zerofire

Now many people have told me that my PSU does not cough out enough power to run my rig. Now I know that it can power my rig but just barely so I decided to do some planning for the future. Now the problem is that even though I have done much research and read many articles the selection from my supplier is huge. I have heard of many above average makers and have access to my companies certified list but the options do not overlap. I would like to know the top two or three choices from my narrowed down list that are the most liked manufacturers.

Tumbleweed36

I have made my selection and these are the top 3 companies out there. I use only Seasonic in my personal computers for the quietness and power, but Corsair and PC Power & Cooling are very similar in both quietness and overall raw power with excellent quality. You just won't find any better than these 3 IMHO.

Tyree

Same as Tumbleweed36. I use Seasonic for myself and higher budget customer builds. I use some FSP in budget builds.

dai

Power Supply Information and Selection

zerofire

dai I already read that before making this thread. Also I would like to know who closed the poll prematurely because I remember that I set it to close in 14 days and nothing close to that has passed. Remember I want to know from the general public not just the administrators. Also for the administrators I would appreciate a number for the minimum wattage for my unit if any of you hase time to spare.

Tyree

What unit are you referring to?
You can use a Power Calculator to determine your power needs.
http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/default.aspx

zerofire

That calculator recommended between 450w and 550w. The calculator in the PSU thread states 393w and 511 after adding 30%. As for what unit I was referring to it is located under my system next to my posts.

Seeing as I am posting already I might as well vote for my favorite manufacturers. I pick FSP Group for wattage's under 500w because once 500w is hit the conversion percent suffers because they use a lower wattage unit and force more watts to pass over the lines. I also pick XION for units 500w and over.

Tumbleweed36

Just to add to the discussion, I don't ever sell (or use myself) either the FSP or the Xion brand supplies of any wattage, because they are much lower in quality than any of these makes/models recommended by the Hardware Team:

Seasonic – Any Model
Corsair – Any Model
PC Power & Cooling – Any Model
Thermaltake – “Toughpower” Series Only
Coolermaster – “Real Power Pro” Series Only

Net Jockey

What one needs to know about...the difference between Quality PSUs as opposed Poor quality units...and the effects of heat on your computer.

Most poor quality units...are tested at 25 degrees Celsius ...from this their rating is determined... which falls short of the temperature that most computers are capable of achieving.

Given that a PSU will actually lose 2-5 watts per one degree of heat above the 25 Degree Celsius testing temperature...coupled with the fact that computers tend to run at 10 degrees higher than room temperature... In the summer time when the room temperature can easily reach 80 degrees F... your computer will be running at 33 Degrees C. or 90 Degrees F.

So the...math can make...your 500 watt power supply into a 460 watt unit.

In addition to this...what needs to be taken into account is that each degree that your computer components are operating at...under powered...adds more heat to the equation.

Consider also...the possibility...that ratings given by the manufacturer of single components...such as graphics cards...need to be treated with skepticism... Manufacturers may minimize support issues and under rate the power required...in order to make a larger profit.

Power supplies convert voltages from wall outlets to lower levels used by the PC... During this conversion, some power is lost as heat... The poorer the quality of the PSU The higher the voltage that is required to produce the preferred results. Resulting in more heat that the PSU has to deal with

Therefore heat is the computers enemy...The hotter the temperature your PSU is forced to run at...the poorer the supply of power the rest of the components will receive...which has been known to lead to such things as crashes, freezing, rebooting, BSOD’s, and video distortion, as well as partial and complete failure of other components.

The fact is very few PSU’s are capable of producing the wattage that the companies advertise.

Quality units...are tested at very high temperatures...The efficiency rating of the PSU determines how much extra power must be put into the power supply to run the PC. A high quality PSU can help reduce the noise and heat generated within a computer system. The higher the efficiency rating the less heat the PSU has to deal with...Also the higher the quality of the PSU the higher the temperature that it can...safely... run your computer at...which reduces the need to run your computer at such low temperatures...that are hard to achieve.

A quality PSU of the right wattage...for your computer...can easily give you two or more more years of service

A quality PSU of wattage... higher than required...for your computer...can give you room for future expansion...

For a very good comprehension of recommended brand names, wattage, and models in listed categories...Plus much more...check out this link. Power Supply Information and Selection

zerofire

The room is has temperature controlled AC unit set to either 68 or 70 degrees Fahrenheit at all times and thus 20 or 21 degrees Celsius. That is below testing temp and is the optimal operating temperature for mainframe computers. If you then take into account that there are fans in the case circulating the freezing air you have PSU's operating at or higher then the manufacturers rated wattage. We don't skimp on our equipment when it comes to safety. All high priority equipment must be in a AC cooled room of small size and insulated walls.

Net Jockey a power supply converts wall outlet AC to internal DC not wall outlet AC to lower voltage AC as you stated. Converting to lower voltage AC is the job of a step down transformer not a power supply. Do you have any idea what would happen to a hard drive if you feed the motor AC current? The disk would have scratches all over due to the repeated switching of the direction that it spins in.

Tumbleweed36 the older PC Power & Cooling Silencer units were manufactured by FSP Group. Also all of the manufacturers on the hardware list except Seasonic rebrand their power supplies not make them from scratch. Very few of them actualy have reasonable explanations to do so.

Tumbleweed36

I am very aware that the older FSP supplies were good and yes, that PC Power & Cooling used them as a supplier. However, FSP supplies are no longer top of the line at this point in development. I highly suspect that is why PC P& P won't use them any more to make their supplies. Now they are working with OCZ who has purchased the whole operation.

Yes, I am aware (BTW, Seasonic made later PC P 8 P supplies) that many companies rebrand and that is fine, AS LONG AS THEY USE SOURCE COMPANIES THAT MAKE QUALITY AND NOT CRAP. I do happen to be very aware of the power supply issues and the quality of different supplies. You would have no way of knowing, but I have done extensive research in this area.

Hey, we can disagree and that is O.K. Have a nice evening.