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Good budget PSU

A

AVT

Supreme [H]ardness
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So I got a Corsair CX430, replaced an old Raidmax cheapo PSU in an older system, and have been seeing random freezes ever since.

Then I went on the internet & apparently it's not built as well as the old CX400 was.

Going to return the CX430. Any recommendations as to what to replace it with? It's to be used on an old P4 system with integrated video.
 
I don't think the CX430 can be worse than the Raidmax PSU.
 
49.99 > 47.98, but that is still a ridiculous deal. I'd go with that unit.
 
Skillz said:
49.99 > 47.98, but that is still a ridiculous deal. I'd go with that unit.
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Yeah, very true. I was a bit sleepy when I made that last post and I read the $15 as the shipping cost, not the discount.
 
I always use Enermax. I replaced and Enermax with a cheap brand once with a higher watt output and it burned up in a day.
 
thegamer36 said:
I always use Enermax. I replaced and Enermax with a cheap brand once with a higher watt output and it burned up in a day.
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Enermax PSUs are good, but generally quite overpriced. It's not very hard to find PSUs for a lower price that are as good or better than what Enermax offers.
 
Skillz said:
For a couple dollars more you can get a better unit.
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Its an old p4 no reason to spend much more, if he goes into a new system a 400psu might struggle, so i would spend the least that i can while still decent, just my opinion.
 
Abula said:
Its an old p4 no reason to spend much more, if he goes into a new system a 400psu might struggle, so i would spend the least that i can while still decent, just my opinion.
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Well, the deal I posted is only $5 more, so it would be silly not to spend the tiny bit extra to get a much better product. Even if it isn't needed, it's a good investment for the future, in case he needs to use it in a different PC at some point.
 
Zero82z said:
Well, the deal I posted is only $5 more, so it would be silly not to spend the tiny bit extra to get a much better product. Even if it isn't needed, it's a good investment for the future, in case he needs to use it in a different PC at some point.
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Well the link you posted shows sold out, so dont matter much.
 
Why was the raidmax PSU replaced? if it's because it died then be aware that when PSUs die they sometimes damage other stuff too.

Also being an old P4 the machine is likely to have a relatively heavy draw on the 5V and 3.3V lines. So make sure whatever PSU you get can supply a substantial portion of it's power on those lines. The 120W of the CX430 seems a bit low bit low (for comparison the ATX12V 1.3 design guide reccomends that a 300W PSU should be able to provide 195W on the 5V and 3.3V rails).
 
plugwash said:
Also being an old P4 the machine is likely to have a relatively heavy draw on the 5V and 3.3V lines. So make sure whatever PSU you get can supply a substantial portion of it's power on those lines.
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The Pentium 4 platform drew its CPU power from the +12V rails, not the minor rails. That's why the P4 power connector has two +12V wires and two grounds.
 
How strange. A buddy of mine just had a PSU die on him, so he bought a CX430 to replace it. He also was having lockups and random reboots. Turns out he had bumped one of the ram clips and nudged it up ever so slightly. He hasn't had a problem since I locked it back down.
 
Zero82z said:
The Pentium 4 platform drew its CPU power from the +12V rails, not the minor rails. That's why the P4 power connector has two +12V wires and two grounds.
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IIRC the pentium 4 platforms represented the start of the transition towards 12V power. The CPU regulator was moved to 12V power (with the dedicated connector you mention) but most of the rest of the system in that era was still running on the 5V and 3.3V.
 
plugwash said:
IIRC the pentium 4 platforms represented the start of the transition towards 12V power. The CPU regulator was moved to 12V power (with the dedicated connector you mention) but most of the rest of the system in that era was still running on the 5V and 3.3V.
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Most of the rest of the system meaning what? The main sources of power draw inside a PC are the CPU (powered by +12V), the GPU(s) (powered by +12V), and the hard drive motors (powered by +12V). Any draw on the minor rails will be of little significance in comparison, and any modern PSU would be sufficient. The only time you really need to worry about having enough power on the minor rails is when dealing with old Athlon XP systems on motherboards that don't power the CPU from the +12V rail (and many of the newer/better AXP boards did use +12V).
 
In terms of budget... I picked up one of those Ultra branded PS's for free ($39.99 shipped with $40.00 MIR)

I use it in my daily, and it never gives me problems really. I get an odd lockup every now and then but I think its my motherboard as I just tried an Antec with the same system and it just locked up again.

Check out Ultra... I've had good luck (so far) and so have a few others whom took the same deal as I did.

I don't recommend them unless you're on a budget though... :D Just for safety/.reliability purposes I would get a known reliable, more expensive brand.
 
I love my 500w Ultra PSU - and at only $.01! It was on the shelf for a year as a spare and a few days ago used it for a new build. Has served me well and free is good!


Dylan80 said:
In terms of budget... I picked up one of those Ultra branded PS's for free ($39.99 shipped with $40.00 MIR)

I use it in my daily, and it never gives me problems really. I get an odd lockup every now and then but I think its my motherboard as I just tried an Antec with the same system and it just locked up again.

Check out Ultra... I've had good luck (so far) and so have a few others whom took the same deal as I did.

I don't recommend them unless you're on a budget though... :D Just for safety/.reliability purposes I would get a known reliable, more expensive brand.
Click to expand...
 
Dylan80 said:
In terms of budget... I picked up one of those Ultra branded PS's for free ($39.99 shipped with $40.00 MIR)

I use it in my daily, and it never gives me problems really. I get an odd lockup every now and then but I think its my motherboard as I just tried an Antec with the same system and it just locked up again.

Check out Ultra... I've had good luck (so far) and so have a few others whom took the same deal as I did.

I don't recommend them unless you're on a budget though... :D Just for safety/.reliability purposes I would get a known reliable, more expensive brand.
Click to expand...
That Ultra PSU is a piece of shit, even if it hasn't exploded yet. Don't delude yourself into thinking otherwise. It's fine that it's been working for you, but most Ultra products these days are not very good, and they are not well-priced either.
 
If you want a Corsair 400CX, there's this one supposedly brand new on ebay.
 
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IDK the utra 1200 is a solid PSU .. or has been for my friend running tri SLI 285gtxs ... so i know it is not a budget price there but they have somethign right if they can run that and the many HDDs he has and the epic over clocking of the 9550 ram and gups ... idk abotu lower end though ...
 
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