Expensive PSU, worth the money???

We all tell people here that they must buy an expensive PSU, but are we wasting their money.

I've built loads of systems for people based on whatever PSU was in the case and they have all been utterly reliable. Lets face it Big manufacturers wouldn't spend out large amounts on the PSU, so why should we.

I know there are loads of sites talking about the perils of cheap PSU's but from my experience they are not a problem.

Having said that I have an Antec truepower in my main system which works beautifully, but so did the 400 watt cheapie that it replaced. I only bought it because I thought that I was missing out on something.

Of course I do agree that a good PSU is nice to have but only for us nutcases who have super machines and love to spend our hard earned cash on our hobbies.

All comments welcome, but please be gentle I have a bad back at the moment:D

I don't know Philgo I have replaced more than a fair share of dead power supplies and subsequent damaged system boards (which I blame on the power supply that failed). By comparison if they had doled out the extra $50 or so more for a quality supply it may well have saved them bigger dollars that they have needed to spend to get their systems back up and running.

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We all tell people here that they must buy an expensive PSU, but are we wasting their money.

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Is an expensive PS needed? No. A quality one? yes. And the two don't necessarily have to equate. Lot's of recommendations get made (unfortunately) in terms of brand and even wattage that are frequently overkill, and limited. Also, a lot of times here "safe" recommendations get made. Sure a 450watt "xyz" PS will do the job, but so will other PSes that aren't that brand, wattage, etc.

As you say, there are plenty of more than adequate PSes out there that are not necessarily top of the line, limited to one or two brand names, and don't have to cost a lot of money.

To me, this article sums up the risks of a cheap power supply:

http://www4.tomshardware.com/column/20011012/index.html

And don't forget, that there's more to power supplies than the stability of their outputs. Some of them are woefully inefficient, and that can add up to a lot of extra electricity used over the course of a year, especially for a PC that's left on 24/7. That cheap PSU may not work out quite so cheap after all when you take running costs into account.

I just put "antec psu smoke" into Google and it came up with a lot of hits pointing to other forums where people suffered similar problems with Antec PSU's.

When you think that Antec probably make less than 1% of the worlds PSU's it would stand to reason that all other makes would have more problems.

So I'm not convinced, although I'd take the Antec anyday if I had to choose, but I dont think they are required in middle of the road machines.

Trust Tom's Hardware to hit the nail on the head and then tell you more than you ever wanted to know. :p

Tom's is often quite good. But sometimes they miss the mark (and the facts). And sometimes they (like others) get in to things that for most people are not an issue, not particularly important. That's why no one source should be relied on totally.

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/ -- got this link off this forum and I've posted it a few times before but its relevant here again...

Rapmaster, your link tells you to read the lable on a PSU before buying, that would be nice if you can believe what you read.

So I'm none the wiser and can only go on my own experience.

Three years ago I started a thread that asked if anyone had ever bought a PSU that put out too much power and destroyed any part of a computer. I got a lot of replies from people and not one had experienced any problems in that way. Has that changed? I'd like to hear from anyone who is certain that a PSU damaged their machine and it wasn't a power spike or lightening.

EDIT found my original http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...hreadid=100066

Like I said in that original discussion, it's always possible to get a PS that is defective and overvolts on one or more rails to an extend that is sufficient to cause damage. But to date I haven't personally experienced it (through many a power supply).

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Originally posted by Philgo
I'd like to hear from anyone who is certain that a PSU damaged their machine and it wasn't a power spike or lightening.

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I have seen many bargain basement PS go sour that have created havoc with their associated system from not powering up, not POSTing, not booting properly and in some cases causing blue screens. Did they damge the system board? No not in those cases. I have also seen many a system with both a crapped out PS and SysBrd with scorch marks surroungding the connection to the PS. As they aren't my systems and I wasn't there at the time can I say categorically that it wasn't a power spike or lightening? No. In several instances though the systems belonged to people who live within a few blocks and there was no storm, blackout\brownouts. So I would feel pretty safe jumping to my own conclusion.

Calpitor, do you work with computers all day?

Have you had any big name PSU's fail in a big way?

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Originally posted by Philgo
Calpitor, do you work with computers all day?Yes. I'm self employed.

Have you had any big name PSU's fail in a big way? A big way? No but I once saw a defective UPS (Belkin) that was defective from the get-go and after a couple of days after installed the battery had begun to melt. What a stench! :p

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Hello there,

Ok i am actually in the market for a new PSU, I have read this thread with interest, and am coming to the conclusion that the deadset cheapo psu's should not be touched with somebody else's bargepole...

I know that if I were to ask for a recommendation on which "brand" to buy the majority would say antec or enermax. But is there a middle of the road here? Cheapest antec I have seen in uk with about 400watts is gonna cost me £60 or so... I have seen unbranded (generics) for as little as £15..... surely there is something in the middle???

ta very much

Phil

Hi Tech! :) Tee Hee I made a funny! :cool:

I'm not terribly familiar with the marketplace in the U.K. but Thermaltake have a fairly good reputation and the prices over here are quite reasonable.

Other good brands (but by no means all inclusive): PC Power and Cooling, Zalman, Vantec, Aerocool, Sparkle, Fortron.

