Your opinions on this PSU?

[PoignantJ]

Hi, I would appreciate your opinions on this PSU.

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $40 with promo code

I'm picking this PSU due to several reasons. I'm 100 percent sure I won't be going into a double card set up, not that my motherboard will let me anyways. It's efficiency is bronze certified. Finally the vertical fan set up allows for my system to achieve better air flow compared to a horizontal fan. My system is a HP Pavilion 6510f, and the stock case only possesses one 80mm or 92mm exhaust fan so I would like to keep it as cool as possible. My system possess the Athlon II x4 processor, generic 2x2 GB DDR3 ram for additional power consumption considerations with the graphics card.

With this power supply I plan on getting a graphics card of around the price point and performance of the Radeon 5770 and Geforce counterpart. So I would like to know whether:

1. This PSU is more than enough for any mid-end to mid-upper end cards such as the Radeon 5770?

2. See 1. What kind of expandability can I expect to possess with this PSU?

3. I'm not too knowledgeable about PSUs right now, so can someone fill me or provide some sources on why Ampere values are so very important such as

Output: +3.3V@20A, +5V@20A, +12V1@17A, +12V2@16A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A.

4. See 3. Are the Outputs here good, great?

 

[mstc7stream]

Yes this will run a hd5770 but would normally go for corsair or silverstone psu as the 450w psu is the min required. 600+ would be safer also the build quality for the two would be better i'm not saying that the psu your looking at is descent too.

 

[mstc7stream]

look at the difference with a corsair vx-550 and it's output:http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_354&products_id=6063

and the Corsair vx-450 not much difference but would go with a solid brand. http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15_354&vk_sort=1

and the silverstone st65ef 650w http://www.instantpcshop.com.au/pcshop/446/index.php?productID=30120

 

[PoignantJ]

Well this is embarrassing. I'd like to apologize to all 44 people so far who have wasted their time looking into this thread. How I forgot about the stickies is beyond me. So to everyone, sorry about making this thread and wasting your valuable time.

So in response to my own questions:

1. Yes, this PSU is plenty for the mid-end to mid-upper end cards such as the Radeon 5770. Total 12 Volt Amps come out 33A which is enough for the Radeon 5770. Concerning the relatively low wattage, 430, it is still more than enough considering the Bronze certification and the low power consumptions of the 5000 series, this PSU should provide plenty of wattage with room to spare. However, in more power intensive mid-range cards such as in the Geforce 200 series, this PSU is questionable.

2. Beyond the mid-end, expandability shouldn't be tried. 33A and the wattage is too little for cards such as the 5830 or Geforce GTX 260.

3. Found some sources, have read and have continued reading .

4. Wattage is great relatively speaking. Amp. output is ok but could be better.

All in all, the Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply should be pretty good. But now that I checked back on Newegg and see other new promo offers now such as the OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 for $40 as well after promo and rebate (promo ends 8/25 along with the Antec one) this PSU may not be so great in comparison. I'm probably going for the latter now. Hehe.

 

[aznshinobi]

No your PSU is fine, it's not what you think. Corsair is a great brand sure, but Antec is also. The Antec your looking at is a better deal than the Corsair because although the PSU is branded "Antec" The actually manufacturer is Seasonic. A well known brand in the PSU market.

 

[aznshinobi]

Sorry bout that, Delta Electronics not Seasonic. Still Delta, not as well known as Seasonic, but still quality PSU's as Enermax uses 'em, and they are a great PSU brand.

 

[delluser1]

2. Beyond the mid-end, expandability shouldn't be tried. 33A and the wattage is too little for cards such as the 5830 or Geforce GTX 260.

It's 32 amps, ( the rails are not additive ) 2 more amps than the original Seasonic based version, which, depending on the rest of the configuration, could power a GTX260 just fine

Opting for the more powerful 600w OCZ is a better decision since the psu would be under less strain and it provides the dual pcie connectors needed for such cards, but the system above only put about a 60% load on the psu when gaming.

 

[PoignantJ]

Thanks for your input delluser1. I've decided to purchase the Antec Earthwatt over the OCZ ModxStream. This is because I've also decided to purchase a Geforce GT 240 512 MB DDR5 for $47 (Would've been $30 if not for shipping and taxes ). As such, the power draw I'm going to have is extremely low, especially idle. The ModxStream would be very excessive at 600W and would be relatively inefficent compared to the Antec Earthwatt since I'd probably come close to around 50% percent usage compared to probably 20-30% at max GPU usage. While I will be using this system for SC2 and will fully utilize my GPU, I will also be using this for schoolwork and other misc. tasks so my GPU will be idling a lot. So to summarize, the OCZ Modxstream is too overly excessive, would be underused while my Antec Earthwatt would still allow for more powerful cards and would much better used. It's also a great bonus that it is bronze certified.

From what I've seen and read, Antec is right up there in quality and respect with Corsair and other great PSU manufacturers. not to mention the reviews for this PSU on newegg are excellent. One person had been using this PSU for 2+ years and managed to crossfire 2 5750s together without a hitch or problem, although that was most likely on a older model. I'm not sure how long this model has been on sale.

Mstc7stream, the power supplies you've suggested, while good, are all at least 2x more expensive than the ones I've suggested and the higher wattage ones are too excessive for my needs. The Corsair 400 watt for example is the least expensive at $65, and is $25 dollars more, less efficient and is rated 30 watts less.