Know your Power Supply!

**JimboIncinerator** · 04-27-08, 12:25 PM

Actually the power supply is the most import part of a PC... hands down. It gives life to everything and if its a POS it will cause issues. I personally never buy a case with a Power supply built in because they are horrible (in the vast majority of cases). People always look at the total wattage and go yeah that will work... Nope.
Low end power supply's have higher voltage fluctuations, lower amps on the 12v rails, and lower quality components. Those can cause random reboots, low power which can affect every device inside a pc. When it comes to pc stability this is can be the main culprit of system problems.

So like what was mention early please, for the sake of your sanity and your PCs health don't skip out on this.

**PizzaSHARK!** · 06-13-08, 10:16 AM

I've gone through three Antec PSUs with my current comp, could just be that I got lemons for the first two, because the third one's been a dream. Third time's the charm, right?

At least Antec's warranty-replacement department's got their shit together

**Burninator_PBN** · 08-02-08, 03:14 PM

there are alot of write ups on this, Thought i might throw this out there as well.

WHICH ONES TO BUY ??

Tier 1 can handle 4Ghz Conroe or 3Ghz AMD along with Oced Quad Crossfire/SLI With Ease.
Tier Z offers quality and power unequalled in its wattage range and is second only to other Zippy units.
Tier 2 offers almost as much power and stability as Tier 1 at Comparable Wattage levels with lower price/better availability.
Tier T offers the high quality components of Tier 2 with slightly less Rail stability due to Topower internals.
Tier 3 is ONLY Recommended if Price difference is present between Tier 3 and Tier 2 or due to availability issues with Tier 1/2 PSUs.
Tier 4 is recommended for stock or low power systems if Tier 3's are more expensive or are not available.
Tier 5 are NOT RECOMMENDED, but some brands have high/medium quality components in Tiers 2 through 4.

-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----

Tier 1 Brands - The Most Powerful And Stable Components On The Market
Enermax Galaxy
PCP&C TurboCool
PCP&C Silencer >610
Zippy/Emacs SSL
Zippy/Emacs GSM
Zippy/Emacs PSL
Silverstone ZF (Etasis 85/75/56)
Seventeam ST >600 (SSI, V2.91)
Silverstone OP/DA >700W

Tier Z - Less Powerful Than Tier 1 Zippy Units...but they're still Zippys
Zippy/Emacs HG2
Zippy/Emacs HP2

Tier 2 Brands - Top Quality components With Top Notch Stability - For Those With Price/Availability Issues With Tier 1
Antec Neo HE
Akasa PowerGreen 80+
CoolMax CTG-750W/850W/1KW
Cooltek CT
Corsair HX
Enermax Liberty
Enermax Infiniti
Enhance ENP-GH
Fortron (FSP) GLN
Hiper Type-M >650W
Hiper Type-R >650W
iStarUSA PD2
iStarUSA PD3
OCZ GameXStream
OCZ EvoStream
PCP&C Silencer <610
Seasonic S12
Seasonic M12
Seasonic Energy Plus
SevenTeam ST <600
Silverstone EF
Silverstone OP/DA <700W
Supermicro/AbleCom
Thermaltake Toughpower >600W
Xclio GreatPower
Zalman ZM
Ultra X3
Ultra X-Pro

Tier T - High Quality PSUs Made With Topower Internals - Less Rail Stability Compared To Tier 2 But Still Better than Tier 3
Mushkin Enhanced
Tagan U95
Tagan U25
Tagan U15
Tagan U22
OCZ PowerStream

Tier 3 Brands - High Quality and Stability, Second Only To Tier 2 Brands
Acbel Polycom
AMS Mercury
Akasa PaxPower
Akasa PowerPlus (>500W Models)
Antec Phantom
Antec TruePower III
Antec True Power II
Antec True Control II
Antec Neopower 480W (Old Model)
Antec Smart Power 2.0
Athena Power Space Shuttle Series
Be Quiet Dark Power Pro
Channel Well
Enermax Maximum Plus
Enermax Noistaker II
Enermax Noisetaker
Enermax Whisper II
Enermax CoolerGiant
Enhance ENS-G
Epower Xscale
Fortron (FSP) GLC
Fortron (FSP) THN
Fortron AX
Fortron HLN
Fortron PFN/PN/PA
Seasonic Super Versatile
Silverstone F
Sparkle FSP
Spire Rocketeer V/VI
Sunbeam Nuuo
Thermaltake Purepower
Thermaltake Toughpower <600W

