It used to be Antec or Enermax...

now there are 50 brands, all price levels, 12 volts, no 12 volts, 1 huge fan, 3 small fans, redundency, LED lights, im whack-belly confused and I need your help.


I think I need a new one and I dont know which one to get.

Ive got an AMD 3200 on an MSI board with a pair of SATA drives and an IDE drive, a gig of PC 3200 ram a couple optical drives and a 9800 Pro.

Currently I have an Antec 400 and have experienced hard-locks under PC stress.

New CPU, didnt fix it (i didnt expect it to), new mobo, same problem, new RAM same problem... this leaves me to suspect that the Power supply that has served me well for the past 3+ years is failing me.

But what to replace it with?

$100 for a power supply is doable for me..... so give me some guidance.

Im thinking I need P4 support just in case I go that rout down the road.... I need some SATA connectability and the potential exists later down the road to move the power supply to a kickin 64 bit rig and whatever next-gen Video card is out there...


HELP ME PIMPS!

Thankful as ever,

BzA

Enermax is still a great company. One of the best companies I know of is PC Power & Cooling, but I doubt you can get anything of thiers for $100. What I do, is read about the rails, how much Current they hold is a big factor. Read reviews as well. Antec isn't the best PSU manufacturer, maybe go for the best Enermax you can get for $100.

Btw, I don't live far from tallahassee .


EDIT: What about the X-connect PSU? I think I seen those for around $100, read some decent reviews on them too.

EDIT 2: Check this pimped out PSU, comes with a free SATA cable too! PimpRig did a review on it also. Er, wait, you might have to order it direct from Ultra, to get the free cable .

BLAH Enermax blows chuncks I hate mine I want to blow it up.

Go with Antec or X-Conect (BA loves his)

I just used an X-Connect for a PC I built for a customer/friend. I thought it was nice. I run a 400watt Fortron, and I honestly think that is the best budget PSU ever, except for the higher wattage ones.

X-Connect (no SATA cables though...)

the OCZ Powerstream series arn't as clean as the PC P&C but they are so adjustable that Macci, Oppainter and the other hardcore'ers on the top of the ORB are using them. Newegg has em, $130 for the 520w, $100 for 470w, $85 for 420w. All are pretty damn good.

the Enermax Noisetaker line also very good, the Antec Neopower (IMO antecs only worthwhile PSU ATM) is a Noisetaker with the plug & play wire config thing a-la X-Connect (not braided though but it has SATA, 14-pin CPU and dual 12v rails). the Noisetaker lacks the 6-pin PCI-E power and 24-pin CPU power that the Neopower has.

Finally there's the FSP-530, you can find it under Fotron Source or Sparkle (same thing) for $75 its a SUPERB PSU, in all fairness its the next choice after an OCZ and PC P&C with adjustable pots, SATA ports and fantastic rails.

Quote: Originally Posted by Red02 BLAH Enermax blows chuncks I hate mine I want to blow it up. Go with Antec or X-Conect (BA loves his)

I would rather have an Enermax, than an Antec , and hey, you are forgetting PC P&C! My vote is for that X-connect, plenty of current, looks good, stable, and is cheap . You can get the SATA connector for the X-connect, maybe even for free if you order it direct.

I forgot about Fortron/sparkle, those are decent too.

Cant go wrong w/ an x-connect. Shiny

PC power and cooling if you have the money. after that i would get an antec despite owning an enermax (i saw they have a external molex)
i resent the X-connect supplies for some reason.

Quote: Originally Posted by carbongraphite i resent the X-connect supplies for some reason.

I see...at least you explain yourself eloquently.

To speak from personal experience... The Vantec Stealth 520W I am using right now has powered at least 4 seperate systems and currently powers my main rig which runs an OC'd P4 EE, DVD Burner, 6 CATHODES, x4 80mm fans, x2 92mm fans, x3 120mm fans, x5 Hard Drives, Custom Dragon meter x3, large LCD display, and more. This PSU is at about 3 years old and has even be rewired with new molexs and it still runs absolutely great. Plus it has an extra plug so that you can daisy chain another plug off of the psu so you can plug something like your monitor into it so that the monitor comes on when the PC is turned on. I have my watercooling pump pugged into it.

Well we knew this post would be here...
PCPower&Cooling TURBO510 Deluxe
If you are going to spend the 100 go the rest of the way.
It's got everything and a 5 yr warrenty.

I'll be lucky to get $100 into a PSU so $200 is way outta my ballpark.

That Vantec one is appealing and I always take personal recommendations to heart. Thanks for all the good advice.

I'll let you know which direction i go.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita I see...at least you explain yourself eloquently.

BA, what would your recommendation be?

And I looked into that "X-Connect" dealie and it looks pretty swanky..... i've never heard of the brand before.

Quote: Originally Posted by BZA BA, what would your recommendation be? And I looked into that "X-Connect" dealie and it looks pretty swanky..... i've never heard of the brand before.

You have never heard of Ultra?? They have been around for a while.

They are good PSU's, why don't you search for some reviews. BA even did a review on one, and gave it the PR award.

Click here.

BZA, I will send you a PM with some more questions on what you are looking for.

If he wants a quality PSU for the $100 ballbark, well, $100 is the X-Connect which is a niche PSU, the modder or the OC'er who wants organized cables.

for $130 at the Egg you can get the OCZ Powerstream 520w which is, almost on par with the PC Power and Cooling, in practice the differences are nill, oh, you want a warrenty? OCZ offers a 5 year one too...

if $100 is your max then look at either the FSP-530 (you can find it under either Fotron or Sparkle), this $75 powerhouse has adjustable pots for the nutjobs out there and has been proven in testing to be able to take most anything you can throw at it (big pelts and such not included). Also there's the TTGI-550 Superflower (550w) which has amzing rails, pots and in general trades a little of the Fotrons rail cleaness for a 140mm fan for system cooling and in effect is stable enough.

for some alternate perspective;

the worlds top OC'ers are using OCZ's beause the PC P&C just doesn't let them tune enough, its made for those who OC well but don't kick it up to the next notch. The FSP-530 has come to replace the TTGI but its still viable, this horse is used by the budget OC'ers who buy the cheap parts and volt-mod em and make them run fast as hell.