Sub-$75 Mainstream Power Supply Roundup

[Guest]

In our last power supply article, we reviewed several relatively expensive, high-performance products suitable for powerful gaming PCs and workstations. This time around, we're looking at something a little bit more affordable for the mainstream crowd.

Sub-$75 Mainstream Power Supply Roundup : Read more

 

[Guest]

That was scary seeing the AXP PSU blow up...

 

[eddieroolz]

I still remember buying my Corsair VX550W for $91CAD just a year and half ago. Amazing how prices have come down for cheap, capable and yet quality PSUs over time.

Oh, and it was interesting to see a real PSU blow up

 

[Guest]

Patrick u sure the antec blows the hot air into the case?
Looking at the picture and the fan alignment it seems otherwise.

 

[jestersage]

I wish the Xigmatek was available here. All we have are expensive 750w and 850w versions.

 

[jabbrun]

How come there's no Silverstone strider 400W...

 

[bmadd]

Im glad to see that the Antec 380D won. I have bought 5 for family and friends have been solid units to date.

 

[youssef 2010]

I don't think the Xigmatek PSU can keep the 650W load reliable or else Xigmatek would've rated it to be 650W

 

[dragon5677]

Antec is awesome as always

 

[feeddagoat]

Is there no way to measure how stable the power on each rail is? Some PSU's Ive seen are very efficient but their rails drops below recommended power delivery meaning components are starved. Some even fluxuate which can damage components over time. The only other thing I feel is missing is capacitor aging. Is there any way to simulate 2-3 years use? Most PSU's I use in my main machine get handed down to another rig or sold. 2nd hand PSU's could be false economy!

great video, Ive always wanted to see a PSU explode lol.

 

[dEAne]

All these keeps me updated.

 

[RazberyBandit]

[citation][nom]cloudwan[/nom]Patrick u sure the antec blows the hot air into the case?
Looking at the picture and the fan alignment it seems otherwise.[/citation] Agreed. The pics at Newegg show that the bends in the fan blades are aligned to evacuate air from the PSU, not blow into it.

While your tests show that these PSU's perform up to or even above their power output specs, that's not the whole story. You say you have an oscilloscope, but where are it's readings across all those load tests? What about voltage fluctuation measurements across them as well?

I just think you're capable of providing more thorough tests and results.

Further, the low weight of some PSUs at least suggests the use of cheaper components.

I'm curious why you choose not to open them up and examine the parts used to build them. Doing so would allow you to actually see if they're constructed from quality parts, rather than make a guess based on the unit's weight. Wouldn't it be beneficial to know what's actually inside the unit? To see where each unit went the extra mile or cut corners? Is it really a matter of voiding the warranty that prevents you from doing so?

 

[Onus]

I've bought a number of EA-380 PSUs, both the older one and the "D" model; I'm pretty sure that fan is an exhaust.
The initial request makes me think these were cherry-picked, rather than selected from a Retail source. That bodes particularly poorly for AXP; looks like they should not be legal for sale.

 

[Guest]

when it comes to temperature intake and outake, "less is better" is total BS. Temperature is a unit of density not a unit of energy. less is not necessarly better.

 

[jomofro39]

Oh man, I must have gotten a helluva deal when I got my Corsair 650TX for 70 bucks then. Nice review.

 

[altoidman85]

My company supplied our custom built computers to a local hospital for several years. We had a span while we used Antec cases where every one of their 350W power supplies that came bundled with the case failed just like the one in the video. Sparks, bright flashes and smoke. Ultimately it lost us the contract with the hospital for the computers. Personally I will never buy or recommend an Antec power supply or product to anyone. Even after dealing directly with the company and proving a design flaw with the power supply the refused to do anything to fix the issues for us. Because of that roughly 100 power supplies were replaced at my companies expense. Now I use thermaltake 430W power supplies and while they are not the most efficient I have never had a single failure with these. It would have been nice to see how they stack up against the power supplies used in this article tho.

 

[Arguggi]

Why no noise comparison? Some PSU I've tried sounded like a jet fighter under load, i guess it isn't these PSU case, but anyway an idea of the SPL they produce would have been nice.

 

[cknobman]

The antec earthwatts is an unbelievable power supply at an unreached price point. I picked mine up on the egg for only $29.99 after rebate!!!!

 

[tipoo]

Still too big, IMHO. A mainstream user generally would not use more than 250 watts, these are more for low-mid end gamers or high performance users.

 

[tipoo]

[citation][nom]tipoo[/nom]Still too big, IMHO. A mainstream user generally would not use more than 250 watts, these are more for low-mid end gamers or high performance users.[/citation]

If you doubt this, try using a kill-a-watt meter or equivalent. Most mainstream PC's idle lower than 100, and max lower than 250.

 

[tom thumb]

If you're in the sub-500W range and you want something silent, just grab a passive PSU.

 

[hydro61]

Do you guys ever ask ultra so send you a power supply granted the distribution is limited but with a life time warrantee they are the only ones I buy.

 

[scook9]

I got a Corsair TX750 for $75

It wins!

 

[rakoth]

I've always used Corsair PSUs in my builds because they have a good reputation, I've never had a problem with them, and they always seem to be on sale at newegg, e.g., I can often get the CX400W for $29.95 (with rebate). But I've heard rumors that some (all?) of their PSUs are no longer built by Seasonic and the quality has degraded. Any truth to that?

 

[randomstar]

Had similar issues to the AXP with Logisys- the things are marked way more than they really are. one of the " green" 600w units I had burned up just like the video, and two others had bad solder joints and such that made them kick off or reset at the slightest movement. got a "great" deal on a case of them and have had to replace all of them.. and the 380 w. model has proven to be just as unreliable. local distributer carried them for a while and pushed agressivly- used to use the CoolerMaster line but had problems there, and I really have not found a good " lower to mainstream" unit in the 40-70 dollar range- and most of the pc in that class would do just fine with a 300 of good quality.