Who's Who In Power Supplies, 2011: Brands Vs. Manufacturers

[verbalizer]

foolish..
only insecure people take offense towards other who do not initiate any such an attack.
compensating for short comings you are...
LOL.

 

[top_playa]

LOL !

 

[Reynod]

Igor I was very impressed how you took the time to explain the importance of quality components and cooling, including the pictures to explain this to users.

 

[technoidgit]

I will be getting the Corsair HX750 According to 80 Plus the 750HX, together with HX850W, is Gold certified. Corsair decided to lower to Silver certified as the test results were close to the minimum requirements. Kudos for Corsair for lowering their own grade in a market where man competitors tend to exaggerate their numbers. Plus being made by Seasonic doesn't hurt

 

[technoidgit]

Opps sorrry for abit of miss info. The 750HX is made by Channel Well as is the HX850 and HX1000 but this does not change my mind on it being a great power supply. You can also pull up to 910 W at 46º C from this unit(HX750), which is really impressive. They also only use all high end compnents. You need to remember and search each individual model from anyone because there is also some real crap the Channel Well produces

 

[technoidgit]

[citation][nom]mayankleoboy1[/nom]so is the tx750 good? its made by channel well.[/citation]

Well I think some of the info in this article may need to be updated, O'll explain(but could be wrong anyway)

Well it matters on which TX750 you have. The new TX750 V2 is made by Seasonic and is identical inside(interior) except for fan size to the XFX Pro 750x which is also made by Seasonic. The original version of the TX750w was made by Channel Well. The Corsair TX750 V2 is a decent power supply, targeted to users that want good 750 W unit at an affordable price. Compared to the old TX750, the new version is a no-brainer, providing higher efficiency and far lower noise and ripple levels

Onto the original TX750, this was a great power supply and still is. high efficiency, active PFC, excellent cooling solution, enough power to feed high-end video cards and power upto 4 video cards or 2 (more)complex gpus. It also has eight SATA power connectors and eight peripheral power connectors, with two or more DVD burners and a big RAID array and extra hard drives.
So both of them are great units able to pull some very good numbers in testing, the VS(new version) has just been updated and runs a little cleaner and made by Seasonic

 

[Reynod]

I'd like to see the list expanded into a list that would enable new units to be added by reviewers and perhaps users, and a rating scale so those of us with experience using particular types could add some comments (no anaonymous / guest access though).

I have an E141400 OEM GX series Coolermaster 500W PSU in my main rig which has been running 14/7 for 15 mths and handles an overclocked Q6600 and a GTX260 fine, with 3 HDD's ... so i would definately recommend this product to others. I have 2 Topower 650W PSU's that are dead ... having lived for about 6mths ... and i wouldn't recommend them.

Having a list which allows for user comments would be useful.

I accept that it might be something the moderators would have to check ... in terms of posts ... to ensure users can't post inflammatory or libel comments about manufacturers ... keeping it to ratings out of 10 and perhaps listing what rig the specific PSU was in, would be useful.

Anyway ... well done for a good start.

 

[livebriand]

"When I replaced a crappy 500W power supply bought online from Fry's with a Corsair 520W supply built by Seasonic (from the egg), a few years ago the system almost miraculously became 100% more stable. I will never skimp on a power supply again. EVER."

How was it not stable? Did it crash

 

[livebriand]

What is the quality of the cheap OEM ones that manufacturers like Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc use? Sure those cheap ones off ebay (like you guys mentioned in a previous article) might explode, but what about the cheap ones that OEMs use? Are those all that safe?

 

[bit_user]

I love these articles! Massive thanks for all of this!

 

[Scotty99]

I have been running:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147010
for 5 years now with zero PS issues. I game all the time on a gt 240. Before this case i had another cheapo PS/case combo i had bought in 1999....it is 250 watt and still works.

People always say "buy a cheap PS and when it dies it will take the rest of the components with it!" i think that is an old wives tale that i have never personally seen happen to anyone i know.

 

[verbalizer]

What is the quality of the cheap OEM ones that manufacturers like Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, etc use? Sure those cheap ones off ebay (like you guys mentioned in a previous article) might explode, but what about the cheap ones that OEMs use? Are those all that safe?

Dell PSU's are not cheap..
Lite-On, Flextronics, Bestec, Hipro and FSP are the major Dell PSU manufacturers (not all but most).
So overall there not cheap, just like everything else they go bad for whatever reason..

 

[verbalizer]

I have been running:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147010
for 5 years now with zero PS issues. I game all the time on a gt 240. Before this case i had another cheapo PS/case combo i had bought in 1999....it is 250 watt and still works.

