Hey everyone,
I have heard that the Corsair 620 is one of the best PSUs out there, silent, durable, reliable, powerful....BUT NOT CHEAP! It is 170$ at newegg! and $150 at Clubit.
Also, I heard that Seasonic makes great PSUs too, and they seem to be just a little cheaper.

My system is something like Q6600, a mid-range (8600ish) gfx card, gigabyte P35-DS3p mobo, 2 dvd burners, and will have anywhere from 2-5 Hard drives. I used once of those website wattage calculators to see that if i OC my cpu,-- I would need at least a 550ish watt supply.

My main concerns for the PSU are for it to be SILENT, efficient, enough power, reliable, and I guess modular cabling would be nice too.

Of all the PSUs out there, what is the best PSU with combination of those features (or all of them)?

Would be great if it were more like $100 instead of $150. But if it must be more expensive, then I'll have to cough up the cash.

Thanks!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817153036

Toughpower 750W a little outta price (there is a 700W version with cable management that isnt on newegg)

Antec NeoPower 650 Blue

Cant find these on newegg either they also have cable management with a 120mm fan for quieter operation

re-check your PSU calculations, I suspect you might be just a little low.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com [...] orlite.jsp

These folks make some awesome PSU's

http://www.pcpower.com/home/

and they have refurbs that have the same warrenty as new here:

http://www.pcpower.com/specials/

after reading your replies, I looked at some of those and other ''teir 2'' psus from the tom's wiki.

which is of these is the quietest, and most reliable. if they are all about the same. then i'll go with the cheapest at either newegg, clubit, or amazon (gift cards):

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6817139002

SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT ATX12V/EPS12V, 80Plus, Active PFC, RoHS, 2PCI-E(6Pin), 650W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6817151028

Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6817153039

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6817341002


Thermaltak e Toughpower W0104RU ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply - 650 W Maximum - Ball Bearing Single Fan - - ATX12V & EPS12V
https://www.clubit.com/product_deta [...] =CA6211189



Thanks for your input!

I ran the PSU calculator and got 529W with an oc to 3GHz @1.3V.
Since quiet appears to be a big concern, perhaps this $150 600W Tier-2 PSU merits a look:
ZALMAN ZM600-HP ATX12V 600W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817379003
It is supposed to be extremely quiet. The Zalman coolers I've owned certainly have been.

Well with most PSU's running fans that vary in speed. most 700 watt psu's will run your system and still be quiet.

Your system is not going to be all the power hogging.

Lets give an example
Readings from my UPS

SYSTEM - Folding not games. add about 40 watts for new games and less for old.
Q6600 @ 2.93
P5W DH
4 Sticks of ram
6 hard drives
1 DVD+- R(W) drive
8800 GTX 600(core) 1400(shaders) 900(mem)
WinTV PVR 250
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
4 120mm fans, 1 92mm fan and 1 200mm fan

Other stuff also plugged in an monitored
Samsung 940B (about 30 watts)
Altec Lansing 641 (about 10-20 at normal volumes get out of hand at high volumes)
Cordless Phone Base (DECT 6.0[1.9ghz no 6 as some think] phones are not power friendly like my old 900mhz)
Cable modem (Motorola sb5101 9 watts according to moto)
Router (SMC7004ABR power unknown Assume 10W)
Swtich (Linksys unknown AC draw - Assume 10W)

So lets just take 70 off the 400 that the UPS is feeding and get 330 for the computer @ the plug. Now there are few PSU's with more then 80% efficiency @ this load, but lets go for broke. 330- 20% = ~264watts of DC power. Whats this mean? Well almost any PSU will do. as long as it has enough power on the 12 volt rails

If you want quiet i suggest corsair's HX520 as it will power your system and be VERY quiet for you.

Now by the same right i am willing to get 5 hard drives will be far louder then most power supplies anyway(i have 6 so i know they are loud in numbers).

If you want a fully quiet maybe you should consider NAS(network attached storage) instead or all those drives in your system. then you will be able to hear yourself think. Also the Antec P180/P182 cases are good at dampening hard drive noise.

Just ran it(the psu calc) and got the same as you....how the hell and i running on so little Maybe the account for crappy PSUs?

100% load all cores
Winamp a blasting phone on charge(ohhh it was DEAD) modem modeming switch switching router routing....

I can verify that it is extremely quiet.

Well, I had figured on 5 drives, an oc to 3.0GHz, a couple of USB devices, the two burners, some fans, 20% cap aging, I think either 90% or 100% load...that load number is probably it; you're probably not using anywhere near that most of the time.

Just thought I'd chime in that Seasonic makes Corsair PSU's, so they should be equally quiet.

Have you taken a look at the Enermax Liberty Line? They are modular, quiet, and the 620W version can be had for $129

The Corsair 620W sounds like what you are looking for, it can be found for $141. If you are really stuck around $100, and if you can forego the modular cabling, then the OCZ 700W is $105 with MIR.

The HX520 will run the system you listed without breaking a sweat. And, if money is really tight, you could even do the VX450. It will run any single video card out there with the above system.

And the CPU Calculator seems to greatly over-estimate the power requirements.

Simply Read some PSU reviews where they have a decked out system under full load and they analyze the power usage. Nothing close to what this calculator is estimating.

JohnnyGuru just did an article on the 450w Corsair and noted how that it could handle basically any system with the exception of HI-END SLI GPUs. Johnny noted it should not have a problem with SLI on GPUs that are not complete monsters.

The Seasonics are especially known for being extra quite.
Checkout http://www.silentpcreview.com for info about sweet silence.