Discussion PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

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No need for envy on that account. Heck, my fans cost a lot more than that power supply did. LOL. Figure, 6 xNF-A14 black.swap plus 1 xNF-A14 black.swap iPPC 2000rpm. Add in an NF-A4x20 PWM fan on my M.2 drive and that's 200 dollars worth of fans. Dang, this stuff adds up quick. I think I figure out that all told, with all the individual components that are listed on my sig under "My current build" are over 3 grand". I don't know how it ever got to be that much of an investment AND I don't even have that great of a system. Heh.
 
Says who? You forget, you posted pics, and plenty of them, even from when you had the old case. I'd rather own your current pc than many I've seen with slightly newer equipment. To me, it's not all about the fps at the end of the day.
 
So does mine. The main reason I'm making the change is because there is no practical way to individually sleeve the cables on the G2 because of the inline caps, without negatively affecting it's ripple levels if you cut them out and customize the cable length to not have to sleeve around them which IMO looks poopy. The sleeved cable sets available for the G2 all result in significantly higher ripple levels than with the stock cables. The Prime ultra Titanium, does not have inline caps so it avoids that being a concern.
 
The problem isn't the length, it's removing the inline caps. Yes, it would still have better ripple suppression than the majority of units out there, but it would not have the same level of ripple suppression that is part of the reason why you buy this unit in the first place. There are some guides out there on sleeving the cables while leaving the inline caps in place, but honestly, they look like crap to me compared to cables without them. So, yeah, I'll be keeping the Prime unit. Plus, I'll be building another system before too long and I'll be able to use this G2 in that one for my garage anyhow.
 
Hello Darkbreeze!

Thank you for this summary you've made as the first post of this thread. However I was amazed that there are no words regarding one of the largest PSU and case brand I know: Zalman.

What do you think about their products?
 
Personally, I think they were good back in the day when custom PC hardware and cooling was in it's infancy, and they have a few products that have withstood the test of time for a specific purpose, but overall, by comparison to today's products and manufacturers, they pretty much trail sadly behind for the most part. I'm sure they have a few products that might be worth looking at but after their near bankruptcy and lawsuits, they are not a brand much of anybody in moderately developed countries looks to anymore. They are however still fairly popular in some of the outliers and less developed regions where good hardware is hard to come by. They simply are the Sears of the PC hardware world, if you know what I mean. They are still around, but they seem to mostly refuse to change and adapt to the times although I've seen some signs of a desire to do recently but it's probably a case of too little too late.
 
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Darkbreeze said:
Personally, I think they were good back in the day when custom PC hardware and cooling was in it's infancy, and they have a few products that have withstood the test of time for a specific purpose, but overall, by comparison to today's products and manufacturers, they pretty much trail sadly behind for the most part. I'm sure they have a few products that might be worth looking at but after their near bankruptcy and lawsuits, they are not a brand much of anybody in moderately developed countries looks to anymore. They are however still fairly popular in some of the outliers and less developed regions where good hardware is hard to come by. They simply are the Sears of the PC hardware world, if you know what I mean. They are still around, but they seem to mostly refuse to change and adapt to the times although I've seen some signs of a desire to do recently but it's probably a case of too little too late.
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I might be coming from one of those regions then 😀 (Central Europe)
Well I don't want to look stupid although it is also quite difficult to go through 24 pages of this thread to get the answers to questions like "what do you mean they refused to change or adapt" and "how can the needs of PSU" alter during the years. One would think that the same requirements stand since god-knows-when: a PSU must be stable and efficient. Or at least this is what I think. It must not damage any parts, no overcurrent (if this is a word...) or alterations in the voltage whatsoever and it's good to have 80+ efficiency.

But I get it and thank you. Although almost all of the brands you named - while established brand names - are not among those I would prefer to choose my next PSU. Except Corsair, they are cool and I bought their products before and was satisfied.
 
Zalman doesn't "make" any power supplies. Other companies like Seasonic, CWT, Great wall, Super Flower and FSP design and manufacture the platforms that companies like Corsair, Zalman, Be Quiet, Antec, Xion, Thermaltake, Sparkle and other "brands" slap their names on.

If you are in central Europe, then Super Flower is probably readily available, as is Corsair, as is Seasonic, and all of them have both very good and very poor models so choosing the right model, regardless of who it is from, is generally as or more important than what brand name is on the label.
 
Yes, all of these brands are available. I'm doing my hw. then regarding what is to be considered "poor" and what is "very good". And I know that not all brands are manufacturers as well, however I didn't know SF or Seasonic are manufacturing. For me they are relatively "new" (still 10+ yrs.)
 
Darkbreeze said:
companies like Corsair, Zalman, Be Quiet, Antec, Xion, Thermaltake, Sparkle and other "brands" slap their names on
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a few modify the plattforms they use, which at times end up making them better.

Darkbreeze said:
If you are in central Europe, then Super Flower is probably readily available, as is Corsair, as is Seasonic,
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usually bequiet aswell with PP11 (>=400w) units if looking at lower budget. and bitfenix with their formula golds
 
Seasonic, HEC, FSP, SuperFlower etc are OEMs. They also happen to have signiture house brands. Seasonic has a reputation of good stuff or better, SuperFlower makes everything from junk to excellent, HEC makes decent, but I wouldn't touch its house brand with a 20ft pole and Darkbreeze behind me pushing.