People always say "buy a cheap PS and when it dies it will take the rest of the components with it!" i think that is an old wives tale that i have never personally seen happen to anyone i know.

not trying to start anything but,,, your not really gaming with a GT240 and a Rosewill 350-watt psu..
:lol:

 

[Scotty99]

[citation][nom]malmental[/nom]not trying to start anything but,,, your not really gaming with a GT240 and a Rosewill 350-watt psu..[/citation]


Well, you just did buddy! I am gaming on a 19" CRT at 1280x1024. I have tried to force myself to like LCD's (i purchased a 400 dollar LG 23" from best buy, it did not look near as good as my CRT).

Bottom line, i have yet to run into a game that my GT 240 cannot play smoothly on my CRT.

 

[verbalizer]

Well, you just did buddy! I am gaming on a 19" CRT at 1280x1024. I have tried to force myself to like LCD's (i purchased a 400 dollar LG 23" from best buy, it did not look near as good as my CRT).

Bottom line, i have yet to run into a game that my GT 240 cannot play smoothly on my CRT.

honestly I'm kinda messin' with you.
I once upgraded to a GT240 from a 8600GT in my HTPC unit a few years back.
I still have the card, it's a back-up and build card.
I now use the OEM GTS240 as a phys-X card in another unit for gaming.
as for the CRT', I love the durability just not the size... LOL

 

[Guest]

Bottom line, i have yet to run into a game that my GT 240 cannot play smoothly on my CRT.

Crysis
GTA4
Metro 2033
Stalker.

Full graphical settings please, with AA/AF, and HDR when available.

 

[verbalizer]

Bottom line, i have yet to run into a game that my GT 240 cannot play smoothly on my CRT.

Crysis
GTA4
Metro 2033
Stalker.

Full graphical settings please, with AA/AF, and HDR when available.

so I take it that you agree with me and the GT 240 can NOT be a gamers card...

 

[gamerk316]

Easy solution: 80Plus silver or above.

 

[osiguy]

I bought a coolmax zp-850b 850watt 80 plus bronze.
My philosophy at the time was hmm it costs more than the 900 watt and it had good reviews here and from users and the spec's looked good on it.

I've had it since Feb '10 and it has run well, kept to specs even under load testing, hasn't burned up and kept up the pace.

It's not the most expensive but it's not the cheapest. I've only got one video card but it will handle two just fine.

I didn't want to go cheap this time because I have a good mobo and 12 gigs of ram and a decent vid card for the price Sapphire 6570 hd, but I didn't want to send 200-300 for a power supply as I had a limited budget and I already got an i7 processor. So, after a year... I have to say I'm happy with Coolmax even though they aren't an OEM.

 

[verbalizer]

Easy solution: 80Plus silver or above.

that works for me..

 

[Nash1972]

I remember back in the old 286/386 days when I used to be a PC support tech, we had only Seasonic and Seventeam competing for PSU dominance. Mind you we went through many units back then, but that was usually due to poor case/PSU ventilation and dust build up which caused overheat problems. However, the extremely loud CAP explosions were a laugh.

Not trying to recommend these two OEMs but they have been around for a long time, and as long as they are not cutting their production costs, I'd expect any equipment they endorse would be rock solid.

Saying that however you have to remember not all components are 100% every time. That's what warranty is for....

 

[Wanker79]

I must be doing something wrong. I'm trying to use the UL Online Certification linked on page 3, but the results are inconsistent.

For instance, Corsair. If you look up E161451, it should be Channel Well. And it is. But if you look up E307858, is should be Seasonic but it comes back with Corsair.

And if I go to Newegg and look up the AX1200, the UL number listed on the sticker is E307858, which is the Seasonic number (that is actually listed as Corsair) instead of the FLextronics number listed in the chart.

I'm very confused.

 

[chriskrum]

It seems Corsair uses different manufactures for power supplies that have the same name. I have a TX750 that is made by Seasonic. The chart here says that they are made by Channel Well. It's just that there are different versions of the TX750. That's what you are discovering. You can mostly trust the UL number, especially on Corsair, it will tell you who made a particular power supply.

I suspect UL numbers on really cheap power supplies, when they have them, are a bit nefarious. The Chinese have no issue with counterfeiting anything.

 

[wossum]

Good article, reminds me of why I don't go searching in the proverbial bargain bin for my PSUs

 

[cyb34]

I own a modular Coolermaster 750W for 4 years now. It's in pristine condition, quiet and cool. Premium product worth every penny.