11.12.10 EDIT: Added
new link provided by
EzyStvy
Table of Contents:
-Five Important Rules to follow for Power Supply Unit (PSU) selection
-
Good/Bad Units List
-
General wattage calculator
-
Further Links
-
Who Really Made this Power Supply Unit? (thanks to
flazing1)
-
Notes
-
Disclaimer
This is the third major revision of the PSU guide, originally written by
bigandy, revised by
fedz, and heavily modified with multiple user contributions as presented before you here. It takes into account all the comments posted. Also, read the disclaimer at the bottom.
Copyright Notice: You MAY NOT re-post or redistribute any distinct portion of this thread (or its preceding revisions, as linked in the previous paragraph) in any form without proper credit. Please private message the original poster of this thread (kram 2.0) with comments, questions, inquiries, etc. Thanks!
Five Important Rules to follow for Power Supply Unit (PSU) selection:
In no particular order
1)
Do NOT skimp on the power supply unit - you are entrusting an expensive investment you've made in your computer to this unit.
2) Brand/Manufacturer reputation is VERY important
3) Rated/Advertised Wattage is NOT an indicator of quality or unit power.
4) Do NOT trust a PSU that weighs less than your CPU to power your system.
5) Research - let others do the testing for you and read about them. That's what this thread is for.
NOTE: To emphasize the point, "reputable" generally refers to companies that make high quality units while "Less Reputable" refers to manufacturers that produce normally faulty units. Like with any electronic product, there is a chance of failure with any unit, so please keep that in mind as you shop for a power supply unit.
 Reputable:1
Top quality PSU's in blue bold, high quality in blue - for high-end builds. Note that external hyperlinks are also blue on most browsers, but usually also underlined.
AMS
Akasa (PowerGreen, Power+)
Antec (almost all models)
AOpen (select models)
BFG Technologies (800W model)
Channel Well
Chieftec (non-bundled)
Cooler Master (UCP)
Corsair (Best PSU Manf., CustomPC)
Delta
E-Power
Enermax
Enlight
Fortron Source
Hi-Power
Jeantech
Mushkin
OCZ (EliteXStream, EvoStream, ProXStream)
PCMCIS
PC Power & Cooling
PowerMan
Raidmax (ONLY select models from Tagan/Topower)
Seasonic
SilenX
Silverstone (ZF, ZM)
Sparkle
Tagan
Thermaltake (select models)
TTGI/SuperFlower (select models)
Tuniq
Verax
Xclio (only GreatPower)
Zalman |
Questionable/Less Reputable:
Achieve
Allied
Apevia (formerly Aspire, same quality)
Bestec
Codegen
CoolMax
Cyberzone
DEER
Dragon
Eagle Tech
EYE-T
Foxconn
Greenline
Hiper (most low-wattage models)
HIPRO
JSP-tech
KingStar
Kingwin
L&C
Linkworld
Okia
Orion
PowerMagic
PowerTek
PowerUp
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax (almost all non Tagan/Topower)
Rosewill
Skyhawk
Startech
Turbolink
Ultra (esp. X-Connect)
Win
Xion
Youngyear
|
Not Enough Info/Undetermined:
AGPB
Ahanix
Astec
Broadway Com (mixed bag)
Dynapower USA
Gigabyte
HEC
Levicom
Mad Dog (mixed bag results)
NSpire
Soyo
Vantec (mixed reviews) |
General PSU Calculators:
Please note these should be used as GUIDES - as noted on their disclaimers, they cannot take into account every component, every part that is drawing power. As a general guidelines, it's a good idea to marginally overshoot the calculated wattage in order to cover for the entire system.
Newegg Power Supply Calculator
eXtreme PSU Calculator
Load on 12V Rail for Common ATI HDx Graphics Cards (originally from
VGA Source)
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/maxpc/cases.htm
Above links courtesy of Pancake, Fedz, Khalil, bill_bright, and glc.
Further links:
courtesy of Hi Ho, flazing1, Panama Red, Cricket, Freakitchen, and glc
Notes:
- PSU's inside manufacturer's cases, like Dell or HP, can sometimes use power supply units that may or may not be sufficient to allow for upgrades. In other words, you may need to upgrade your PSU in the real chance that the unit cannot handle the added load. Take note, and do your research first.
- Dell has often been using PC P&C for their PSU. HP, eMachine, Compaq, and Gateway USUALLY use either/or Bestec and Hipro.
- With modular power supplies, avoid lower-quality models that normally come with lower price tags. Like with normal attached units, reputable brands will perform.
DISCLAIMER:
Although some PSU's are listed in the good list, this does not mean that they are never going to fail. No component is ever perfect, these power supplies just have a higher success rate and generally provide cleaner, more efficient power.
The same goes for the 'bad' PSU's. Just because you have a 'bad' PSU it does not mean that it is going to fail on you the next day. These PSU's have been reported as problematic and there is a higher probability of them giving out, or at least not providing clean power through stable rails. There is also the matter of 'rated power'. Some "500W" power supplies have been known to provide less than 200W, whereas some good quality PSU's can provide more power than their rating.
When in doubt, start a thread and ask - we're here to help!
Quote:
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Originally Posted by JonnyGURU
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=71
It was hard to pick a winner among losers, but the clear leader of the pack would have to be the Delta DPS300-PB-1, if for no other reason than it actually still worked after we got done with it.
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