a dead-end upgrade. The Blue Storm 500W has the amperage where it matters the most. And its pretty, has a single 120mm fan, and all leads come sleeved. You can't go wrong with the Blue Storm.
 
Hints from the TrustedReview's exhaustive roundup point at specs changing to 24/8-pin connectors in the near future for the main power and 12V as Ice Czar has posted a few times. I'm not sure if the Blue Storm has the 8-pin 12V, but if it does that would be my top choice with split 12V and hefty amps.

The only PSU in sub $100 range that I know has the 8-pin 12V connector (two separate 4-pins connect to each other I believe) is the Tagan 480 which also happened to be the top rated PSU according to the extensive TrustedReview torture tests. I got mine for $78 shipped.

If you only plan on using this PSU for your current mobo I guess it doesn't matter though. Anything on the recommended list with a 24/4 pin connection and close to 30a on 12V should be fine. I wouldn't say you needed 30+ amps on the 12V rail for a non-SLI setup though. I think the majority of A64 users with single video cards are running older PSU's with 12V rails with amps in the 20s.
 
Well, since so many of these other guys are being nerds and selling you the power supply THEY bought, I'll just let you know that all these, including the NEOPower do have Dual 12v rails. I think NEOPower has:

18 amps on 12v #1, and
13 amps on 12v #2

If you need all that power... I bought it for my Dual OC'd Athlon system which would be running a huge 64-bit PCI SCSI RAID card and 5 or 6 hard drives,
 
lawrence131 said:
The only PSU in sub $100 range that I know has the 8-pin 12V connector (two separate 4-pins connect to each other I believe) is the Tagan 480 which also happened to be the top rated PSU according to the extensive TrustedReview torture tests. I got mine for $78 shipped.

If you only plan on using this PSU for your current mobo I guess it doesn't matter though. Anything on the recommended list with a 24/4 pin connection and close to 30a on 12V should be fine. I wouldn't say you needed 30+ amps on the 12V rail for a non-SLI setup though. I think the majority of A64 users with single video cards are running older PSU's with 12V rails with amps in the 20s.
Click to expand...


I believe the 400w Seasonic Super Tornado has this 8 pin connector. It is fully compliant with the 2.0 spec. It only has one 12v rail but it is 22a. :) I just bought one for $84 shipped from Directron. It comes on Wednesday...

Regards,

Mike
 
SLI & everything! ;) :)
$87 & shipping
Enermax 535W Whisper II EG565P-VE FMA V2.0 - SLI Ready
Specifications: Model: EG565P-VE FMA 2.0 Maximum Power: 535W (support both 24pins and 20pins motherboards)
Voltage Rails:
+12V: 34A (total): +12V1@18A & +12V2@18A
-12V: 0.8A, +5V: 32A, +5VSB: 2.5A, +3.3V: 32A
Input Voltage: 90V~135V or 90V~265V, Input Frequency Range: 47Hz~63Hz
Input Current: 40A/115V and 80A/230V max. during cold start
Hold-up time: 17ms at 115VAC or 230VAC, full load
Over Voltage Protection: +5V: 5.5V~7.0V; +3.3V:3.76V~4.3V; +12V & +12V2: 13.4V~15.6V
Over Load Protection: 110~160% of max load
Over current Protection: +3.3V: 55A (max); +5V: 48A (max); +12V1 & +12V2: 20A (max)
Over Temperature Protection: Operating Ambient 10ºC~40ºC, Storage Ambient -40ºC~70ºC
Humidity:
Operating: to 85% relative humidity, non condensing at 25ºC
Storage: to 95% relative humidity, non-condensing at 50ºC
MTBF: Greater than 100K hours at 70% of full rated load; 230VAC / 50Hz input; 25ºC ambient
EMC: EN55022 Class B, EN61000-4-2 Class B, EN61000-4-3 Class A, EN61000-4-4 Class B, EN61000-4-5 Class B, EN61000-4-6 Class A, EN61000-4-8 Class A, EN61000-4-11 Class B, FCC Part 15 & Part 2, CNS 13438 Class B
Safety: Approval UL, cUL, TÜV, CB
Dimension: W150 x H86 x D140 (mm)
Connections:
1 x 20/24-pin Mainboard
1 x 4-pin P4
2 x 6-pin PCI Express
4 x SATA
7 x 4-pin Molex
2 x 4-pin FDD
1 x Fan Monitor
http://www.gameve.com/gve/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=PS-ENERMAX-535
Click to expand...
 
i'm a basic guy. i have a 3400+, 6800GT, 1 HDD, 2 CD/DVD Drvies, Audigy 2 ZS, and a soon to be baybus for all my fans.

i'm planin on getting a 530W Fortron. i'm not buying into this 2.0 and 8 pin crap. it powers what i need right now, and any minor upgrades i may make. when i get a new mobo and cpu, i'll think about gettin something more current. i'm fine w/ the fortron.

matter of fact, i'm happy with anything besides my current power supply which is horrid! i think everyone knows which one it is, but i got it for only $25 from my friend, so i couldnt refuse!

i'm also considering the blue storm. it will just be a pain in the ass unsleeving and resleeving em and adding new connectors and painting the psu. too much blue for me.

edit* an enermax would be nice, but there are so many damn models that are almost the same, so it's hard to pick one!
 
ralfyboy said:
i'm a basic guy. i have a 3400+, 6800GT, 1 HDD, 2 CD/DVD Drvies, Audigy 2 ZS, and a soon to be baybus for all my fans.

i'm planin on getting a 530W Fortron. i'm not buying into this 2.0 and 8 pin crap. it powers what i need right now, and any minor upgrades i may make. when i get a new mobo and cpu, i'll think about gettin something more current. i'm fine w/ the fortron.

