In need of a reliable PSU

[rawgerz]

Hi guys, I'm looking for help on choosing my next Power supply. My 1 1/2 year old Rosewill has one or two bad Koshin caps and it can't handle a new graphics card load even with 34A, and makes nasty bug zapper sounds from just the load my 6600GT puts on it.

Could someone point me to brands with known high quality caps and are tested well?
Thanks!

[gonzo0815]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Known high reliability caps are from my point of view only in Seasonic and Seasonic build PSu`s used ATM.

So i would suggest to checkout Corsair or Seasonic`s offers if there is something, who fits your budget.

If the general quality and endurance is your point and nois is not your concern, may be PC Power & cooling may have some offerings you want (of course, these things are $$$$$$) or may be Silverstone. This brands do not use the best possible caps, their caps are even innthe badcaps list.
But up to now, their repetition is untainted.

Any way, checkout http://www.jonnyguru.com for "real" reviews.

[shadow]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Most power supplies do not use the top brand Japanese capacitors. Just about all of them use bad caps that are not suitable for motherboard use, however in many cases some of them are fairly good when used in power supplies. The main capacitors that I am talking about are the Teapo ones. When these capacitors are used in the VRM of a motherboard, they are simply no good and fail pretty quickly. However I have not seen many complaints about them when they have been used in power supplies.

I do not know the specifics as to why this is the case, however what is really important is to buy a power supply that is of decent build quality. Therefore even if the capacitors do fail eventually, it is worth a re-cap.

Last week I bought a Fortron power supply, they are known to be very reasonably priced and are decent power supplies. However they use Teapo caps.

[gonzo0815]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Certainly, Teapo do not fail in all PSU`s, but i have a lot of OEM FSP`s seen, where all caps failed, even all the Teapos.

So Teapo is crap, period. The only difference i see, that most of the higher end PSu`s using Teapos are very very good cooled.
The PSu`s with failing ones, have had lowered cooling due to noise constraints by sacrificing endurance of this caps.
But this comes with the noise penalty, which can not avoided if Teapos and similar not top notch caps are used.

Hence i would advise the usual power hungry gamer with noise in mind the Corsair or Seasonic units, which do not skimp down on the caps and do not sacrificing noise concerns or endurance.

For the enthusiast, or server duty, where noise does not mater and the additional powerful cooling is needed anyway, the higher end Teapo using & expensive PSu`s may be even the better choice, above all what Seasonic has to offer with the S12 Series and similar builds.

It is obviously, that Tepos used by PC Power & cooling are not better then those used by FSp or any may be even lower branded PSu maker.
The difference is, that the engineers have had the spec`s of this caps in mind when they designed the unit.
Teapos are sure a win- win situation if someone want to make a high power, heavy duty PSu with a big cooling capacity.

[rawgerz]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

I think I will order one of the PC power supply's.
So even if I do have problems, they look to be more honest about their warranty. The act high and mighty in their "power supply myths exposed" article, when they don't even use high end caps? That makes no sense to me.

It's a shame these days that no PS company is using quality caps. I wonder if that day will ever come, or even a day when they use solid capacitors.

thanks for help

[Per Hansson]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Seasonic uses good quality capacitors (UCC)

Corsair PSU's are made by Seasonic, they come with longer warranty
One of the latest models also have a solid cap on +12v

One or two of Corsairs latest builds have been CWT, they look good too, more info about this can be found over at JohnnyGURU, they even have Corsair reps there...

HardOCP also makes very good PSU reviews

[acstech]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Something I've been thinking about doing, for my lower-end PSU requirements, was to get a low end FSP unit, like their 400w OEM unit. Test it once, then, buy the appropriate top quality Japanese brand caps, and put 'em in it new. I mean, the caps are really not that expensive, and you'd be nowhere near the price of a high quality unit like a Seasonic. That way you'd have a still inexpensive, new, PSU with good caps.

Just thinking out loud here.

[Krankshaft]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Just get a good quality supply test it to make sure it suits your needs then recap it. You know what they say if you want something done right do it yourself. I feel that its really futile to find a supply with all top brand caps out of the box.

Plus even is you did find one manufacurers can switch the internal components from lot to lot which means just because one box has all UCC caps that doesn't mean the next box will.

Even my Antec which is a good quality supply had Fujiyuus and Koshins inside I replaced the general purpose Koshins with UCC KMG or KME can't remember and the low ESR Fujiyuus with Panasonic FC's. Ironically enough though the input filters were Panasonic go figure.

It was a little tough to get the 12.5mm diameter FC in the 10mm space but the supply is just fine with 2 of the caps 2 to 3 mm off the board.

The next issue was getting the cover back on because getting the wires to fit back but after a little Feng Shuing its worked out .

[shadow]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Something I've been thinking about doing, for my lower-end PSU requirements, was to get a low end FSP unit, like their 400w OEM unit. Test it once, then, buy the appropriate top quality Japanese brand caps, and put 'em in it new. I mean, the caps are really not that expensive, and you'd be nowhere near the price of a high quality unit like a Seasonic. That way you'd have a still inexpensive, new, PSU with good caps.

Just thinking out loud here.

