As the thread title goes.
I will be posting up some information about power supplies. Feel free to enquire what power supply your rig is able to run on.
-Reserved for text-
In this first segment, I will be covering on power supplies and the quality of power supplies from different brands.
1) Why you should buy a quality power supply?
The reason is simple. Quality power supplies are not only able to deliver their rated power, but they also deliver it in a cleaner and more stable manner.
This means that you will have to use less voltage to your CPU when overclocking, it also helps to prolong the life of your hardware when they are provided with clean, unfluctuating power.
Also, the power supply lasts longer.
2) What makes a good power supply?
There are many things a good power supply has.
Look for operational features like OCP (Overcurrent Protection), OVP/UVP (Overvoltage/Undervoltage protection), SCP (Short circuit Protection), PFC (Power factor correction) and such.
If you open up a quality power supply, chances are you'll find the following traits.
a) A fan with ball bearings from a reputable manufacturer. (AVC, Nidec, Sanyo, ADDA, Globe, Delta, etc.)
b) Quality Japanese capacitors that are rated at the higher maximum operating temperature of 105 degrees Celsius. (Nichihon, Nippon Chemicon, Hitachi, Rubycon)
c) Active PFC. This is evident when you see the absence of a voltage selector switch at the rear of the unit.
d) Sleeved cables. Now, it doesn't mean all PSU's with sleeved cables are good, but it usually means that they have at least added some quality to the cabling. Thick wires are also a good indicator.
3) After telling you all these, which PSU brands are trustworthy?
a) Seasonic. Major OEM for many companies. Can ALWAYS be trusted.
b) Enermax. Excellent PSU's. Sometimes gawdy (the Revolution 87+??) but nonetheless excellent.
c) Antec. Their older PSU's were quite crappy, but a huge majority of their new power supplies like the CP and Signature series are rock solid.
d) Cougar Power. Don't confuse this with HEC's Cougar series, even though Cougar's PSU's are built by HEC.
e) Delta. Well-known for making performance DC fans, but not as well known in the PSU realm. Fact however, is that Delta is an OEM for many major brands. Certain Asus PSU's are OEM'ed by Delta, and I believe some Antec PSU's are from Delta too. Delta also OEM's for major computer companies such as HP and Dell.
f) Hipro. Another lesser-known PSU brand. They make rather decent PSU's. Like Delta, popular in the OEM world but not that famous in the consumer PSU market. They are the OEM for certain CoolerMaster units.
g) Corsair. This brand, as well as Seasonic, are the safest to buy from. All their PSU's are decent, have all the protections a modern PSU should have, are of excellent build quality, and will do their rated power cleanly. The downside to them is that their PSU's are on the expensive side, even for some of the models like the TX750, which sports an outdated internal design.
These are the top brands I would recommend without hesitation. Feel free to recommend other good brands.
4) So, what is not good?
a) HEC. Rubbish PSU's. Yes, the excellent Cougar Power PSU's are made by them, but they suck when it comes to their own HEC-branded PSU's.
b) AMA. Rubbish as well. Recent Asus branded PSU's are sold under the AMA Axe Pro moniker. Can't trust them.
c) Linkworld. Go Google them. 430W PSU selling for a little more than 15 bucks brand new. Pure crap.
d) The PSU that is bundled with cheap crap casings. Rubbish. For example, Gigabyte bundles a 400W PSU with most of their chassis, but its really light, and the weight itself is a huge giveaway that the PSU won't do 400W properly.
