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Three quick, noobish PSU Qs

D

DemonEater

n00b
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
12
Three quick questions.

Have an Antec Smartpower (forgive me for that. I knew Antec had a good rep, I didn't realise that particular line was trash) which seems rather close to out-of-spec on the +3.3 rail, hovering around 3.14-3.16 according to the voltage meter in my cmos setup. It also makes a quiet but very high-pitched noise as soon as it's plugged in. This doesn't sound at all promising. Confirm?

If my suspicions are correct, I'll be looking for a new PSU. I'm on a very tight budget (student, work for the university and so had no hours over christmas break), but my needs aren't great - my system's an old P4 with a 6600GT, single 7200rpm IDE HDD, and DVD-RW.
After some searching and reading on this board, I'm looking at the Corsair 400CX for $50 after MIR.
However there's also this deal: Antec EA-500D for $35 from pcboost. Looks too good to be true. Seems the 500D is made by Delta rather than Seasonic, who made the plain EA-500 that everyone praises. Is there a significant difference? I would imagine when a company changes its supplier and drops the price, that means they've done so to save money and thrown quality out the window. At least, the regular EA-500 is on Newegg for $90 now, which makes me quite skeptical of the $35 version.
Any suggestions other than the above?

Finally, I have an old PCP&C 300w power supply in an old system. It's been rock solid for years, its voltages are much better than the Antec, and I'd like to use it in my main box at least until a replacement can get here, but I'm having trouble working out for sure if it'll provide enough power. Should I be OK, or would I have too little margin for safety?
 
Actually Antec made some supplier changes to solve some problems.

First rule, never ever ever trust the voltage reading from your BIOS, grab a cheap Multi-meter instead, than you will know where things are.

The noise on power on or "plug in" would be enough for me to stop using it.

Either PSU you listed will work very well, both have been properly reviewed (stressed to the max) and both did very well.

The place you listed to buy the EA unit seems to want to sell you the power cord (standard in the box) for extra money and that alone would make me not buy from them. Kind of like the mail order camera stores that pull the accessories from the box and sell them to you, a big no no for me.

The Corsair has a 3 year Warrantee as well, hard to beat.:)
 
BillR said:
Actually Antec made some supplier changes to solve some problems.

First rule, never ever ever trust the voltage reading from your BIOS, grab a cheap Multi-meter instead, than you will know where things are.

The noise on power on or "plug in" would be enough for me to stop using it.

Either PSU you listed will work very well, both have been properly reviewed (stressed to the max) and both did very well.

The place you listed to buy the EA unit seems to want to sell you the power cord (standard in the box) for extra money and that alone would make me not buy from them. Kind of like the mail order camera stores that pull the accessories from the box and sell them to you, a big no no for me.

The Corsair has a 3 year Warrantee as well, hard to beat.:)
Click to expand...

QFT.

Honestly just ignore the software readings of voltages, They're highly inaccurate. If you really want to know your voltages, you'll need a digital multi-meter. An FAQ on that:
http://www.bfgpower.com/troubleshooting.html#DMM

The EA500 was always $80 to $80 on newegg, even the Seasonic built version. It's just that there were a ton of deals for that PSU that dropped it to $40 to $60.
 
It's my lucky day.
There's a Corsair/Newegg promotion only active today and tomorrow: MIR for $25 on the the 400CX, making it $35 after everything. Decision made. Thanks much for the replies.
 
I've ordered from PCboost several times. All orders arrived at my door a week from placing it. Shipping was just $5 each.

Yes, the whole "pcboost extras" is a waste of $$$. Just get the $35 PSU.

I ordered 3 of those EA-500D PSU's and they all arrived safely. I didn;t opt for the power cord, but it was supplied anyways.
 
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