best power supply

[lewbaseball07]

what is the best power supply for the 100-200 dollar price range??

 

[jaguarskx]

If you are talking about overall quality and silence then that would be:

1. SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply

or

2. CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - This is also made by Seasonic.


If you are talking about the best with the highest wattage (at least 700w) then that would be:

COOLMAX CTG-750 ATX12V 750W Power Supply



Just kidding... Coolmax make crap PSUs.

1. Thermaltake toughpower W0117RU ATX12V / EPS12V 750W Power Supply - I would stay away from thier lower end PSUs. Their premium PSU are quite good.

2. SILVERSTONE SST-ST75ZF ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V 750W Power Supply

 

[jaguarskx]

PC Power and Coolings 610W unit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703005

IMO anyway.

Odd. This PC P&C PSU didn't show up in my filter. But I agree, this is also a top pick if quality is what you are after.

 

[Valtiel]

I finally decided that I will be getting the corsair 620HX. The JG review convinced me. Also the review says it has no overvoltage protection as he could put 30A on +12V1 without tripping the PSU which was interesting.
Here's the review: From JG

I really like the PSU's cables which are like kind of like flex force and they are easier to hide. Oh and the 50A from a 620W PSU is a big turn on

PC P&C is the best, no question but also the most expensive (and I want modular! )

 

[bloodandsoil]

If you are talking about overall quality and silence then that would be:

1. SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply

I took a look at the data sheets for the S12 and the M12 series from Seasonic. They are very similar. From what I have been able to see, there are only 3 differences.

1. The M12 has dual fan cooling (one 12cm and one 6cm fan). The S12 has one 12cm fan.

2. The M12-700 has 56 amps across the +12v rails. The S12 Energy+ 650 has 52 amps across the +12v rails. Of course both the M12 and S12 series have models that provide less power, so I just compared the top models in each series.

3. The M12-700 is about $210. The S12 Energy+ 650 is around $160.

That's it. Those are the only 3 differences I could find (other than their names of course hehe).

 

[pinkcaddy]

Another difference in the Seasonics you compared - M12 has modular cables, S12 does not (hence the "M")

 

[avarice]

I know that both Seasonic and PCP&C have solid reputations - regardless of the brand, I am sure you will be well served.

I have a question regarding the M12 products by Seasonic - the manufacturer's page lists the voltage Chart and despite the Amperage on each of the 4 +12V lines being listed as 18A - the collective amperage is different for each of the three models. None of them approaching the 72Amps that you would guess by simple math.

Now I know that the math generally isn't that simple - so I was hopeing for a clear explaination.

Also - for the money and the quality - how do you feel the Fortron 700W GLN stacks up? LINK


Thanks.

 

[lewbaseball07]

something about the thermaltake toughpower turns me on lol

is it good or not??

and can we decide on one please lol?

 

[Valtiel]

If there is no overvoltage protection and you can put 30A without tripping the unit that is bad for your system.

Well I didn't say it was good but I did say it was interesting. It came under johnnyguru's suspicion that the 620HX is actually a single rail PSU but don't wquote me on that.

Looking at the Seasonic main PCB inside the Corsair PSU reveals only two rails, labeled 12V1 and 12V2. There is no third rail. This is illustrated well at Hardware Secrets. Although I can not say that these rails are or are not somehow electronically separated in the PSU's circuitry somewhere, I did find that there was no OCP (over current protection or "limiter") on either of these rails as I was able to load any given connector up 30 to 40A with no drop in voltage, system shut down, etc.

So it is my opinion that we essentially have a single 12V rail PSU here. Certainly there is nothing wrong with this given the problems high end video cards have had with getting enough power from a single 12V rail when the OCP is set to the typical 240VA limit. But we do lose the advantages of multiple rails such as protection from damage to one rail from a short on another and the simple "filtration" of noise introduced from one rail to another.

This is what I meant (not sure if overcurrent protection = overvoltage protection)

 

[jaguarskx]

If you are talking about overall quality and silence then that would be:

1. SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply

I took a look at the data sheets for the S12 and the M12 series from Seasonic. They are very similar. From what I have been able to see, there are only 3 differences.

1. The M12 has dual fan cooling (one 12cm and one 6cm fan). The S12 has one 12cm fan.

2. The M12-700 has 56 amps across the +12v rails. The S12 Energy+ 650 has 52 amps across the +12v rails. Of course both the M12 and S12 series have models that provide less power, so I just compared the top models in each series.

3. The M12-700 is about $210. The S12 Energy+ 650 is around $160.

That's it. Those are the only 3 differences I could find (other than their names of course hehe).

I would choose the S12 series over the M12 series. I'm not totally convinced about the whole modular hype yet. Yeah, it makes cable management easier, but the connection point could have increased resistance, thus reducing efficiency. Also I think connection point could eventually break. But that's just my opinion about modular PSU for the moment.

More importantly, the extra 60mm fan introduces more noise. The two main reasons why I bought the S12 500 back in 2005 are because of the high efficiency and near silence of the entire S12 series.

 

[jaguarskx]

Then go with the PC Power and Coolings 610W unit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703005

Hurry before Newegg.com raises the price back up to $200.

 

[lewbaseball07]

theres only one 12v rail!

the 750w thermaltake has 4 ....thats better

 

[Valtiel]

Overvoltage and over current are 2 diffrent things.

