power supply recommendations?

[XenatR]

***edit***

ok guys, i need the best power supply available at the 550w-850w range. it MUST featue the following:

*extreme stability on all rails
*less than 25mV ripple accross the whole 12v load range
*must be utterly quiet/silent at loads less than 30%
*modular/semi-modular
*must have NO coil noise/whine or any other perceptible sounds (seasonic )
*budget approx £140
*ideally a long warranty but no 100% needed
*ideally chosen from the scan.co.uk or ebuyer.com catalogues!!

ive checked out a few of Enermax, Be Quiet!, Corsair, Fractal Design, Seasonic

hi all, i wasnt looking for a power supply, but having made another thread in the AMD forums about pc upgrades, ive been recommended i look at a power supply

current build
Phenom 955 BE @ 3.6GHz
Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3
Samsung Green VLP 2x4gb
MSI HD 7770
Powercool X-Viper 450w (very cheap)

build i am considering = my parts +
FX-8350
7870 Tahiti

power supplies considered:

my first choice (read very many positives about it's low ripple etc, however am concerned about potential buzzing noises)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w...80-plus-gold-87-eff-eps-12v-sli-crossfire-atx

what about the Corsair AX/TX range or Be Quiet?


i was thinking about a psu such as the Seasonic X, because it is virtually silent under 300w load, as the fan does not spin. this is my main concern, adding also that i require modular cabling (can be semi modular)

any other suggestions would be welcome..

 

[XenatR]

actually, while ive got this thread up, the reason why i bought another power supply was because my old Corsair 620w modular one, decided one day to crackle and die.. i had it 5years, and unfortunately died just outside the guarantee period.. it has a bit of dust in it, which may have added to it's demise, and the fact that i was plugging mains power in straight away without turning the power supply off beforehand (not sure if this is the correct way to do this anyway)

is there anything i can do with it?

 

[Dangman]

Some Be Quiet PSUs are decent but they have so many models out that it's relatively hard to find to proper PSU reviews for them. So I'm hesitant to recommend them based on my lack of knowledge about them.

I do recommend the Seasonic X-650 despite the potential buzzing. Seasonic PSUs in general are well known for being very quiet, even by the standards of the noise-sensitive guys over at SilentPCReview.com.

If you want to avoid that potential buzzing noise, you'd have to avoid any Seasonic made PSU. Some of which are Corsair PSUs as well. Take a look at the Corsair HX 750 or Corsair AX650. The TX-M or basically the semi-modular TX series aren't great choices for the money IMO since they tend to be of lower quality/performance than the regular TX series.

 

[XenatR]

Some Be Quiet PSUs are decent but they have so many models out that it's relatively hard to find to proper PSU reviews for them. So I'm hesitant to recommend them based on my lack of knowledge about them.

I do recommend the Seasonic X-650 despite the potential buzzing. Seasonic PSUs in general are well known for being very quiet, even by the standards of the noise-sensitive guys over at SilentPCReview.com.

If you want to avoid that potential buzzing noise, you'd have to avoid any Seasonic made PSU. Some of which are Corsair PSUs as well. Take a look at the Corsair HX 750 or Corsair AX650. The TX-M or basically the semi-modular TX series aren't great choices for the money IMO since they tend to be of lower quality/performance than the regular TX series.

thank you for your suggestions.. ive looked into Be Quiet! and have found this one

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w...0-plus-gold-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-fan-atx-v23

seems to be an alltogether brilliant psu :O

 

[PCunicorn]

Gold, Modulaur, and $100. For that brand I say absolutely not. The old saying goes you get what you pay for.

 

[XenatR]

Gold, Modulaur, and $100. For that brand I say absolutely not. The old saying goes you get what you pay for.

?? Was that a reply to my post for the be quiet psu??

dude u realise im from england and that price is £100 so about $160..

also the reviews on it are really great (low ripple etc)


which psu would you suggest then?

