new PSU advice

stevenmu

Hi All,

Was about to put in an order for some new bits and pieces off OcUK (AMD64 3200+, MSI K8N Neo Plat) when I realised I'm going to need a new PSU. Had a quick look at their PSU page and realised I don't really know anything about the different brands/models (except to avoid q-tec apparently )
I'm looking for 400+w, reasonably quiet and can handle a little bit of gentle overclocking. I've been looking at the Akasa 460W (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Akasa_PSU.html) for about €95. Would anybody recommend anything else for about the same price or less or will that be good enough ?

Thanks,
Steve

Cina

Hmm dunno If Akasa do good PSU's. If you want the safe bet, go for the Antec 430W, they operate better than the actual 430W, should handle your new system fine, costs 65 sterling. Enermex and Globalwin are also pretty good, and Tagan aswell if you want silence. Just don't go near Q-tec, they are terrible.

Alternatively, you could do what I did, and buy a 550W LC Power from pc-look.com , only 50 euro + 15 delivery, almost noiseless, defiantley recommended.

grimloch

id second the antec, just steer clear of q-tec codegen and noname psus
ive never heard a problem about the antec, im reasonably sure theyre quiet

Ciaran500

The tagan 480w is a great psu. Highly reccomended.

stevenmu

Thanks for the advice. I ended up seeing that Peats are selling Thermaltake PurePower 480w Butterfly for €89 which seemed like a pretty good deal so I picked one up yesterday. I popped it in with my old P4 just to try it out while I'm waiting on my Amd64. I'm pretty impressed with it apart from one thing, it doesn't seem to have the Aux cable that P4 systems use, the flat 6 pin kind of one, altough the manual does mention it. It does have the main ATX and the other 4 pin 12V one though and the machine boots up fine with just those.
Does anybody have one of these PSU's and know if there's has this connector or not ?
Does anybody know if an Amd64 chip and motherboard is going to use this anyways ?
I think it may be used by P4s only so returning it might be more hassle than it's worth if I'm not going to need it anyway.

StRiKeR

I recently changed my PSU from the Butterfly to Enermax Noisetaker with 470w, I dont know about other PSU but this one seems pretty cool, has one individual molex for Vid Card, lots of connectors and has 2 Sata,fan control at the back also with dual fan! nice and tidy PSU! do some research on all PSU people suggest you and decide for yourself! I agree with the guys, stay away from q-tec or un-named ones, I never had a q-tec but heard nothing good about them, un-named PSU came with cases I had were not so great, not enough power even it saids 450w, just wasn't giving that much power out! resulting vid card problem!

ViperVenoM

although i dont have 1 of the "uber doober" antecs or tagen that everyone seems to love, i will just have my say about my little psu...its a great little box, got er...8 or 10 molexes..cant remember, 2 sata all nicely uv braided ..seriously helps on the mess i had before with my Q-tec! :eek: (hides)

2 fans/windows...also blue, mirror finished titanium casing and im getting solid rails the 3.3 is either 3.3 or 3.34 , the 5 is always around 5.1 mark even under heavy load (bit high maybe but its safe and least its not dropping out on me)

and currently my 12v is 12.08 and never gets any closer to 12 under load solid rails and are always a little higher rather than lower , all in all in i love it and it helps with my blue theme..oh yeh its 19dB too..which is pretty nice i cant really hear it at all...cost me £70 for 550watt, and it IS actually 550watt unlike the crappy q-tec ive got like double the amps on most rails over what the q-tec claims and its keeping my 9800xt stable..which that other piece of crap couldnt do

i know you wont buy it as you may not have heard of it and it wont compete with the antecs and stuff that everyone love but i think hes great

*shuts up and leaves you to the big boys in the psu world *

Ciaran500

So you gonna tell us what PSU you have?


EDIT: I guess its a "AeroPower II+SE 550W" - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Other_PSUs_148.html Am I right?

Giblet

Q-tec Gold claims 14a on the 12v, and that is what it gets.

It should be pretty obvious it can only power most basic configs.

The 22a 350w Q-tecs are pretty decent for the price.

ViperVenoM

aye your right

yeh i get 30 on the 12v ..42 max..but i dont care..its powering 2 optical drivers..2 hard drives a 9800xt load of case fans soon to be a few cathodes and a watercooling kit..rock solid so far

i also seem to be getting a better overclock with this psu on my vid card..the q-tec was struggling to get past 419mhz core..455 and stable so far..