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.
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.
I was wondering that too my Corsair has a 5 year warranty. Less than 2 years seems to short a warranty period
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.
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. They do, and the Antec was ok, but this seemed like an opportunity to see what other options are available. It was my understanding that Corsairs are built by Seasonic, does Corsair add better components to the PSU?
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.
Wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and comments, I think I can pick out a decent PSU now.
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
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
Silverstone is a popular PSU brand, at least here in Malaysia that is. For me, I'm using a few brands - my main machine is currently using OCZ StealthXStream 600w ( OCZ StealthXStream 600 W Power Supply Review | Hardware Secrets ). My Gigabyte Odin 550w GT is in storage at the moment, same goes to my Coolermaster 450w Real Power. My file/print sharing server is using Powerlogic Magnum 450w. Anyway, just get a decent branded PSU that has good efficiency and no recent bad reports. AFAIK Enermax is pretty notorious for it's breakdown these days. PC Power & Cooling is also another good brand, among the many. Fortron and Seasonic comes to mind but didn't read much about them, heard that they're good.
Yep, good advice! Back two years ago $75 would net you a good PSU, now though it seems it starts at around $100