It is probably not a bad idea at all. That is what I am going to do, except I do not have the cash for new capacitors right now and I do not feel like changing parts in my brand new power supply just yet. After all, the Fortron I have now is much better than the Codegen that I was using for the past 5 years in my PC.

Actually I should check out the condition of that Codegen in terms of the caps. It served me well considering it is regarded as a crap power supply on this forum.

[gonzo0815]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Codegen PSU`S do not only have crap caps, they are very unsafe PSU`S too.
In the soket A era i build several systems with those Codegen PSu`s, and they killed a few of those systems, when there was a need for more power hungry components.

Since them i have laying around a few of them in the junk bin, but never intend to do anything with them, beyond cannibalizing some components.

[rawgerz]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

I probably could manage to do it myself, I just don't have the tools or the experience. It's kind of like soldering copper pipe, you can screw up on pipe and cut off the bad ends easy, but not with a circuit board.

If it was a motherboard I would at least try, but I would have lots of trouble with a PS with how cramped they are and all the wires in the way with hands my size.
My motherboard seems to have done it right, although it is made in Japan. Rubycoon, Sanyo, and I think I saw something called HHW or something.

I wish I had the money to have a back up PS so if I found someone to do it for me, I could get along without it.

But could anyone tell me if my +5V lines are in spec? They seem to go all over the place.

[kikkoman]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Recapping a PSU is pretty easy compared to a mobo. It's a single-sided PCB, so there are no inner traces you can mess up.
The parts can take lots of heat compared to those on a mobo, and you don't have those large ground planes (some of them are inside the PCB in a mobo), so there's not much you can do wrong (even with cheap tools).
Just make sure the new caps are the right size.

Those Speedfan readings are probably rubbish, I doubt your system woud run in the first place at those values. Better use a DMM and/or a scope.

[gonzo0815]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Well i know what you mean, i don`t like the usual tight mess in PSU`s too and i don´t fell it encouraging to mess around with them.
This is not a question to be a pro or not, it simply is hard work.

But if you have the time, and are willing to spend it physically working, then i have no doubt that you can do a unsuccessful recap job.

Just make some pic`s, or drawings in the process of disassembling in case you forget it. If a wire must be desoldered in the process, just make sour to document where it belongs too.

You have to pull the whole PCB from the case, there is no other way to get this job done.
The soldering is not difficult (but you need a iron which can handle big solder points) and you can fix it, if the first try seems to be weak. Just let the solder point cool down a while and try again.

I think your 5v line is far out of any regulation, even with the known inaccurate reading of a on board voltage sensor in mind.

For an tight budget, i would recommend one of the lower priced FSP`s as a cost effective replacement.
Sure, not the top notch caps, but from my point of view, they last a long time.

[shadow]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Codegen PSU`S do not only have crap caps, they are very unsafe PSU`S too.
In the soket A era i build several systems with those Codegen PSu`s, and they killed a few of those systems, when there was a need for more power hungry components.

Since them i have laying around a few of them in the junk bin, but never intend to do anything with them, beyond cannibalizing some components.

Hmm...I did not know they were THAT dangerous.

I did crack open the power supply today and none of the caps have bulged, not bad for a five year old power supply. Coincidently my system from the Socket A era. However since I added a second hard drive to my system, my portable hard drive would not work correctly. Essentially it was not getting enough power from the power supply.

Fortunately I was able to buy a Fortron unit for a very good price, sure it's not the best, however it is a 400W unit rather than 350W and I can see physically that it is a superior power supply. And what do you know, my portable hard drive works perfectly now!

[gonzo0815]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

I haven`t known it either until things have had gone worse. Probably those Codegen do not have OPP, so it went foo.bar as there was the need for an GF5600.

They aren´t capable in putting out more then may be 150w to 200w if you are lucky.
I would compare them with the famous L&C Deer, they are similar build like the better ones of these.

[rawgerz]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Thanks for the help.

I went with a 610W PC power and Cooling PS.
The speed fan reports the same crazy +5V on this one too, I guess it must be the program.
any idea on who makes the caps in it? KY?
I've seen the same style on a power regulator board proprietary to my motherboard.

[Spacedye69]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Those are UCC/NCC caps. They are good caps. I've had good luck with recapping Antecs and FSPs with good caps and they work great. My power needs are usually small, though. I don't game and rarely have more that 3 drives in a system.

[gastorgrab]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

This cant be good;



.

[bgavin]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

I am now using supplies with 120mm fans. They seem to run cooler, which is much better for less than premium caps. The larger fan doesn't spin as fast, so the noise is also reduced.

I can't see any valid reason to buy supplies with 80mm fans.

[grss1982]

Re: In need of a reliable PSU

Known high reliability caps are from my point of view only in Seasonic and Seasonic build PSu`s used ATM.

So i would suggest to checkout Corsair or Seasonic`s offers if there is something, who fits your budget.

If the general quality and endurance is your point and nois is not your concern, may be PC Power & cooling may have some offerings you want (of course, these things are $$$$$$) or may be Silverstone. This brands do not use the best possible caps, their caps are even innthe badcaps list.
But up to now, their repetition is untainted.

Any way, checkout http://www.jonnyguru.com for "real" reviews.

I'm currently using a Silverstone ST-400 (400W) PSU. It comes with 3-year warranty.

Might be worth a try.