 

[Dangman]

thank you for your suggestions.. ive looked into Be Quiet! and have found this one

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w...0-plus-gold-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-fan-atx-v23

seems to be an alltogether brilliant psu :O

Seems to be a bit expensive for what it is. The Seasonic is only £7 more, has slightly better ripple control (40mV VS 50mV for the Be Quiet on the +12V rail), slightly better efficiency, and has 108W more on the +12V rail. IMO, all of that combined is worth the extra cash.

 

[XenatR]

***edit***

ok guys, i need the best power supply available at the 550w-850w range. it MUST featue the following:

*extreme stability on all rails
*less than 25mV ripple accross the whole 12v load range
*must be utterly quiet/silent at loads less than 30%
*modular/semi-modular
*must have NO coil noise/whine or any other perceptible sounds (seasonic )
*budget approx £140
*ideally a long warranty but no 100% needed
*ideally chosen from the scan.co.uk or ebuyer.com catalogues!!

ive checked out a few of Enermax, Be Quiet!, Corsair, Fractal Design, Seasonic

hi all, i wasnt looking for a power supply, but having made another thread in the AMD forums about pc upgrades, ive been recommended i look at a power supply

current build
Phenom 955 BE @ 3.6GHz
Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3
Samsung Green VLP 2x4gb
MSI HD 7770
Powercool X-Viper 450w (very cheap)

build i am considering = my parts +
FX-8350
7870 Tahiti

power supplies considered:

my first choice (read very many positives about it's low ripple etc, however am concerned about potential buzzing noises)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w...80-plus-gold-87-eff-eps-12v-sli-crossfire-atx

what about the Corsair AX/TX range or Be Quiet?


i was thinking about a psu such as the Seasonic X, because it is virtually silent under 300w load, as the fan does not spin. this is my main concern, adding also that i require modular cabling (can be semi modular)

any other suggestions would be welcome..

 

[Dangman]

Well from scan.co.uk, as far as I can tell, the only PSUs that match most of your requirements are the Seasonic based power supplies (specifically the Seasonic Platinum series and the Corsair AX series). It's mainly the first three requirements that's pretty much narrowing you down to Seasonic based PSUs.

Also, whoever approved the design for the Scan.co.uk's filtered results page deserves to be shot. Holy hell was it a fuckin' pain in the ass.

 

[HobartTas]

Greetings

If they are still available then the Antec CPX form factor CP-850 would suit all your criteria, however, you will need one of four Antec cases to fit it and they are the DF-85, 1200, P183 and P193 with my recommendation being the DF-85 due to the seven case fans it has. So far I see that Amazon.co.uk has one for just under 100 pounds.

***edit***

ok guys, i need the best power supply available at the 550w-850w range. it MUST featue the following:

*extreme stability on all rails
*less than 25mV ripple accross the whole 12v load range

Ripple was vanishingly low on all the lines. At low loads at the start of testing, the 12V ripple actually did not often rise above 10 mV, and the lower voltage output lines stayed well in single digits. Only at extreme loads did some peaks reach above 20 mV on the 12V line. The maximum peaks seen for the +5V and +3.3V lines were in the teens. This is exceptionally low ripple noise.

and

I even turned on the cursors to show you how awesome the view was. Seriously, read this number and tell me you're not excited: 11.2mV at 12V, test five. Did I just hear some of you faint? Sorry... I did too the first time I saw that. That's actually better than my Signature 850W did. Same with the other two rails.

Let me repeat that - my CP-850 can outperform a Signature unit for ripple and noise suppression!!! Come on, let's hit the next page. I can't wait, I have to see right now if this unit is hiding a Signature in that massive case.

The Signature was Antec's super premium unit, both the Signature and the CP-850 are made by Delta Electronics

must be utterly quiet/silent at loads less than 30%

Our atypical spot check with a room ambient thermal test showed the CP-850 would reach only 24 dBA@1m at 700W load in a 27°C working environment. This is ridiculously quiet for such high power output

*modular/semi-modular

PSU, other PS connectors, one SATA, one molex hard wired in as you always use them, all others modular.

