[Daveskater]

I need to get a new PSU to power a new graphics card, but the requirements are tricky to meet without massive overkill so wondered if anyone on here had some recommendations.

What I need:

Around 500W, maybe 600
Combined 28A on 12V rails
For sale on Ebuyer.com
Preferably under £70
Isn't gong to explode

Had a quick look around (last time I was half asleep ) and found these two, all I wondered about the OCZ one, though, was with it having 4 12V rails, will it use more than two when connected to a graphics card, because if it uses two then it isn't enough current.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132563

[alan2273]

I have recently purchased a Seasonic S12 500w, and it powers a Nvidia 8800GTS 640mb with no problems.
I purchesd this because I have a S12 600w in my other computer which I brought 15 months ago.
My antec PSU failed so I went for reliability and purchased another Seasonic.

You can buy one here.

Seasonic Computers - 500W Power Supply - S12500

[Hope Cassidy]

Take the Corsair, they are made by Pc Power & Cooling, amongst the best maker of psus. Ocz is a brand distributor and anything could be "under the hood".

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Daveskater

Had a quick look around (last time I was half asleep ) and found these two, all I wondered about the OCZ one, though, was with it having 4 12V rails, will it use more than two when connected to a graphics card, because if it uses two then it isn't enough current.

Just to explain a little about multi rail psu's.

Modern pc's can often require quite a lot of current on the +12 volts.

Multi rail psu's were designed as more of a safety feature than anything.

The rails are not designed to act independently but rather to act as a "team".

All it really means is that a milti rail psu will have more components (regulators in particular) that will control the current output compared to a single rail psu.

As long as the combined amperage exceeds your requirements you will be fine.



Massive overkill would also not be a problem as the psu will not continually pump out it's maximum amperage output all the time, it will only deliver what is required at the time.


Exceeding your power requirement is actually a good thing for 2 reasons.
1 - It means you have "space" for adding further power hungry components.
2 - The greater the "overhead" the cooler the psu will run and the longer it will last.

[Joshuashawharvey]

Originally Posted by Hope Cassidy

Take the Corsair, they are made by Pc Power & Cooling, amongst the best maker of psus. Ocz is a brand distributor and anything could be "under the hood".

I agree with Hope Cassidy, take the Corsair mate . Overclockers use them in their machines, and they told me they think they are the best brand of PSU available. Also the Builds Manager at Overclockers told me only 5 in about 5,000 Corsair PSU's he has used have gone wrong.

OCZ are good, but they really don't match up to Corsair standards.

Hope this helps mate

[Jason]

Yup, Corsair is my favourite out of all. I have a 520w modular PSU.

They have a great forums too if you should need any more help: The Corsair Support Forums - Powered by vBulletin

[Albert Lionheart]

Personally I am a fan of Antec despite their poor RMA system. Failing that, I have sold and installed loads of coolermaster PSUs too and never had one of those go wrong. Ebuyer sell both these products.

[Daveskater]

Cheers guys, sounds like I'll go with the Corsair I looked it up and it has one 41A rail so that should be plenty

Thanks for the info Rik, very useful indeed One of the reasons I didn't want to get an 800W PSU or whatever, just because it had enough current, was because it would cost more and as ever I'm on a strict budget

That's good info too, Hope Cassidy, I hadn't realized that

Getting my order in quick because one of the things they only have one left

[Rik]

That's ok Dave, i just wanted to make sure you had all the facts.

I have done a lot of work with PSU's and have had to do a lot of research so i thought I'd pass a little of my knowledge on.
I have mentioned before on TST that i have repaired and refurbed quite a few PSU's i think. I have blown and repaired the PSU I'm using right now for those in this thread that don't know.

[Daveskater]

Very kind of you indeed there mate

You're obviously the chap to ask about broken PSU's then hehe.

[Rik]

For sure, unless it's one of those Bestec pieces of **** that is.

They are not even of much use as spare parts.

[Albert Lionheart]

oooh - you don't go mucking about inside those things do you? There is enough wallop in those caps to kill - or so I was told....

[Daveskater]

Yup, same as CRT monitors have thousands of volts in them. Gotta be careful with these leckies!

[Albert Lionheart]

The most I have ever done was replace a fuse - even that worried me!

[Rik]

Albert, whoever told you that was pulling your leg mate. A disconnected psu is no more dangerous that a motherboard.

Dave is right about CRT's though, they have the kind of voltages and amperages stored within them to kill easily. It's the same with old tv's too.

I may have to make a thread about psu truth and myth.

[Albert Lionheart]

Good idea about the myth-buster thread, Rik! - the bloke who told me was a local TV engineer who used to mend monitors for me (seems a long time ago) before the days of the TFT. He was not happy about looking at PSUs that had failed because he said the caps in there were very powerful and he could not be confident that he was able to discharge them safely!
Long since not had any dealings with him, so nothing lost there!

[Rik]

The highest voltage capacitor i have ever seen within a PSU is 1000 volts. They are not fitted because a PSU will contain 1000 volts at all. They are fitted because there is an industry wide standardization of voltage ranges for capacitors.

240 volts is the absolutely highest voltage you will find within a PSU, and you will only find that when it's plugged into live mains.

The only way an unplugged PSU is capable of killing you would be if someone on top of a high rise building were to drop it on your head.

[Albert Lionheart]

As we have low rise here I think I am reasonably safe! Still - I will not be sticking anything into a PSU - better to replace with a good new one!

[Rik]

You have a point there Albert, but, a trusted old PSU can give many many years of trouble free service if maintained properly whereas a brand new untested one can go bang and take hardware with it. I know it doesn't happen often, but it does happen now and again.

I keep a good quality 650watt PSU that i have refurbed for test purposes (i forget it's make and specs as it is packed away at the mo). I find it absolutely invaluable as i know and trust it and use it to determine if a fault is PSU related or not.

[Albert Lionheart]

I find the usual PSU killer is the s hite sucked through them! Just clags up on the components until they cook.