Another thing (that complicates things) is that quite often so called no-name PSes are made by one of the more well known manufacturers, and as a result can be quite good.

im in the process of building a new rig and on the advice of calpitor and photolady, im going to install a new antec ps even though the case has an asys already installed it all goes back to what grandma always said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure im not willing to take any chances, even though this is my first pc build and we learn from our mistakes...i want to start off on a solid footing...

Hi Guys,

'lo Cal, Tee Hee I made a funny! as well.... almost.. :D I checked out the thermal take's.. and it would seem i could get a bit more for my money than the antec of a similar price.. so cheers for that..

DrMDJ, a lot of info there.. u certainly know your stuff... but all the searches I done on the Manufacturers you listed, basically all in same price range as the antecs and enermax's. Not a criticism.. was just hoping to find mid ground .. ya know :cool:

And Maddhatter.. I couldn't agree more about getting off on the right foot, and here at vdr is the best place to start, but ya got keep these guys on their toes!!!! ask ask ask.. ;)

It would seem it's all or nothing with PSU's.... so probably best to go all... I really do fancy this tho'.... any comments on it?

Cheers as always

phil

Overkill, more than likely, BUT I'd take it real quick. Lots of fancy speed contols do add to the price though. About double it in fact from my experience.

Noise : 17 dBA at 1300 rpm, 45 dB at 4800 rpm

now that 17 is awful guiet . :D

Hi Train,

funny you should mention the price!!! Because here in UK I can find it for this much ,while antec of similar wattage is this much .

Course I appreciate there are differences in warranty and such, but it does seem a real good buy dont it...

Cheers

phil

well i decided on the antec ps because of the reccomendations of photolady and calpitor, not just that but the antec "true blue" ps is gonna look just samshing along with my case and its blue lights, its an asiapro model 8654 from newegg pretty sweet...

techallenged, how about an Antec 450 (not truepower) for £51.99

Or an Antec server case with a 430 truepower for £79.49


http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...5k&mfr_uid=195

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Lots of fancy speed contols do add to the price though

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And interestingly enough, PSes with these controls have often shown in tests to not keep a tight voltage tolerances as supplies without.

Tech,

Sorry don't know prices in the UK. Just wanted to throw out some more options, comparable and in some case better than the brands previously mentioned. Like everything, ya just got to shop around.

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It would seem it's all or nothing with PSU's

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Not entirely true (as I think this post is about). There isn't just good and bad, and nothing in between. There are certain standards you want to adhere to, but... Like lots of things, ya just need to know what to look at/for. The many of big name PSes like have been mentioned are indeed very good. But they really aren't the "only game(s) in town". However, often it is most prudent to just play things safe. Which is a legitimate course of action.

PS. I see in some of your later links you are considering 480watt supplies. Do you really need that much? In most cases few people really do. Of course if the price is right, the more reserve watts the better.;)

well im going with the 480 watter because im gonna be running many fans and a high end video card, lots of ram and the mobo supports 8 ide devices, i'd rather err on the side of overkill than not get it to work at all with a lesser ps

For those who are in the market for a power supply now, go to ebay.com and search for "Thermaltake power supply" and/or "Antec power supply" to get an idea what you may have to pay for either one. I have been using ebay for the last seven or so years and have never been stung, but I look at the sellers feedback before I bid. If you just put "power supply" in search, you will get too much junk.

Hey there,

Philgo, yep ebuyer, its where I just got the bits I just put together, and that antec has been considered/ still is!!! I already have a box, but appreciate the idea.

DrMDJ I realise that market places are very different from country to country, so it is difficult... to be honest it was a refreshing change to see more than 2 manufacturers listed:D and it gave me some extra info to work out what I need!!

Since my incident with the burning out the hard drive here and consequencly 2 other ide devices, its sorta made me think whether any ps's could have handled my situation better. I have found some to have some sort of anti- shorting out capabilities etc, lower running cost as far elec bill goes.. etc...

Do I need 480 watts... well not now.. 3 ide devices down the swanny:( ... Its hard to know how many watts I'll ever use... but my new system has been built into a Chieftec Matrix case which can house 6 x 5.25, 6 x 3.5 internal and 2x3.5 internal.. and still there is space at the bottom for unobstructed 80mm intake fan! all told there are inbuilt housing for 6 80 mm fans (2 rear, 3 front and 1 side panel) plus room above psu for a 120 mm exhaust.. so I imagine there would be plenty potential to use all them 480 watts :D

What I meant about all or nothing was aimed at the price range more than anything, there doesn't seem to be a mid range somehow... based on products of similar wattage (say 450) the branded ps's start at around £50 while the non branded seem to top out at about £25... there seems to be very little in between... but as you say maybe its about looking for and finding them!!!

Its interesting what you say about the ps's with fan speed controllers, personally I'm thinking I need stability more than control of the fans...

Appreciate everyones input here... thank you..

phil

My 2 cents.

I work with systems of all types daily and to my knowledge I have never seen a psu cause any damage to other componets in a machine barring lightning, spike, surges.

My understanding of devices within a system is that they will only draw the needed power from the psu that is required for the device to do its thing. So if one buys a 500w psu and the total system requires only 350 for the devices to run that the added ability of the 500w psu will not adversy affect the system.

gghartman, very interesting thanks.

I would really like to get more input from people who work with lots of different machines, it would be nice to clear this up once and for all.

So please let me know if you've encountered PSU's causing damage to other components, thanks.