A Good power supply for @ $50???

[Curley]

Originally posted by: VISCH1
I find it interesting the number of answers here that lead one down the path towards many flaky and serious problems, by people who have good intentions but are clueless in general about PSUs, which should be a solid foundation of a box but are not sexy.
From a techs viewpoint it equals job security, for the industry it means more products sold. I would suggest before making a recommendation for this or that, research the item, find out the difference between a watt, volt and amp. See that many ratings were written by marketing people, they lie! Find out that less than an accurate +12volts is needed more than ever and not that many 400 watt PSs have more than 15a available, even the better ones. That may be ok today but what happens when the next power hungry toy is installed? Set off the smoke alarm? Pay now or pay MUCH MORE later. Good luck, I?ll duck now!
:brokenheart:

You are exactly right. I didn't realize the advantage of an accurate +12volts was until I got the 9700Pro and started playing games. When any 3D was running, my Enermax would get really warm. The warm air was too warm in my opinion.

I decided to put the issue to rest and purchased a Antec 550 TruePower with the adjustable voltage utility (hardware) that you can actually turn up the different rails with a twist of a screw to ensure your +12Volts is just that under heavy stress. The 3.3 and 5.5V are on separate rails also.

I decided that I am always finding ways to tweak and ensure everything is running optimally, why should the power supply be any different. I see a great power supply like I see a great video card.

 

[osage]

Sparkle and Fortron have always worked very well for me. I have a couple Enermax and some Antecs as well, but for the money diff.......I don't see much diff in the performance of the PSUs

 

[digitalix]

Fortron PSUs are better quality than Antecs, of course they're going to work very fine for you Fortron PSU defect rates are 3 times lower than ChannelWell's, 5 per million. Antec and Enermax are primarily marketing companies, they import products manufactured by other companies, slap on their labels and packaging, and hope the product will sell thanks to brand name. Fortron on the other hand has a manufacturing facility, does the r&d for all their products directly. Thus price is cheaper...but unfortunately, not to many of the frills other PSUs offer.

 

[VISCH1]

Fortron PSU defect rates are 3 times lower than ChannelWell's, 5 per million.

HUH?????? 5 per 1,000,000 ?? W hat marketing BS! 5% per million, which is = to 50,000 is at the low end of my guess. And pray tell where did that made up # come from? The wish list?
Get real people! Just because I say my PC Power& Cooling is the best PSU, does that mean it is?
It may be up there but there are others to make that challenge also. It?s similar to saying Mercedes & BMW are the best until you dig and find out they have issues