Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

About once a month, NewEgg or TigerDirect features the Corsair CX430 for about $20, delivered, and it's a Channel Well that's been very well reviewed:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...print&reid=214

However the capacitors are Samxon.

[luke10050]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

wow that is a bloody good deal...

and S*** ive got that exact Hipro in one of my computers and its really damn close to the 250W maximum... powering a 9600GT 75W card and a Core2Quad Q6600 95W + 2 HDD's and a couple of fans... maybe i should find a new one hahaha, only problem is its like my most reliable PSU thats not covered in coal dust(dont ask)

[tron]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...ly-Review/1284

Corsair CX430

SamXon GF on the secondary : (

[rogfanther]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

For a cheap psu, that was to be expected. If they were sold here near that US$ 20-35 price, I could buy them and replace the offending caps.
But with the unworthy models of psu costing about US$ 10 , stores around here sell these at high prices, just because of the name Corsair.

[Pentium4]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

Those old Hipros almost always have bad Teapo in them, they're good PSU's but they aren't very efficient which just kills the caps faster

[shovenose]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

Those old Hipros almost always have bad Teapo in them, they're good PSU's but they aren't very efficient which just kills the caps faster

Well at work,we come across a lot of those units they almost always work fine with low failure rate. Sure, they might have one bad cap in there but the customers computers work so no point in checking. I am very obsessive about checked all power supplies on the psu shelf though.

[Pentium4]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

So if you see a bad cap in the customers PSU you don't replace it?!

[luke10050]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

hey, where i work you usually get a new psu for stuff like that

[Wester547]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

Those old Hipros almost always have bad Teapo in them, they're good PSU's but they aren't very efficient which just kills the caps faster

Depends on which Hipros you're talking about. If you mean some of the cheaper ones like the ones that came out of eMachines or Gateways, (HP-P3527F3/HP-P352F3W/HP-P3507F5/W, etc), yes, those are built just well enough to do 300W @ 35*C ambient. However, the ones built for HP and Dell (HP-D2537F3x/HP-P2507F3x, etc) were always very overbuilt in my experience. Most of them did use linear regulation for +3.3V (but in such PSUs the +3.3V wires were almost always 16 gauge with the rest being 18 gauge save by the floppy wires of course) which was inefficient but it didn't really waste much power through the capacitors and did allow for especially low ripple and especially tight voltage regulation on that rail (they were known for extremely tight voltage regulation and low ripple all around, though).

Those power supplies were so overbuilt (with pretty much every type of protection circuitry you could want in a PSU, and always using a PWM TOPSwitch or Tinyswitch to generate +5VSB instead of two transistor +5VSB circuits) and so well designed that even crap like Asiacon, G-Luxon, and Sus'con lasted a long time in those (only exception to that... the Hipros that had Arcons, those failed very very quickly...). However, +5VSB still might have had failed capacitors, with enough time "plugged in" or "soft off" (or standby and hibernation).

Only other issue with those units was prematurely seizing ADDA sleeve bearing fans, and as noted above, sometimes conductive glue. Well, that, and sometimes loose fan thermistors. However, there is a point about a danger in using a power supply full of nothing but Teapo, because at that point at least one or two is bound to be in a hot location... that being said, I too could easily recommend a recapped Hipro without conductive glue (and with a good fan). Their older power supplies always had spots for 12.5mm capacitors and always used very thick heatsinks and very thick coils (on both the input and output).

[shovenose]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

So if you see a bad cap in the customers PSU you don't replace it?!

Not what I said :P

[c_hegge]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

Well at work,we come across a lot of those units they almost always work fine with low failure rate. Sure, they might have one bad cap in there but the customers computers work so no point in checking

Every computer that comes my way gets its PSU opened and inspected (unless it's one which I know is unlikely to have bad caps), regardless of how well it seems to work. Customers generally appreciate some warning and a pre-emptive replacement, rather than just have the high ripple kill the motherboard.

[KenOlson]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

Thanks everyone!

Should have added to my post that I am not handy with a soldering iron and would rather buy a New PSU with Good Caps.

Since posting have been searching and found
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

Does anyone have comments concerning the SPCR EDITOR'S CHOICE POWER SUPPLIES recommended.

I wonder how well a Fanless PSU like the Seasonic SS-300SFD 80 Plus would work?

Thanks again everyone for your help!!!

Ken

[mariushm]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

Silent PC Review focuses more on how silent the power supplies are, on their noise profile etc. They're not a good source to get an impression of the quality of the electronics.