*must have NO coil noise/whine or any other perceptible sounds (seasonic )

Coil noise? Its pretty much silent checkout the audio spectrum graph

*budget approx £140
*ideally a long warranty but no 100% needed

As stated its 100 pounds on Amazon.co.uk and you will need to buy a case to suit, warranty I believe is about 5 years.

To Summarise

Its on Silencpcreview.com recommended list and also on Jonnyguru.com

The Good:

outperformed my SG-850 for ripple suppression
very quiet, even in the hot box
exceptionally stable voltage regulation
did better efficiency than 80 Plus' sample and cleared Bronze
waaaaaaaaay overbuilt
The Bad:

proprietary to three Antec cases... all others must be modded (if there's room)

I bought several of these, the non-standard size wasn't an issue for me as I had to also buy a case as well and the Antec cases that suited were ideal in their own right anyway, I can't think of a better power supply to get that exceeds all these criteria better than what the CP-850 already provides. Its a highly undervalued unit.

Cheers

 

[XenatR]

Greetings

If they are still available then the Antec CPX form factor CP-850 would suit all your criteria, however, you will need one of four Antec cases to fit it and they are the DF-85, 1200, P183 and P193 with my recommendation being the DF-85 due to the seven case fans it has. So far I see that Amazon.co.uk has one for just under 100 pounds.



Ripple was vanishingly low on all the lines. At low loads at the start of testing, the 12V ripple actually did not often rise above 10 mV, and the lower voltage output lines stayed well in single digits. Only at extreme loads did some peaks reach above 20 mV on the 12V line. The maximum peaks seen for the +5V and +3.3V lines were in the teens. This is exceptionally low ripple noise.

and

I even turned on the cursors to show you how awesome the view was. Seriously, read this number and tell me you're not excited: 11.2mV at 12V, test five. Did I just hear some of you faint? Sorry... I did too the first time I saw that. That's actually better than my Signature 850W did. Same with the other two rails.

Let me repeat that - my CP-850 can outperform a Signature unit for ripple and noise suppression!!! Come on, let's hit the next page. I can't wait, I have to see right now if this unit is hiding a Signature in that massive case.

The Signature was Antec's super premium unit, both the Signature and the CP-850 are made by Delta Electronics



Our atypical spot check with a room ambient thermal test showed the CP-850 would reach only 24 dBA@1m at 700W load in a 27°C working environment. This is ridiculously quiet for such high power output



PSU, other PS connectors, one SATA, one molex hard wired in as you always use them, all others modular.



Coil noise? Its pretty much silent checkout the audio spectrum graph


As stated its 100 pounds on Amazon.co.uk and you will need to buy a case to suit, warranty I believe is about 5 years.

To Summarise

Its on Silencpcreview.com recommended list and also on Jonnyguru.com

The Good:

outperformed my SG-850 for ripple suppression
very quiet, even in the hot box
exceptionally stable voltage regulation
did better efficiency than 80 Plus' sample and cleared Bronze
waaaaaaaaay overbuilt
The Bad:

proprietary to three Antec cases... all others must be modded (if there's room)

I bought several of these, the non-standard size wasn't an issue for me as I had to also buy a case as well and the Antec cases that suited were ideal in their own right anyway, I can't think of a better power supply to get that exceeds all these criteria better than what the CP-850 already provides. Its a highly undervalued unit.

Cheers

WOW thank you indeed for such an informative post!! Sounds like a great psu indeed! I aldo have an Antec 900 lying around .. could i modify it to fit? I could also try to fit it in my micro atx case AVP Defender 100, but half of it would have to stick out of the top which i would cut

 

[Dangman]

Here's the problem though: The CP-850 hasn't been sold on the market for quite awhile now. It's not available from either of the sites you listed. If you check the Amazon.co.uk link, the CP-850 is only available from one UK vendor who only has an 86% positive rating out of 36 total ratings. In other words, not exactly a trustworthy source to get the PSU.