5) Mediocre?
a) Sirfa/Sirtech. And OEM for quite a few of the mid-level PSU companies. Fairly decent, but nothing special. PC Power & Cooling PSU's used to be built by Seasonic. Since then they have been bought over by OCZ, and the new PC P&C OEM is now Sirfa.
b) OCZ. Nothing exceptionally good about their PSU's, which is why they fall under the mediocre category. When you buy an OCZ PSU, you're getting one that will safely run at its rated voltage, but things like ripple suppression and voltage regulation is just mediocre.
c) CoolerMaster. Silent Pro/Silent Pro M/Real Power Pro series are excellent. eXtreme Power Plus series are rubbish, in a sense. For example, if you take the eXtreme Power Plus 460W model, and subtract 60W from its rating, that's what you actually get. The 460W ePP is a good 400W PSU, but nowhere near a good 460W PSU. It will do 460W, but not cleanly. Same goes for the rest of the ePP series.
d) ThermalTake. They mix shit and ice cream, but when you taste shit and ice cream, it tastes like shit. They do make pretty good stuff. In fact most of their recent PSU's are no pushover. However, the older lines from Thermaltake are disappointing in more than just a couple of areas.
e) AcBel. Popular OEM. Fairly decent, but lacks sparkle, really.
So, that's about it for this segment. In the next segment I will mention how to pick a power supply for your needs, and why it is beneficial to stay within the 60% - 80% load range of the PSU.
Welcome to Part 2 of my PSU guide.
In this section, I will be telling you how to pick the right power supply for your needs.
There are a large variety of PC power supplies to choose from, and they pretty much have the same characteristics, be it a top-of-the-line PC P&C Turbo-Cool 1200W PSU, or the humble but very well-performing Corsair CX400.
This common trait is known as the efficiency curve.
The efficiency of a power supply goes in a curve roughly similar to that of a car engine.
At a certain RPM, the most horsepower is produced, and at a certain RPM, the most torque is produced.
To maximize fuel economy, you have to shift at the right time.
This is how the power supply works.
Most power supplies nowadays can hit an efficiency level of 80% and above. However, only a select few with excellent regulation can hit 80% or more across the entire power usage band.
A more efficient power supply draws less power at the wall compared to a less efficient one.
It saves on utility bills, and because a larger portion of the input energy is converted into useful energy, you have a cooler, quieter power supply.
Most power supplies usually hit the efficiency peak at 60%-80% load level, so this is how much you will want your system to draw from it.
Take the following systems as a guideline.
1) A basic computer with an AMD/Intel dual-core chip and integrated graphics, or low-end dedicated graphics from ATi or nVidia, draws 250W DC at the most. Therefore, it is completely safe to run such a rig off a simple Seasonic 350W power supply.
e.g.: AMD Athlon X2/Intel Core2Duo/Core i3/i5, 1 HDD, 1 ODD, Intel GMA/nVidia 8400GS or similar level/ATi HD4350 or similar level.
Recommendations: Seasonic S12II 380B, Corsair CX400
2) A slightly better computer with dual/quad core AMD/Intel chip, and mid-level ATi/nVidia chip will draw 500W DC at the most. You're safe running it on a good 500W PSU.
e.g.: AMD Athlon X4/Phenom X4/Core2Quad/Core i3/i5, 2 HDD, 1 ODD, ATi Radeon HD4850/nVidia GTS250 or similar level.
Recommendations: Seasonic S12II 520/M12II 520.
3) High-end Gaming computer.
e.g.: AMD Phenom II X4, X6/Intel Core i7 8xx, 9xx, 2 or more HDD’s, 1 ODD, ATi Radeon HD5850 or similar, nVidia GTX260/275 or similar.
A good 600W PSU will suffice.
Recommendations: Seasonic S12II 620/M12II 620, Corsair HX620, PC P&C 610EPS12
4) Enthusiast build with more than one GPU, and high-end GPU’s, complete with overclocking of the CPU and GPU.
e.g. AMD Phenom X6/Intel Core i7 Extreme, 2 or more HDD’s, 1 ODD, Dual ATi Radeon HD5870/ATi Radeon HD5970/Dual nVidia GTX470, GTX480/nVidia GTX295
You will need a 700W PSU at minimum.
Recommendations: Antec 750, other compatible.
Corsair HX750 not recommended because although it is good, it is based on an outdated platform by CWT (Channel Well Technology) called the PSH platform.
Posted to How to ...Tech Guides
Thanks for compiling. :)