If you want to learn about the insides, i'd suggest starting with jonnyguru.com , techpowerup.com hardwaresecrets.com ... I know those have good reviews. I couldn't recommend other sites with quality reviews but I'm sure there's many.

Seasonic in general makes quality power supplies. I'm sure that 300w one is a good power supply.

You have to keep in mind though, that like most fanless power supplies, they're only designed to take care of their own heat issues. The system still needs some fans to move the air heated up by the video card, by the processor, by the hard drives etc.

[KenOlson]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

mariushm,

Thanks for the Review tips.

"Seasonic in general makes quality power supplies." Agree all the reviews I have read to date indicate this.

"You have to keep in mind though, that like most fanless power supplies, they're only designed to take care of their own heat issues." I wonder how the fanless life span will compare with the fan ones?

Would like to get a fan PSU. Believe the smallest Seasonic fan model is "G Series 360" http://www.seasonicusa.com/G-series-360.htm

It got an excellent review from http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=313

Has anyone seen it or the other Seasonic PSUs on Sale?

Ken

[shovenose]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

I own and have used that Seasonic G 360w great power supply but search New egg they have a 300w Seasonic ATX with 80+ Bronze. Two versions one has 80mm fan on end and one has 120mm fan on the bottom.

[ratdude747]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

To the OP:

Where do you live? Country? If US,State? If you're in the US, I may have a good one in my junk pile...

The dell 2400 uses a standard ATX PSU. The oddball ones were PIII and older... and usually in white cases. The cutout is standard too.

I actually have a half-parted 2400 in my basement... I think it still has the PSU; it came with a 200W Newton/Delta as stock (I've seen them with 200W hipro's too). Since they lack AGP, unless you're burning discs all the time, 200W is fair. If you are burning a lot, 250W.

[luke10050]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

yeah i was going to say my 2400 came with a 250W Hipro that still runs fine near its rated wattage.

[shovenose]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

To the OP:

Where do you live? Country? If US,State? If you're in the US, I may have a good one in my junk pile...

The dell 2400 uses a standard ATX PSU. The oddball ones were PIII and older... and usually in white cases. The cutout is standard too.

I actually have a half-parted 2400 in my basement... I think it still has the PSU; it came with a 200W Newton/Delta as stock (I've seen them with 200W hipro's too). Since they lack AGP, unless you're burning discs all the time, 200W is fair. If you are burning a lot, 250W.

burning discs? LOL. Really a 200W can handle anything in those computers as long as you're not trying to run a high end (well, AGP high end LOL) video card.

All these gamers that are the same people that recommend Corsair PSUs (which have abnormally high failure rates over and over again even though they are theoretically well built units) also say that even the most basic computer needs a 600W PSU.

Fact: Seasonic G-360W is fine for almost any PC that has a single graphics card that needs the single 6-Pin PCI-Express connect.
Fact #2: Seasonic Seasonic SS-300ET is fine for almost any PC that has a video card without its own power connector.

No need to overspend on crap!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151086
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151085

[ratdude747]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

burning discs? LOL. Really a 200W can handle anything in those computers as long as you're not trying to run a high end (well, AGP high end LOL) video card.

I meant a lot... not once in a while. Like a photographer always making photo CD's for clients or the like.. or maybe burning a lot of DVD's.

Yeah, a 200W might "work" but I tend to overkill my PSU wattages when possible by a bit, just to be safe (and to keep things running cool).

[shovenose]

Re: Best Inexpensive ATX Power Supply?

I meant a lot... not once in a while. Like a photographer always making photo CD's for clients or the like.. or maybe burning a lot of DVD's.

Yeah, a 200W might "work" but I tend to overkill my PSU wattages when possible by a bit, just to be safe (and to keep things running cool).

And that's how PSU companies make money. Especially crappy ones. Because the people that buy a $15 "680W" PSU then never load it past 150-200W which it can handle for a couple years until the caps go will think it's a great quality product then they'll tell their friends it's cheap but good and if one in a hundred people put it under too much load and it goes BANG and takes their new GPU and motherboard with it and corrupts their hard drive "oh, it's not the PSU's fault, just a power surge" or something...

I ran a GTX295 on an old 200W Dell PSU as a test and it did work until I ran Prime95 and Furmark at the same time then it shut off. Under normal load it would probably work for quite a while. Had it been a 250W it probably would have worked more permanently.