Tier 4 - Not Recommend With Tier 3 In same Price/Wattage Range
Aerocool
Asus Atlas
BFG
Coolermaster Real Power
Coolermaster iGreen
Delta
Enlight
E-Power
Futurepower
Hiper
HIPRO
Lite-On
Masscool
MGE XG
Mushkin HP
NorthQ 4775-500S/BU
OCZ Modstream
Scythe Kamariki
Sintek
Thermaltake TR2
TTGI/Superflower
Ultra Xfinity/X2

Tier 5 - Other than the units listed above for any of these brands, NOT RECOMMENDED
A-TOP Technology
APEX (SUPERCASE/ALLIED)
Aspire(Turbo Case)
ATADC
Athena Power
ATRIX
Broadway Com Corp
Cooler Master
Coolmax
Deer
Diablotek
Dynapower USA
EagleTech
FOXCONN
I-Star Computer Co. Ltd
In Win
JPAC COMPUTER
Just PC
Kingwin Inc.
Linkworld Electronics
Logisys Computer
MGE
MSI
NMEDIAPC
Norwood Micro/ CompUSA
NorthQ
NZXT
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rosewill
SFC
Shuttle
Skyhawk
Spire Coolers
Star Micro
STARTECH
TOPOWER TOP
Ultra X-Connect
Wintech
XClio
XION
YoungYear
Zebronics

**WileECyte** · 09-22-08, 12:28 PM

Here's an awesome article from Anandtech that answers the age old question "How big does my power supply need to be?"

http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling...oc.aspx?i=3413

Goes through a lot of the technical details about the 12V rail and whatnot.

**damian** · 12-01-08, 02:10 AM

A qood quality power supply consist of well regulated transformers otherwise known as rails.
First of all when looking for a power supply drop this whole multiple 12V rails are better then a single 12V rail or vice versa. It's all in your head when comparing one unit to a unit that consist of multiple 12V rails that delivers an output of 25+ Amps. In theory a unit with multiple 12V rails is the same as a unit with one 12V rail, as it gathers current from one single source.

So to sum that up grab either a unit with a large single 12V rails or a unit with multiple 12V rails that exceed more then 25+ amps.

Secondly it's not all about wattage. Sure its great to have a 1000W power supply compared to a 600W power supply but in reality even the top of the line computer that consists of a dual card set up, with an overclocked processor and overclocked video cards with about 5 HDD's 8 fans ect ect only uses about 500W at peak load! and probably idles at 300W. In this case if you have a comp like this one get a unit that has about 100 to a 150W above what is uses at load. For example if your computer uses 300W at load get a unit that delivers an ouput of 400-450W. 500W would be a sweet spot.

A list of good brands are in my honest opinion:
Corsair
Antec
Enermax
Silverstone
Thermaltake (toughpower series, anything other then that usually are not worth the price)
PC: Power and Cooling
BE QUIET!
Seasonic
Zippy
OCZ (there are better units out there, note: OCZ purchased/merged PC: Power and Cooling)
Tagan
BFG
Mushkin
Lian-Li (some good ones)

**mikeN** · 01-13-09, 11:03 PM

what will a small power supply do to a computer... i have been having BSOD and never seem to get rid of them.... i think i have a 450... it runs a 8800GTX, 2 fans, AMD 2.8GHZ dual, liquid cooler, 2 hard drives, a temp controller, 2 dvd drives, sound card, a TV PCI card. and motherboard

**WileECyte** · 01-14-09, 06:56 AM

BSOD is possible, so are random lockups when going into games, weird artifacting, etc.

**Mcstrange** · 01-14-09, 09:22 AM

Depending on the quality 450 should be enough mike. When do the bosd happen? When lots of stuff is running? Gaming? That generally when the system is near peak power draw and would possibly corroborate your thoughts on the power being the issue. If it happens when your just sitting in windows or doing something low pwoer like writing in Word your probably having some other type of problem.

**cityboy2977** · 01-14-09, 10:26 AM

the minimum PSU for the 8800gtx is 450watts.
but in my opinion it comes down to a steady voltage supply
and the amps.
for instance, i have a 1900xtx, now according to specs i need
a 12v rail to supply at least 30amps.

but i agree the PSU is the most important part of the PC
as i runs everything. and if your PSU isnt putting out the power
your system will be unstable or unusable.

**mikeN** · 01-14-09, 03:39 PM

well the BSOD happens when i am always in a game.. more commonly when i am in a COD game. but the BSOD always blames a file called NVLDDMKM.sys a nvidia file. i read up on it and there is no know solution but effects a lot of people... and the only thing i think that i could blame might be my power supply which i believe to be on the edge... when in xp i would just get crashes.. but now in vista i get BSOD. so i believe it to be a system problem... and started happening after i replaced my 2 nvidia7 SLI cards for one GTX card.