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Which raidmax to get

S

stevedave

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
5,737
How about neither?

I rather like the non-modular VX 450. It's in the same price range at other places but not newegg, and it's a better power supply.
 
Bbq said:
How about neither?

I rather like the non-modular VX 450. It's in the same price range at other places but not newegg, and it's a better power supply.
Click to expand...

Is 450 enough for 9600GT sli?

also the raidmax is 34 bucks after rabate the vx450 is 67 thats double the price.
 
There is a reason for that. ;) I'd look at the Corsair 520 or 550, Antec EarthWatt 500, any Enermax above 500 that has 2x6pin PCI-E cables.

If you are willing to spend the $$ to get 2 video cards, spend the money to POWER them both with a GOOD unit.
 
stevedave said:
Is 450 enough for 9600GT sli?

also the raidmax is 34 bucks after rabate the vx450 is 67 thats double the price.
Click to expand...

On the whole, the Raidmax PSUs are of very questionable quality. In the case of the "34 bucks after rebate" model, you'll never know what you're going to get: More than likely, you'd get a power supply unit which can't deliver anywhere near the power that's claimed on the label or packaging at the internal temperatures which the PSU is operating at. That brand rates its power at an internal temperature of only 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). But power supply units always operate at internal temps much higher than that - 40 to 50 degrees Celsius (104 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit). At those temps, that "cheap" unit would deliver much less than its stated wattage.

On top of the above, the Raidmax "530W" modular PSU is of an older design which puts too much power onto the +3.3V and +5V rails. You don't need anywhere near 30A on either the +3.3V rail or the +5V rail; in fact, modern systems draw less than 10A from either of the two rails but a lot of current from the +12V rail(s).

In this case, penny wise means pound foolish. If you're going to run two high-performance graphics cards at the same time, then forget about those lower-priced units, and save up about $75 to $100 for a good one which can handle a high-end system with the two cards and some room to spare.
 
I snagged the 30 dolla raidmax.

I need to move my antec SP 2.0 to a different board because it has 8pins so I need another PS now. I mainly just wanted to know aside from the fact it's a cheap PS if there were any huge issues with it or better PS's for the same price.

I am going to get the Antec NeoPower 650 when I get my new MB and Quadcore but that wont be for a while so I hope this will work for a year or so. My sp 2.0 has been working for over 2 years now so I seem to have good luck with PS's.

thanks for the help this PS seems to be about as good enough for something I am only going to use for a short time.
 
I concur with E4g1e and Bbq. Neither of those Raidmax power supplies are any good. If you check out the ripple rating on the +5V and +3.3V rail for each PSU, it's 70mV. The max recommended rating is 50mV. So the Raidmax PSUs do have the potential to hurt your system. Why buy a PSU that has the potential to damage your PSU?

If you're planning on SLI, spend a bit money on the power supply. Check out the Corsair 550VX 550W PSU. It's more than capable of handling 9600GT SLI.

EDIT: I really should type faster. Good luck and hopefully it doesn't damage your system. There were better PSUs for the price though:
Antec Earthwatts 430W PSU - $60
 
yeah the raidmax is still half that price though. Taking a risk with the PS hopefully it doesn't hurt anything but if it does I have 5 other computers I can use and will be doing a slow upgrade to quad with in the year so I wouldn't be too devastated if something did happen.

I'm getting a cheapO now so I can get a good one later for my new MB and Quad. If the earthwatts go on a good sale I'll pick up 2 of them with my newly printed booster check the government is trying to buy our love with.
 
stevedave said:
yeah the raidmax is still half that price though.
Click to expand...

Based on my experience, even half the price is much higher than that PSU is really worth. I wouldn't pay even $25 for it. And even at that, I'd only use that PSU on a system which is already so outdated that it could barely run current versions of productivity and security software at all on a reasonably up to date version of Windows (XP with SP2). In other words, I'd only use such a cheap PSU on a system that is already set to be broken up by a parts recycling service within a few weeks even if that system still works. (And by the latter term I mean a system that's so outdated that any tangible upgrades would cost much more money than the entire system is worth.)
 
uhWOOPS ... if you want to go quad + mulit-GPU, you need to cancel that order.

The RaidMax does not have the 8-pin EPS 12v connector, just the older 4-pin P4 12v

another possibility: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817226003

This PSU is only $25AR and it has the adaptive 4+4 pin connector to satisfy P4/AMD and EPS.

The forum [H] is a great resource when researching gear for a new build or upgrade.
Being able to access the trials and experiences of 1000's of others helps a lot.

Take a look here if in doubt about any brand of PSU:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=974240
 
stevedave said:
I'm getting a cheapO now so I can get a good one later for my new MB and Quad. If the earthwatts go on a good sale I'll pick up 2 of them with my newly printed booster check the government is trying to buy our love with.
Click to expand...

That makes absolutely no sense at all. Get the good PSU now, so that you can use it to power the quad core and other goodies when you get them. If you get a cheap one now, you'll just have to replace it later on when the good things start to arrive.

I to agree with the other posters. It might be cheap, but theres a reason for that. Avoid the cheap ones, get something that won't fry your new setup. I second the motion to cancel the order.
 
The order is already through and shipped. The sigma was close to the same price but still not the same price, but I would have gotten that one of this one if I would have seen it before I ordered. Thanks for the help it may not seem to make sense but it does too me and I don't really want to try and explain the situation any further.
 
Don't touch Raidmax PSU's, I had a Raidmax 520w that died the other day with a blown capacitor.

There are tons of PSU's out there that are better quality and reasonably priced if you shop around.
 
Thanks for the late advice but it has already arrived and I am already using it. I haven't noticed a difference since I switched out my Antec SP 2.0 not that my old PS was a good one either , and I almost have my server that is using the Antec put together that will be my weekend project.

Soon I will be rollin in some fresh cash and will get me quad core and better PS, until then my life is in shaky hands with raidmax.
 
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