PSU Buying advice

[jamotto]

The Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 550W ATX12V Power Supply in my rig just went belly up after 1 year and 9 months of service. I'm currently running on my spare psu a +6 year old sparkle 400w unit.

My question is what is a good psu that runs about $50 - $75 and would be a good match for a AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, 2GB PC3200 Ram, GeForce 6800GT graphics card, CD-RW burner, DVD Player, WDC WD2500JB and WDC WD400AB harddrives?

I don't need anything fancy (a.k.a LED lights, etc), just looking for something a little more reliable and has plenty of 12V leads for the drives and fans and a 20 + 4 main connector.

[Rraven]

Depending on your budget I would recommend either of these for your current system :

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE ZEUS SST-ST65ZF 650W ATX 12V 2.0 & EPS 12V Power Supply 90 - 264 V - Power Supplies

or

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE OP650 650W ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V RoHS, FCC, CE - Power Supplies

Unless you intend on upgrading the system then you may want to look at a higher wattage.

Edit: Sorry missed your price range when I first read the post, However I would still saygo withe the first one for $25
more than your upper limit. From many of the reviews I have been reading on PSUs lately the $50 range of supplies is getting a lot of cheap builds in it now.

[Papercut]

Don't Antecs have a 3-year warranty?

[Mac Daddy]

Originally Posted by Papercut

Don't Antecs have a 3-year warranty?

I was wondering that too my Corsair has a 5 year warranty. Less than 2 years seems to short a warranty period

[Midicow]

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Power Supplies

or almost

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Power Supplies

(10 bucks more after rebate than 75 ;(

The corsairs are single rail mostly, check out the amperage on that rail :O

Those corsairs are rock solid unless you get a defective unit, which you should rma immediately.

[jamotto]

Originally Posted by Rraven

Depending on your budget I would recommend either of these for your current system :

SILVERSTONE ZEUS SST-ST65ZF 650W

or

SILVERSTONE OP650 650W ATX

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Silverstone brand if any? It's not a brand I familiar with.

Out of curiosity why 650W? It seems to be slightly overkill, I think.

Originally Posted by Papercut

Don't Antecs have a 3-year warranty?

They do, and the Antec was ok, but this seemed like an opportunity to see what other options are available.

Originally Posted by Midicow

Those corsairs are rock solid unless you get a defective unit, which you should rma immediately.

It was my understanding that Corsairs are built by Seasonic, does Corsair add better components to the PSU?

[Rraven]

Originally Posted by jamotto

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Silverstone brand if any? It's not a brand I familiar with.

Out of curiosity why 650W? It seems to be slightly overkill, I think.

Both of these units are rated in the top of the line for 650W class PSU's. Every review I have seen on these over multiple sites have been very good. Have you ever seen the way they review a PSU over at JonnyGURU.com - Power Supply Reviews and more! - News, its flat out abuse I tell you (actually I amazed companies are willing to send them units to test). So if a PSU makes it through their tests and the ones at Hardocp.com I consider them to be worth the investment of my money. If I wouldn't buy it, why recommend it. Especially on a PSU.

Now on the cons of each, the Zues model only has a single 80mm fan so can be a bit louder than some folks want. Thats about it.

On the Olympia OP650 uhmm all the cables aren't sleeved
oh and it isn't flashy

As for overkill. I see it as an option for upgrading and/or expansion. Why buy what is just going to run a system(unless its just not in the budget to do so), when for not much more you have decent headroom towards another day.

[jamotto]

Wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and comments, I think I can pick out a decent PSU now.

[Lacus]

hehe..Maybe getting the Silverstone ST56F psu might be enough for you ..Been using it quite some time..so far no problems to power up my rig and for ocing

[rogue_tomato]

My only advice for purchasing a PSU: Don't Cheap Out! Spend the extra $ and get a quality PSU over an el-cheapo model... It is the heart of your machine and you don't want a bad PSU to be the culprit if your system goes kaput