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

[genghiskron]

What about Cougar?

 

[verbalizer]

What about Cougar?

1. Cougar

An older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man. The cougar can be anyone from an overly surgically altered wind tunnel victim, to an absolute sad and bloated old horn-meister, to a real hottie or milf. Cougars are gaining in popularity -- particularly the true hotties -- as young men find not only a sexual high, but many times a chick with her *** together.
That cougar I met last night, showed me *** I didn't know existed, I'm goin back for more.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cougar

 

[Guest]

WHO makes ALLIED?

 

[nukemaster]

[citation][nom]genghiskron[/nom]What about Cougar?[/citation]
They are a part of HEC.

In other news.....

I am not sure if seeing solder(no heat shrink) in the plug or any glue is a bad things. it can prevent vibration of parts and inside the metal case, exposed solder is not an issue. Even the Corsair HX850(a fairly well reviewed unit) has the power connectors just soldered without heat shrink.

Only ground has the shrink
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/fullimage.php?image=47391


It sure is bad to see a 500 watt power supply with less power(12 volt) then a 300 watt unit

 

[dondrusco]

Thank you for update.
I have OCZ GameXStream 700W for three years.
I found 'crappy' CapXon-s inside.

Luckily, it still works.

 

[merikafyeah]

FSP branded OEM PSUs use the highest quality components available, which means durability and very clean power with low ripple. The fact that you can draw 837W from FSP's 650W PSU speaks volumes of the sturdiness of components used:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/FSP-Aurum-92+-650-W-Power-Supply-Review/1682/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104170

Seasonic is also very good but many people report hearing a very distracting coil whine that plagues even their top-rated PSUs.

 

[sunflowerjane]

I knew little about hardware. The article helps me to get some inside information.

 

[ojas]

I have a CM GX550, it's UL no. is E320127, should be in the AcBel/Polytech row.

Model number: RS-550-ACAA-E3.

 

[uruquiora]

That's exactly what makes Tom's one of the best IT website around... thanks again guys, and SEASONIC ftw

 

[stairmand]

Interesting because it may answer why I've had two Corsair AX850 PSU's that have the same model number but have a small difference.

The bolt hole locations are reversed so the outer casing was obviously flipped in manufacture. No big deal but did make me wonder how it happed. The list shows 3 different manufactures for that model.

 

[butremor]

Technoware PSus, anyone ???

 

[Cons29]

very nice, thumbs up.

 

[dfusco]

So who makes Thermaltake Power supplies?

 

[ubercake]

[citation][nom]spyder271[/nom]I'm not sure I know how to effectifly use this list. How do I know which manufactures build quality units? For example, OCZ uses both Channel Well (supposedly good) and topower (supposedly bad). Is there a way to know which manufactures are to be avoided without first buying the unit? I know the general guidelines, but how do I use this list to help?[/citation]
This is exactly what I was thinking. Ok... We know who may be making the PSU, but now what?

Why would the fact that a PSU is manufactured by Channel Well with a Corsair label and a valid UL listing mean anything to me in the end?

I'm sure each of the OEMs produce some high-end, some low-end, and PSUs in between for various applications. I think the list helps generate ideas for future articles.

I'd like to see some PSU review taken a step further with comparisons for a given wattage. What is the best 500-600W (considering I'd also want to game on it)? Which is the best 600-700W and so on...

Price/Value/Quality comparisons all in there.

Personally, when I look to buy anything for my PC, I find a good indicator of the quality is the type and length of the warranty. For monitors (and TVs for that matter), power supplies and disks, I'm always looking for long warranty periods. You usually pay a premium for this, but if the component works out of the box, it's usually going to last longer than the period by which the manufacturer or label will back the product.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

!#$@#$@#$ What am I going to do with that pallet of Hardwaremania24 PSUs???

 

[Maxx_Power]

[citation][nom]PreferLinux[/nom]As you were told with the last one, chokes do not mean passive PFC. They will be present in the filters (all of them, including input) of any PSU.[/citation]
I saw the image with the captions, it seems that the author means any "large" choke wired that way. The smaller common-mode and differential chokes at the transient stage doesn't look like that, typically.

 

[g-unit1111]

My first rig used an Ultra power supply that was far from stable - it would crash my system left and right. I swapped it with a Corsair TX750 and have been problem free ever since. PSUs are one thing I am always cautious about.

 

[Onus]

I've had this bookmarked for a while now. Thanks for the update. I generally prefer Seasonic-built units myself, and some Delta. I'd buy new FSP or Super Flower as well. I agree with ubercake about the warranty period. A long warranty indicates the company has some confidence in its product, so generally so will I. Of course, nothing beats a competent technical review, especially one that includes dissection which may give a clue about longevity (e.g. all Japanese 105C caps, vs. Samxon GF).

 

[maxinexus]

[citation][nom]gsacks[/nom]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.[/citation]

This apply to everything from a motherboards to an airplanes.

 

[JonnyDough]

Is there any company that makes nothing but quality PSUs? It would be nice if there were, we could raise the standard by buying ONLY their supplies!

 

[nondy]

greate article! very informative

 

[groundrat]

Excellent information. Any home builder should know this.

 

[pit_1209]

[citation][nom]JonnyDough[/nom]Is there any company that makes nothing but quality PSUs? It would be nice if there were, we could raise the standard by buying ONLY their supplies![/citation]

Seasonic...

 

[Marcus52]

Absolutely fabulous article!

Tomshardware is one of the primary sites we have to thank for the good quality PSUs we have today, as they were among the first to start showing us how bad most of them were. This is the kind of thing I keep reading Tomshardware for - informative articles that I can use when I buy and build.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]pit_1209[/nom]Seasonic...[/citation]

Yeah and actually they would be my first choice I believe. The mid ranged to high ranged Corsair products are solid, already knew that. Naturally some of the larger OEMs (notably: ChannelWell, FSP, HEC, Seventeam, Super Flower) all make mostly good products but a lot of them do make some lower-end stuff as well. If you do find a smaller company that you know makes only quality products at an affordable price by all means by them, as more competition lowers prices and raises standards. As long as you aren't buying cheapo stuff you're usually ok with anything made by these companies I think.

Anytime I buy a new PSU I look at a few things (it's tough to be an expert and look at internals).

For one, I always Google the PSU model + reviews to see what is said about them. I also look at warranties. Anything less than a three year warranty is a no-go. It's nice to see more five year warranties becoming more common place and I hope this trend continues.

I realize that this is Tom's Hardware but JonnyGuru and his affiliates on the forums seem very knowledgeable so I often Google the model+JonnyGuru as well to see if they have anything to say about it. Pay close attention whenever you look up a model and reviews online, as models will sometimes go through a recent change and be better or worse than they had been known to be. They may retain the model name/number but the internals can be different.