So what's of the most importance is not just the brand, but the model. With beQuiet, the Dark power series is a step up, the Pure power are decent. Corsair has its various flavors from VS to AXi. Zalman seems content to flood the market with mediocre everything although they have some respectable coolers, the giant copper finger slicing donut just really doesn't appeal to anyone anymore. And their cases aren't well thought out designs for airflow or components.
 
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HEC oems the EVGA N1 and W1 PSUs if memory serves. Those models are not very good.

Currently the cheapest PSU on PCPP is a HEC branded psu. The reviews are atrocious.

HEC may OEM some decent models, but many are garbage or close to it.
 
logainofhades said:
HEC is the OEM for the Evga B1, BQ 650w+, and BV, as well.
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Which are not amazing.
This just adds to the list of poor units built on HEC plaforms.

I thought I heard the B1 was simmilar to the Corsair VS units, but this pretty much proves that wrong.
The Corsair VS arent group regulated, unlike the B1 units, aswell as the different platform and 80+ differences.
 
I'm guilty.

Of calling psus junk, and some truly are. But generally that's not entirely truthful. It'd be far more accurate to call those 'junky' claimed psus as terrible, for gaming or production usage, instead. There's realistically nothing wrong with the VS, B1, NEX, even the old green label CX, IF they are used for what they are realistically intended for, Grandma's websurfer. It's only the higher end, enthusiast class, pro editor, content creator type builds running high end gpus, massive cpus that need the appropriate psu, both in wattage and quality.

But for an everyday websurfer, with a tiny gpu, igpu that'd be lucky to see over 200w if pushed.. Those junky units work just fine and generally last for years.

Of course that's not including the real junk, the no-name, off brand, light as a feather garbage put out by vendors such as Circle, insignia, compucase, and anything with a brand name written in Chinese characters with English subtitles.
 
Karadjgne said:
I'm guilty.

Of calling psus junk, and some truly are. But generally that's not entirely truthful. It'd be far more accurate to call those 'junky' claimed psus as terrible, for gaming or production usage, instead. There's realistically nothing wrong with the VS, B1, NEX, even the old green label CX, IF they are used for what they are realistically intended for, Grandma's websurfer. It's only the higher end, enthusiast class, pro editor, content creator type builds running high end gpus, massive cpus that need the appropriate psu, both in wattage and quality.

But for an everyday websurfer, with a tiny gpu, igpu that'd be lucky to see over 200w if pushed.. Those junky units work just fine and generally last for years.

Of course that's not including the real junk, the no-name, off brand, light as a feather garbage put out by vendors such as Circle, insignia, compucase, and anything with a brand name written in Chinese characters with English subtitles.
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Or, after 4 years of use and then sitting on the shelf for 6 months, a green label CX600 ate one of my motherboards on first power up.
 
Sorry to hear about the motherboard, but you did get 4 years out of that green label CX, which is quite a decent amount of time since they averaged 18 months or so. It survived long enough to retire its warranty period, which is an accomplishment in itself.

But that beggars the question, just why would you put it on the shelf in the first place? At 4 years, retirement means doorstop, coaster, spare parts, paperweight, anything but a return to active duty.
 
Karadjgne said:
Sorry to hear about the motherboard, but you did get 4 years out of that green label CX, which is quite a decent amount of time since they averaged 18 months or so. It survived long enough to retire its warranty period, which is an accomplishment in itself.

But that beggars the question, just why would you put it on the shelf in the first place? At 4 years, retirement means doorstop, coaster, spare parts, paperweight, anything but a return to active duty.
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It was on the shelf due to multiple systems being rebuilt and parts swapped around.
I didn't need it, so it went on the shelf.
Later, building up a low power HTPC, I had it, so thought to use it.

Poof, dead motherboard.

Your statement of "averaged 18 months" goes against your earlier "Those junky units work just fine and generally last for years. "

In any case...not to be recommended.
 
NightHawkRMX said:
If a PSU is rated for 450w, it ought to be able to sustain 450w with a gaming load.

If the PSU cannot do that, there is a problem.
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This, is EXACTLY right. If a PSU "SAYS" it is 450w, then 450w is what it NEEDS to be ABLE to suport. Continuously, at 40°C AT LEAST. 50°C would be better. Regardless of WHAT is it used for or what kind of hardware it has, so long as the draw isn't more than 450w then any 450w unit can either provide that reliably for at least as long as the warranty period, or it's a piece of junk. Period.

AND, if the warranty is less than three years, then IMO, it's automatically a piece of junk right off the bat. No PSU with less than a three year warranty should ever be recommended, trusted or purchased, by anybody, for anything, regardless of claims of fitness for a particular use.
 
@USAFRet

Not really 'goes against', that average includes all those using those CX 550, CX 600 on the old R9 series like 280/280x/290's etc, where 6 months or less was the average lifespan. But there were multi postings of ppl getting 4 years+, on 750ti builds etc. But that was back when 3 years was a decent average warranty for most all the more budget psus, Seasonic included. I just tossed an old CoolerMaster 600 that went through 3 pc's and about 6 years of usage, but never saw anything more than a P4 and 8800 GT/ x800. 300w if it was lucky.
 
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