*READ FIRST* Updated Power supply guide

[Ste]

^^To become gold certified the efficiency ratting is taken at 3 different load levels.

I don't remember the exact numbers but its something like 20%, 50% and 85%.
And if the psu maintains a 90% efficiency or greater at those loads than it gets the gold lable.

Its quite an accomplishment to sustain 90% eff over 80% load, so yes I would say reguardless of brand (at this moment in time at least) if any psu gets the gold lable for efficiency its in the buy options.

 

[RaoulDuke]

What kind of numbers, generally, should you look for in output? Assumption here is more=better, or are most differences negligible?
Comparing two 650w 80%+ eff single rail PSUs:
#1)+3.3V@24A, +5V@24A, +12V@50A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@2.5A
#2)+3.3V@30A, +5V@28A, +12V@52A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@3.0A

 

[Slaymate]

Those numbers can be misleading.

#2 would be the winner but some manufacturers will lie when reporting those values

 

[Ste]

Amperage output is a a mere function of the maximum wattage ouput. Therefore this can only be answered by the other parts being used.

 

[BroncoBuff]

Recommendations:

Highly Recommended Single 12V Power Supplies ...

Cooler Master Silent Pro M 700


Ultra Enthusiast gaming, over clocking or server machines ...
Enthusiast gaming & over clocking machines ...

ABS Tagan (ITZ1300 & BZ800 )
BFG (LS1200, LS1000)
Cooler Master Silent Pro
Seventeam (Thundering 1000W, ST-650P-AF)
Sigma (SP-700)


Brands to Avoid: There are a lot of poor quality power supplies out there ...

Achieve
Allied
Apex
Logisys

Thanks for the list. I've inter-lineated some of my experiences in red.

Cooler Master makes two lines of Silent Pro actually ...the Gold Series (overpriced and most w/ 120mm fans), and the M Series, which I really like. They're well-priced, bought a 700 watt for $119, they all have 135 mm fans and nice little silicon pads to silence contact surfaces. Especially nice are the selectable modular cables, plug in just what you need (no more floppy connector hanging there mocking me!). I guess modular is pretty common now, but it was new to me.

Honestly I cannot stand power supplies. For 15 years they were an afterthought at best, and now just in the past few years we're expected to intuit that we need nearly double the wattage recommended by every power calculator out there. For my new build a year ago - Q9400 Quad, 4 gb Reaper 800, 1 gig Geforce 9800GT - online calculators recommended 380-450 watts. So I buy a 600-watt Logisys, 80+ and SLI-certified.

It died on Day 2. Spent $18 to ship it back RMA, and the guy calls, "these never break, what did you do to this unit?" I used it sir, used it properly. "What system do you have?" I tell him, and he gets whiiney, "no no, this is not for a quad core and that video card." It's a middle-of-the-road card, sir, and more importantly it's just one card. nVidia gave you an SLI cert, meaning it should handle two cards. He finally sent me another, but it was loud and died a month or two later.

I do think we're going overkill on these. The high-end Silent Pro Golds have 90 amps, that's enough to start a small car. Whatever, I went with the Silent Pro M 700, couldn't be happier.

 

[4P_Bulldozer]

online calculators recommended 380-450 watts. So I buy a 600-watt Logisys, 80+ and SLI-certified. It died on Day 2. Spent $18 to ship it back ...

While this Book may be old it was written by AMD. There are lots of helpful tips and a Power Supply Calculation Sheet on Page 3 with the Math on Page 4. There is slso info for 2P, Fans and EMI reduction.

Builder's Guide for 2P Capable Servers and Workstations
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sourc...otDvDA&usg=AFQjCNGk3R63UQj4a4FmVDW0fXRJ0XX1tw

 

[bdhart100]

I have the Corsair 750HX Modular PSU, with the intel i7-860 CPU (@ stock) and i was wondering if my power supply could handle an OC?

If you're ever wondering about your power usage I highly recommend Thermaltake's PSU calculator. It allows for pretty much any option you can throw at it... NewEgg has a simpler one with less options that is also useful for basic builds... and at 750 watts unless you have multiple GPUs, then you're good to go.

 

[Ste]

I wish I had the time to touch up and update this guide, seeing as though it is at least two years old, maybe someone else thats more active on the forum would like to take a shot at it?

 

[DomniCruper]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ste]

Myyyy gosh willy Geeee. I'd love to update this but I think at this point in time overclockersclub, tom's hardware and most other sites have it figured out.

Besides it looks like ABT, CDW and Best buy have done a pretty good job of only stocking good ones. Well if your in the USA anyways.