matter of fact, i'm happy with anything besides my current power supply which is horrid! i think everyone knows which one it is, but i got it for only $25 from my friend, so i couldnt refuse!

i'm also considering the blue storm. it will just be a pain in the ass unsleeving and resleeving em and adding new connectors and painting the psu. too much blue for me.

edit* an enermax would be nice, but there are so many damn models that are almost the same, so it's hard to pick one!
Click to expand...
The old & now discontinued Fortron 530W has only +12V@18A, it is not enough for your system. The new Fortron 550W is recommended as is the 500W Blue Storm, but they are both of the modern design that you don't like. ;)

Yes, Enermax will drive anyone nuts with all their different models. :)
 
charles555 said:
Legacy-
if you're gonna spend $105+16+tax, why not just buy a NEOPower 480, I think they're $125. Maybe not on sale anymore, I don't know.
Click to expand...
I got mine for about $115, and its pretty friggin' awesome. You can not hear the thing, and the modular cables rock!
I would reccomend the NeoPower. the extra $$$ is worth it (IMHO)
 
davidhammock200 said:
The old & now discontinued Fortron 530W has only +12V@18A, it is not enough for your system. The new Fortron 550W is recommended as is the 500W Blue Storm, but they are both of the modern design that you don't like. ;)

Yes, Enermax will drive anyone nuts with all their different models. :)
Click to expand...

are you sure? i thought it was 28amps....
if not, then hellz yeah i aint gettin that thing. i thought it was close to 30, and anything close to 30 will power my system.
 
Why not go for the Fortron 550W?

Its better than the Blue Storm and Fortron 530W, and its also EPS compliant. Trust me, youll be hard pressed to find ANY PSU better than this one for the price.

Cant go wrong for $91. Search newegg.

Or for $117 u may go for the Zippy 500W PSU if u can afford it. Its the best 500W ull find, along with the PCP&C(which is way too expensive)

EDIT: At newegg, its listed as only 18A on the +12V, but actually its got TWO 18A rails for a total of 36A .:)
 
64bit_is_here said:
Why not go for the Fortron 550W?

Its better than the Blue Storm and Fortron 530W, and its also EPS compliant. Trust me, youll be hard pressed to find ANY PSU better than this one for the price.
Click to expand...
AFAIK, the 550W isn't ATX12V v2.0 compliant.
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
500watt blue storm ts got dual 15Amp rails its stable and sleeved...24pin ATX plug making it future complient
Click to expand...

Is this peak current or continuous current? I'm about to build a new DFI NF4 system, and was thinking about the coolermaster RS-450-ACLY, and it has dual 12V rails at 18A and 16A peak, but only 12A and 10A continuous. It's a great PSU that I use in my main P4 system.

The Fortron blue storm specs look great, but they don't tell you if they are peak or continuous. Does anyone here know how to read the numbers vs. the Coolermaster?

The coolermaster is available widely for $80-90, and often locally, so no need for mailorder.

Thanks,
Mike
 
mikesm said:
Is this peak current or continuous current? I'm about to build a new DFI NF4 system, and was thinking about the coolermaster RS-450-ACLY, and it has dual 12V rails at 18A and 16A peak, but only 12A and 10A continuous. It's a great PSU that I use in my main P4 system.

The Fortron blue storm specs look great, but they don't tell you if they are peak or continuous. Does anyone here know how to read the numbers vs. the Coolermaster?

The coolermaster is available widely for $80-90, and often locally, so no need for mailorder.

Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...
thats continuos its peak is 500w=12V1=17.5A and 12V2=17.5A, according to the sticker on mine
 
Could this possibly be the best "Bang for the Buck" PSU? Fortron FSP350-60THN-R BLUE STORM (BTW - they have an excellent rating at Resellerrating.com CensusPC ) According to Newegg link this 350watt psu has 10A on the +12V1 and 15A on the +12V2 rails. $55 and free shipping doesn't sound too shabby. What do you guys think? Look at my sig and realize I'm a cheap bastard. ;)

Edit: Nevermind. After I gave it some thought I just got an OCZ Modstream through Monarch. :) After looking at Fortron's website it made me think a guy would be S.O.L. if an RMA was ever needed. Their American website is scary. Fortron USA
 
I just bought a 500W Blue Storm. First thing I noticed is that this things friggin heavy!
The manual states the over-current protection is 3.3v = 80A 12v1 = 20A 12v2 = 20A tested with application of the listed over-current value with maximum load on all other outputs. It also states a short circuit on any output will cause no damage to the power supply.

I bought this to replace a 300W sparkle that has been in my main rig for 9 years. It's seen 3 processors and 4 video cards come and go over that same amount of time. I dropped in a 6800GT a few months back and it's still stable. I love Fortron/Sparkle supplies.
 
Prisma said:
I just bought a 500W Blue Storm. First thing I noticed is that this things friggin heavy!
The manual states the over-current protection is 3.3v = 80A 12v1 = 20A 12v2 = 20A tested with application of the listed over-current value with maximum load on all other outputs. It also states a short circuit on any output will cause no damage to the power supply.

I bought this to replace a 300W sparkle that has been in my main rig for 9 years. It's seen 3 processors and 4 video cards come and go over that same amount of time. I dropped in a 6800GT a few months back and it's still stable. I love Fortron/Sparkle supplies.
Click to expand...
lol yeah this is fucking heavy as hell...i droped it on my foot god
 
bendit said:
I believe the 400w Seasonic Super Tornado has this 8 pin connector. It is fully compliant with the 2.0 spec. It only has one 12v rail but it is 22a. :) I just bought one for $84 shipped from Directron. It comes on Wednesday...

Regards,

Mike
Click to expand...

I have the 400w ST also, very nice PSU. Runs alot quieter than my previous so called 'quiet' PSU.
 
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