Also, it seems rather counter productive to fit such a quiet PSU to one of the more louder cases out there (the Antec 900).

 

[XenatR]

Here's the problem though: The CP-850 hasn't been sold on the market for quite awhile now. It's not available from either of the sites you listed. If you check the Amazon.co.uk link, the CP-850 is only available from one UK vendor who only has an 86% positive rating out of 36 total ratings. In other words, not exactly a trustworthy source to get the PSU.

Also, it seems rather counter productive to fit such a quiet PSU to one of the more louder cases out there (the Antec 900).

i am from uk, but you pointed out the rating which now concerns me! if i wasnt to go for this psu, wich other one currently in production is as good? seasonic x are seemingly awesome, but the potential fo buzzing and whine is off-putting

 

[XenatR]

i actually have also a non-modular, OCZ CoreXstream 500w lying around.. the only reviews i can find, which arent very in-depth are

http://it-review.net/article/hardware/psu/OCZ_CoreXstream_500W_review&2

and a lot of user reviews

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w...u-120mm-fan-80plus-efficiency-3-year-warranty

im hoping this might be ok to use temporarily as i send my 'Powercool X-Viper 450w' off for RMA

any opinions on this psu?

 

[Dangman]

im hoping this might be ok to use temporarily as i send my 'Powercool X-Viper 450w' off for RMA

any opinions on this psu?

It's going to be better than your PowerCool PSU for sure. However, still not worth using on account of it being an OCZ PSU. Not to mention that it's only rated at 30C. If you absolutely have to have your PC on, then go use that OCZ. But keep an eye on the PC's stability.

Also, why bother RMAing that PowerCool PSU? PowerCool AFAIK doesn't make any good PSUs. So you're still getting crap back.

As for PSUs similar to the Seasonic Platinum series and Corsair AX series, there are dozens of PSUs that are comparable to the Seasonics Platinum series. But they aren't available from the two vendors you listed, fail some of your requirement, and/or are from less than reputable vendors/companies.

EDIT: Closest I've been able to find is the Antec Signature 650W. It's Delta made so less chance of coil whine and it never exhibited more than 16mV of ripple across all the rails. It's semi-modular though. Only like two cables are really removable since the rest has to be used. However, the PSU was released back in 2008 or basically six years ago and was discontinued in 2012 it appears. But still a solid PSU:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w...ronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx-psu

 

[XenatR]

It's going to be better than your PowerCool PSU for sure. However, still not worth using on account of it being an OCZ PSU. Not to mention that it's only rated at 30C. If you absolutely have to have your PC on, then go use that OCZ. But keep an eye on the PC's stability.

Also, why bother RMAing that PowerCool PSU? PowerCool AFAIK doesn't make any good PSUs. So you're still getting crap back.

As for PSUs similar to the Seasonic Platinum series and Corsair AX series, there are dozens of PSUs that are comparable to the Seasonics Platinum series. But they aren't available from the two vendors you listed, fail some of your requirement, and/or are from less than reputable vendors/companies.

EDIT: Closest I've been able to find is the Antec Signature 650W. It's Delta made so less chance of coil whine and it never exhibited more than 16mV of ripple across all the rails. It's semi-modular though. Only like two cables are really removable since the rest has to be used. However, the PSU was released back in 2008 or basically six years ago and was discontinued in 2012 it appears. But still a solid PSU:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w...ronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx-psu

Great find! So apart from the efficiency, this supply is of better quality in terms of voltage stability and ripple to any other in the sub 1kw range?

 

[Dangman]

Great find! So apart from the efficiency, this supply is of better quality in terms of voltage stability and ripple to any other in the sub 1kw range?

From at least what's available in your country from reputable vendors anyway.