Arg...in need of a new power supply...

[Triple_7]

2 times this ones been fixed by a friend but its just a piece of crap.  Fan keeps coming loose and its always been loud...So time for a new one and stop screwing with this one.  

So whats a good choice?  Definatly going with at least a 400 watt this time.  Currently its a 250.  Don't need anything with fancy lights or anything.  Prefferably something under $35  And a nice quiet one would be great...this one tends to sound like a prop taking off

[Gunny04]

Well triple, if you go for a PSU 35 or less, your running a very high risk of frying your system.... this is what I heard when I bought my 450 off ebay, and no problems, So just search ebay for PSUs and google for reviews on em...... Cheers, Gunny (I bought an Energy star)

[ctjoyce]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103928

Not the best on the market, but will do absolutely fine for what you need, and has gotten fairly high reviews

@Gunny. Energy Star PSUs tend to suck arse, so buyer beware. Should have gotten a ThermalTake or Antec, or even god forbid an Aspire.

Cheers
Cameron

[Chris_F]

I just bought one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817153023

It appears to be VERY high quality.  Louder than my old 250W (which was silent) but not loud.  I'd say it's about average.  It's got a ton of connectors and the cable management is done very nicely.  So far it works like a charm.

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

I am thinking of getting a CoolerMaster's RealPower one which comes with 450W...it's about 100 Euro...

[ctjoyce]

If your going to drop 100 Euro's take a look at this insted. http://www.frozencpu.com/psu-163.html?id=KK5E98yY One of the highest rated PSUs on the market. Also comes in Blue, Silver, and Red to match your case needs

Cheers
Cameron

[Gunny04]

Well CT, 3 months and not a single problem yet with New PSU, and I tend to leave my computer running 24/7 with ocasional restarts whenever needed...... even if it sucks, its doing its job! Cheers, Guny

[kipman725]

Don't go on rating most medium or low end psus will pop or give massivly fluctuating voltage way before that.  If your old psu was only 250W then you don't need a psu rated any heigher than that.  Get something like a 300W tagan which In my opinion are second only the ppc.  I have been running a 330w tagan with my rig for the best part of 8months and having opened it up for a sleaving job can say it's very well built inside, it's very efficiant compared to cheep psu's so the fans have to only spin slowly to keep it cool and so are inaudiable.  I woulden't advise getting a psu off ebay, most of the time the savings are minimal and alot of the psu's on ebay are utter tat.  

[ctjoyce]

Kipman the problem with useing a underpowered PSU (anything under 400Watt) is you run the risk of rouining hardware. Its better to have the extra on hand, then to underpower the system. Just ask gunny, and he'll give you an ear full about getting a good PSU

Cheers
Cameron

[kipman725]

400w is massivly overpowered if he gets a good brand.  His pc isn't an sli monster and clearly dosen't consume more than 250w otherwise his old psu would have toasted the first time he switched his pc on.

What your thinking of I think are modern motherboard manuals by the likes of DFI which recomend oversized psu's because most psu's can't put out anywhere near there rated amount of power.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/11/stress_test/
see this for how alot of "good" brands of psu fall outside atx spec before full load.
now think how badley a genric psu would do if these are ment to be good quality psu's!

thats why I only recomend Tagen and PPC as there the only ones I would trust with my systems that are worth more than

[Triple_7]

Part of the reason for a higher power supply is to provide a more stable current.  If everything is fighting for power from a small psu then your system will not run to its full potential.  Currently I have a seperate graphics card, sound card, and some other power pulling items to run on different occasions.  I notice a little sluggishness they are all running.  So the higher supply will keep everything happy, and if not then its something else.  

Part of the reason for a higher one now is that this system is only going to last a little while longer.  I plan to build a new one when I get the money and will use a few select parts from this one to get started.  After that the old psu will be fixed and put back in this one to be used as an office computer.  Wont get much use and the fan wont get the constant run.  

Thanks for all the info.  I think I've settled on the Thermaltake 430W Chris_F mentioned.  Its in the price range and should more then meet my needs

[4_Series_Scania]

Your PSU requirements are based on the power needs of your combined components.
In real terms this is down to your CPU+motherboard chipset combination and most likely you graphics card choice. Hard disk and optical drive quantity may be an issue however unless you are running a very low power CPU + Graphics card combination alongside a massive array of drives then it is unlikely you will run into trouble.

The minimum wattage I would recommend for a system running a recent (ie dual core) CPU and single graphics card would be 400W +, for a system running high spec CPU and graphics card options I would settle for no less than 500W and if you are running an SLI system you will require an SLI certified PSU (which has 2 seperate PCI-E power connectors) delivering at LEAST 550W of clean power.


PSU brand is another important and often overlooked section of PSU selection.
PSU's rated power and their TRUE power are often entirely different things. I know it sounds crazy and is at the very least is a pain in the proverbials for any rookie builder, it is however true, especially with regard to cheap brand PSU's.

You may have noticed if browsing for PSU's that some 500W variations can be had for circa

[ctjoyce]

Exactly.

Like many before me have said 400W is the minimum you should be running a P4 or AMD 3200+ (and above) system on. Between DVD, CPU, GPU, MOBO, HDD, and the fans + anything else you may have all that energy will get used.

However if you plan to do any extreem overclocking (like me) your gonna need something a bit heftyer. Ive got a 580W (max 630W) Hiper Type R in my case, and it provides a steady flow of power to my 3.99Ghz prescott (235x17 @ 1.5780Volts), X800 (flashed to be a X800XL O/Cd to 500mhz core / 700mhz memory) DVD drive, 2x WD SATA drives, and 3 120mm case fans + 2 UV cathodes.

Now what I have may be concidered "overkill" but all I wanted was the most I could get out of my components, and I believe I'm almost there (I know I can push my CPU and GPU further, I just need to cool the northbridge better for 4.2Ghz on the CPU, and remount the HSF on the GPU to get better temps for a clock of 650/1000, or I could just try water). Whatever I do, I know I will be happy.

Cheers
Cameron

[Ivan]

Coolermaster Realpower 550... 550W rated, Around 480W true (that's where the safety triggers)

[kipman725]

your all recomending huge psu's but his system is a duron 1500mhz  :P