Well then I am mistaken, sir .

 

[Valtiel]

theres only one 12v rail!

the 750w thermaltake has 4 ....thats better

Actually that's a myth, sorry. ATX 12V standard suggest that you don't put over 20A (not all PSU manufacturers follow this standard though) on a single rail so the PSU manufacturers split the rails up. Of course having multiple rails does have advantages such as if one rail were to die it would not affect the other rails...'

What matters is max output. The amount of amps you have when the rails are combined (or the amount you have on that single rail a la the PCP&C PSU).

The Silencer has a 49A max output while the thermaltake Toughpower (I'm assuming thats what you meant) has 48A max output.

This 750-Watt Toughpower power supply offers 12V combined output 48A, AMD/Intel Dual Core support

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2532306

Find it weird how the Silencer beats the Toughpower for max output even though the max wattage difference is 140W? Single rails for the win. Oh and PC Power and Cooling PSUs for the win

 

[jaguarskx]

theres only one 12v rail!

the 750w thermaltake has 4 ....thats better

Not necessarily. You could have wasted amps on those split rails (meaning un-used, but available amps) if you don't balance everything correctly.

If you want more than just one 12v rail then go with the Thermaltake. I would choose the PC P&C 610w PSU over the Thermaltake 750w PSU any day of the week. Unless I know I will need more than 610w.

 

[Valtiel]

Is it really unsafe at higher than 240VA though? Or is there no truth to that. (BTW that's what I was getting at in my previous post even if I couldn't remember it completely off the top of my head )

 

[ForestCat]

theres only one 12v rail!

the 750w thermaltake has 4 ....thats better

Actually, no. Many people seem to reach the wrong conclusion that each rail is truely independent of the other, almost like there are 4 separate power supplies. That is incorrect. This thinking also causes people to overestimate the amount of amps that can be delivered over the 12V rails. A good example that I remember is the Antec 500W Neo power supply. If you just added up the rating for each of the three rails you would think it can deliver something like 53 amps. The truth is the rails are all drawing their juice from the same pool and it can only deliver a total of 29 amps.

But don't just take my word for it. Here's what PC Power and Cooling has to say about and why they only have a single rail (look for #8 at the bottom).

Power Supply Myths

 

[mrmako]

I have a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 610.....Runs great and Shhhhh very quiet.

It also handles my OC'ed E6600 (10% now on stock, more to come) and an XFX 7950GT without a problem.

Get it before they're gone.....

 

[Esente]

I have a P180B Case, and when I read a review on NewEgg about PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W, he said that it's difficult to put this PSU into P180. Anyone to confirm? And how about the cables? Will they fit for all devices? Thanks!

 

[ForestCat]

I really like PC Power and Cooling and have owned a couple of their power supplies in the past, but that 610W Silencer would be a gamble for use in a P180. According to the specs for the motherboard power connector, it is 19" long.

Cable specs for Silencer 610W

From my own experience and from reading, people with 18" long connectors had all kinds of issues with the cable being too short in the P180. Once many PS manufacturers got this cable to the ca. 20" range most of those issues went away. At 19" I would have to say that it would be a big "maybe" and really depends on where the power connector is on the motherboard you wish to use. If that connector is lower on the board, then you won't have problems. If it's in the same spot as the power connector on my Asus M2N-Sli deluxe (which a 20.5" connector reached but with little slack to spare), I bet it wouldn't reach without some kind of extension harness.

I linked a picture of the M2N-sli deluxe so you can see where the power connector is on it. I wouldn't want shorter than a 20" power cable in a P180 with that particular motherboard.

Picture of M2N-SLI Deluxe layout at Newegg

If a person found out they were hosed and had a power lead that was too short, they do make extension cables that will give you the length you need. I would personally shy away from these because I don't like the idea of multiple connectors between my power supply and the motherboard (resistance, etc.). I would think of these more if I had an power supply I wanted to get some more life out of than to specifically think of this for a new power supply, case, mb combination. Nevertheless, it is a ca. $5 part that could help a person out. I link to the one at Newegg but I'm sure you could get them at plenty of other places.
Newegg motherboard power extension

 

[Esente]

I'm using Asus P5W-DH Deluxe with that P180. I saw many people in this forum uses the P180 successfully with the 610W Silencer.

Here the picture of the P5W:

It seems quite far for me.

Also, how about modular PSU? Does anyone have a recommendation. Mostly I will use it for the overclocked E6600, cheap PCI-E Video card (like the 7600GS or 7600GT, still haven't decided yet) and 5 HDDs (2 SATAs).

 

[bloodandsoil]

Anyone have any experience with a SeaSonic Energy+ 650 in an Antec P180b case?

 

[Esente]

I believe Seasonic Energy is recommened for P180 due to its 20' cable to the motherboard.

In a guide I read, the author use the Antec Phantom 500ATX12V 500W, which is a semi-fanless PSU (the fan only turns on when its internal heat exceeds user's set limit temperature). The author build the same rig as me (P5W-DH Deluxe, P1800, E6600)...

Check out his guide here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article672-page1.html

But please respond on the Antec Phantom, since I will follow his guide closely for my rig. Thanks!

 

[bobbknight]

PC Power and Coolings 610W unit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703005

IMO anyway.

I too would go with the PC Power I have an original 350 watt atx power supply that is 8 years old.
The pc power site has a cheeper price than the egg.