Who is building high quality power supplies?

  • Thread starter Thread starter TVeblen
  • Start date Start date
T

TVeblen

I'm going to be researching supplies for an i7-X58 rig. I will be looking at
the 600-700W range. Which manufacturers are building high quality,
dependable supplies?
I have used Seasonic and like them. Are they still dependable?
 
There are probably good PSUs in the 600-700W range (from PC Power & Cooling,
Corsair, some OCZ, etc). I suggest using the "power search" option at
www.newegg.com, even if you can't (or won't) do business with them. The 610W
PC Power & Cooling unit has had a favorable reputation for several years.

However, in terms of pricing, the 750W supplies seem to cost no more. In
particular,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011

(PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire. $100 with free shipping. A $20
rebate is available.) I prefer PSUs like this one, with single 12V rails.
I'm using it with an X58 system, including a single nVidia GTX280 graphics
card. (It may not be hefty enough for 2 high-end cards in SLI. It worked
fine with a pair of ATI HD4870s on an X48 board, though.)
 
TVeblen said:
I'm going to be researching supplies for an i7-X58 rig. I will be looking at
the 600-700W range. Which manufacturers are building high quality,
dependable supplies?
I have used Seasonic and like them. Are they still dependable?
Click to expand...

Try www.JonnyGuru.com. He tests lots of PSUs and has a list arranged
in order of best to worst. Seasonic is still very good, as are
Enhance, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone/Etasis. Other good makes are
Fortron-Source and Delta.
 
Bob Knowlden said:
There are probably good PSUs in the 600-700W range (from PC Power &
Cooling, Corsair, some OCZ, etc). I suggest using the "power search"
option at www.newegg.com, even if you can't (or won't) do business with
them. The 610W PC Power & Cooling unit has had a favorable reputation for
several years.

However, in terms of pricing, the 750W supplies seem to cost no more. In
particular,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011

(PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire. $100 with free shipping. A $20
rebate is available.) I prefer PSUs like this one, with single 12V rails.
I'm using it with an X58 system, including a single nVidia GTX280 graphics
card. (It may not be hefty enough for 2 high-end cards in SLI. It worked
fine with a pair of ATI HD4870s on an X48 board, though.)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Bob. I should have said "600 watts or better" in my post. I
have no reason not to put a bigger PS in!

How do you like that 280? That's a card I'm considering.
 
TVeblen said:
I'm going to be researching supplies for an i7-X58 rig. I will be looking
at the 600-700W range. Which manufacturers are building high quality,
dependable supplies?
I have used Seasonic and like them. Are they still dependable?
Click to expand...
To all:
Correction: I would need a minimum 600 watt supply. Anything larger would
do.
 
larry moe 'n curly said:
Try www.JonnyGuru.com. He tests lots of PSUs and has a list arranged
in order of best to worst. Seasonic is still very good, as are
Enhance, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone/Etasis. Other good makes are
Fortron-Source and Delta.
Click to expand...

I'm going there now.
 
Bill said:
I doubt you'll get anything but anecdotal answers or references to
websites that do actual PS testing so here's my tuppence.

Go to Newegg and look at the 80 PLUS certified < including bronze
and silver > supplies:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?
Submit=Property&Subcategory=58&Description=&Type=&N=2010320058
&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PropertyCodeValue=1314%3A28169
&PropertyCodeValue=1314%3A14179&PropertyCodeValue=1314%3A14178
&PropertyCodeValue=4097%3A43845&PropertyCodeValue=4097%3A30089
&PropertyCodeValue=4097%3A43844

http://preview.tinyurl.com/begawy

I work on the principal that to get those ratings the manufacturers
have to use better quality components and better designs than the
other supplies.

After you've chosen one check to see what the customer reviews have
to say. The more reviews the better statistical sampling you have.

Then check this site for a review:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?
name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13

He seems to do a more comprehensive test that some others.

Using my method I'd have high on my list:

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

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151031

But there are plenty of others to choose from.

Bill
Click to expand...
Funny! I just finished my short list and those supplies are on it!
I agree with your methodology. I also think that some companies are
committed to quality, others are committed to price. But thing change, so
I'm not going on 4 year old knowledge here. Thanks for the input.
BTW: What do think about Rosewill. I've bought several other components and
have been pleased.
 
I'd recommend the GTX280. I haven't had it long, but I'm pleased with its
performance. I have the impression that nVidia's driver installers are less
persnickety than AMD's installers for the Radeon HD4870 series. (I mean the
*installers*. If the AMD drivers installed properly, they seemed to run
well.)

The GTX285 would be preferred that this time, if you can afford the extra
money. It appears to be a die shrink of the 280, allowing it to run at
higher clocks.

The GTX260 (216 stream processor version) looks like a good alternative to
the 280: most of the performance, at roughly 2/3 the price.
 
Bill said:
They seem to be a new company that buys some other manufacturers
stuff < or has it built to spec > then slaps their name on it, ala
Antec. They haven't been around long enough to have established a
good rep but most of their stuff seem to be Walmart quality, if you
know what I mean. I bought a cheap video card and a cheap 350 watt
power supply of theirs and they did the job and haven't died yet but
I'd be shy of putting a lot of money into one of their products.

The parts weren't for me but for somebody that wanted the cheapest
fix possible. If the parts had died though I would have heard about
it.

Bill
Click to expand...
Good to know. I've bought mice, keyboards, PCI cards from them. They work -
they're cheap. Power supplies and motherboards (not that they do
motherboards) - not so sure if cheap is the right way to go. Thanks.
 
Good to know. I've bought mice, keyboards, PCI cards from them. They work-
they're cheap. Power supplies and motherboards (not that they do
motherboards) - not so sure if cheap is the right way to go.
Click to expand...

More important than reputation are the numbers. Responsible
manufacturers can provide a full sheet of numeric specifications that
all power supplies must meet. To forget some essential functions, a
power supply manufacturer will not provide those specs. And then
those who would actually identify the supply as defective have no
numbers - must remain silent.

Without specs, those who actually know power supplies remain
silent. Then the inferior supply can be recommended by those who only
understand watts. A reputation without numeric spec sheets suggests
recommendations without facts.

An example. Most every computer consumes less than 200 watts.
Therefore we install a 350 watt supply - more than sufficient.
However, power supplies sold on myths and without specs may rate the
equivalent supply at 500 watts. No, they did not lie. Used different
numbers since they are marketing to computer assemblers; not to those
with electrical knowledge. Then when the 500 watt supply was
undersized on one voltage, a computer assemblers instead hypes a need
for 700 watt supplies. Notice how may hype 700 watt supplies rather
than discuss current for each voltage. A supply is sized by current
for each voltage - not watts.

Better supplies come with a long list of numeric specifications.
Any minimally sufficient supply starts at $60 retail. Nothing here
says numeric specs and $60 means the supply is sufficient. Post are
two factors that any acceptable supply must meet.

Some examples that any minimally acceptable supply will claim to
meet:
 
Back
Top