PSU Good/Bad List

I don't know about that particular model, but I've built three rigs with the 430 watters, and they've been excellent. One of those going on four years. I wouldn't hesitate to buy ThermalTake.
Bronson7

 

That's a reasonably well built unit (although a little overrated by Thermaltake). IMO, the price is just too high for what you're getting. $80 for a total [email protected] doesn't represent good value to me. Do also keep in mind that there are quality variations even within the same OEM. The Toughpowers are better quality units, the 1000/1200 even more so.

Do keep in mind that The Channelwell built Antecs use poor quality Fuhjyyu capacitors, which is not a fault shared by the Toughpowers.

Take a look at http://www.computerforum.com/73603-very-best-power-supply-money.html, we discussed it in a bit of depth. I was quite harsh on the Orion in that thread, but mainly because of the manner in which it was introduced. You get what you pay for, and at $20 you're not getting much.

 

Bad caps! ceewi1

I've seen plenty of those at times in a number of products even electronic devices worked on. I can point you at one place to find a good number of articles and comments on how bad caps effect boards as well as supplies. http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=2

 

Amazingly, it was powering my sig rig till I RMAed the memory... After all, doesn't the HD3850 suck alot more power? If so, this $20 PSU is holding up very nicely... great power supply for the $ if ya ask me.

(PS - It's actually made by X-Power...)

 

I love Antec's, but I do not like Rosewills a lot. I also like OCZ, they are good manufacturers

 

I've never used Rosewill products here in any form while Antecs have been in use here and with several people I know for a good number of years now. But often especially with a high end gamer or heavy duty work horse build you want something larger then Channelwell had been making for them.

OCZ on the other hand is one of the premium brands like Corsair for example for hefty cases. Here I can adding more drives and devices where the 700w model will then see more of the power used over simply be an overpowered waste. On the other hand having a little more then needed provides a more stable setup.

 

When I say I don't like Rosewills a lot I mean that I HATE Rosewill's. They are horrible PSU manufacturers. Antec is very nice for anything, from a small work machine to their 1000 Watt series. OCZ is a like for me, but I like Antec more personally.

 

You mean I finally found someone that "prefers" Antecs over other brands! yee haa...!

I ran Antec supplies as well as others I know seeing them used for several years until looking into meeting larger power requirements. The main complaint usually heard was price. For a low end to average build they were reliable Channelwell supplies while ocers and high end gaming builds often saw the heftier supplies made by Enermax, OCZ, Fortron, and others.

ceewi1 mentioned the TP3s as usually Seasonic for those for the sual rails on the TP3 550 and 650 models. They've gone with even another company for the new TPQ line of higher powered models now seen. The OCZ GameXStream 700w supply came in seeing a lower price when looking at the Corsair HX620 for the latest build here however.

 

These Corsairs are awesome...... I like Antec but not as much as Seasonic PSU's...

And, lol... I have a friend running an 8800GTX on a 500w Rosewill... I hope he gets another unit soon.

 

For the longest Antec lacked on seeing the power house supplies that people were looking for when planning an ocing or high end gamer. Since the basic power requirement gradually increases with the faster turnover of new hardwares they finally decided to expand a little rather then staying just an item on a retail store's shelf as often seen. Yet they were always reliable for the basic and average user.

Even Rosewill's other stuff I've heard labeled cheap like their mice and keyboards etc. there. But I've used any of their stuff here to point at anything specifically. You often have to simpy go by first hand user accounts while others look at specifications and the various reviews seen.

The most important thing regardless of make and model is finding the one that will out the best for the type of build you are going to run. That can avoid snags later when you find out that the supply you went with is putting a big damper on things.

While wattage isn't always the thing to look at power connections are when adding in additional drives and devices. The better made heavier supplies may not need to see the higher amps or watts in general while they do offer and expect more drives and'or devices will be used.

 

I didn't see COMPUCASE or hec, whatever the brand name is. I bring it up because oscaryu1 said he had THIS PSU and he said it has served him well.

I am very weary of brands I don't know + low priced products. Have you ever heard of this brand? Do you know if they are any good? It sounds like the parts are kind of cheap and flimsy. I'm looking for a budget PSU, but not if it will break and/or ruin other components in my PC...

 

Take a look at the bottom of http://www.computerforum.com/848480-post42.html and the associated link to another thread, this unit was discussed in some detail.

 

Sorry, would have replyed faster but this isn't my main forum. ALSO, yes you have found someone else who likes Antec's .

Yes, I fully agree with you PC Eye, including the Rosewill. They are not much of a like for me and I have to say if I asked the rest of my team they would say the same. Antec's are created by some other great manufacturer and they have been made perfect. Well, off to work on some forum business so see you guys later.

 

Antec models like the old TP II 430w models and older 300w and 350s always did the work for most of the average builds around here for quite some time. For heavier work loads however I've been leaning more on OCZ and Corsair lately however. That's due to running multiple optical drives as well as both ide and sata model hard drives.

The last case here saw two of each(2 optical, 2 ide HDs, and 2 sata HDs). The current build sees one less ide HD while I intend to go for a larger capacity sata model and likely remove the remaining ide HD unless used for Linus, Solaris, or another OS there. The heftier 700w supply makes the work load light however.

 

You omitted Cooler Master, tho I know it's a good brand.

 

You're a little late. But Cooler Master was never totally excluded while that and other brands simply were not originally catagorized there. But don't forget to look over the recommendations list too. http://www.computerforum.com/90117-ceewi1-s-psu-recommendations.html

 

Even though I haven't updated this list in quite some time, I'm always happy to do so, and most of the good/bad brands haven't changed that much anyway. With regards to the Coolermaster, I did list them at one time but took them off because the higher wattage eXtreme Powers are significantly overrated.

That aside, though, the other units are good quality. I will add them again with a note about the eXtreme Powers.

 

I was asking you about the iSonic 600W PSU, I've had a look at the CoolerMaster Extreme Power 650W PSU, it actually looks pretty good. You say something not right with it?

 

Coolermaster have taken a Seventeam 500W unit, and are selling it as a 650W. It's not a bad 500W unit (despite having only [email protected] and reasonably low efficiency), but that's not what it's being marketed as.

 

Either that or someone is mislabeling them on the outside like a 3rd party distributer in order to charge more for seeing a higher wattage marked on it. Someone made a big one however.

Regardless you still did an excellent jon on the entire sticky in the first place knowing that most brands will soon see a newer line or lines of models outdating the current or needing to be added to. Where's the Antec TP2's? Gone with Channelwell there!