Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Focus on the Family

    Strengthening families through biblical principles.

    Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.

  • Guest, Join Papa Zoom today for some uplifting biblical encouragement! --> Daily Verses
  • The Gospel of Jesus Christ

    Heard of "The Gospel"? Want to know more?

    There is salvation in no other, for there is not another name under heaven having been given among men, by which it behooves us to be saved."

Power Supply Recommendations

2024 Website Hosting Fees

Total amount
$905.00
Goal
$1,038.00

Knotical

Shepherd of the Knotical kid-farm
Member
Recently I encountered a bit of a problem with my home pc. One of the dvd drives I had installed decided to catch fire and ruin some of the cables coming from my power supply. So, now I am looking to now only replace the tower in which my computer was housed, but also the power supply as I do not want to run the risk of causing more problems due to compromised wires.

So, of you computer gurus, what brands/manufacturers would you recommend for a new power supply? I am looking in the mid 400 watt range. I am hoping to use this for quite a few years.
 
Recently I encountered a bit of a problem with my home pc. One of the dvd drives I had installed decided to catch fire and ruin some of the cables coming from my power supply. So, now I am looking to now only replace the tower in which my computer was housed, but also the power supply as I do not want to run the risk of causing more problems due to compromised wires.

So, of you computer gurus, what brands/manufacturers would you recommend for a new power supply? I am looking in the mid 400 watt range. I am hoping to use this for quite a few years.

As an electrician...an old electrician...I would go higher with wattage output from a power supply.
A home PC can do a lot of things with the processing power it has. Integration into home automation being one of them.
As such, power over Ethernet is one manner I see being used more and more. Small tablets being used in various locations to serve as HMI devices. (HMI is human-machine-interface)
Meaning that you can do almost anything to your home while in another country or room if you have internet. Turning on/off cameras, video/audio or lights or air handlers. Then the graphics cards are running several monitors... again more power is needed...and the motherboards are running higher frequency and bandwidth processors than ever before and only getting larger. That means more power.
Laptops are configured by balancing power and heat. A tower has no such limitations. Often times when a motherboard and CPU are scrapped the power supply and tower are salvageable for a new system...but only if the power supply is of sufficient size and connections.
Where many people look at the CPU it's lifetime is rather fleeting. A power supply can last through several motherboards and CPUs... especially if you stay out of the knee of the transformer (stay away from the limits of output on each tap)
That's where I would encourage you to spend the money.
 
Not really looking to do much in the way of home automation, especially with the components I currently have in my home pc, however, it is something to think about. What wattage would you recommend then? Something in the 600+ range?
 
Not really looking to do much in the way of home automation, especially with the components I currently have in my home pc, however, it is something to think about. What wattage would you recommend then? Something in the 600+ range?

More to the "+" than anything.

Originally a 100 watt power supply was considered over the top but today it's not enough. Today you were looking at four times that power.



And as far as 600 watts. That is probably going to be good for your current and possibly future needs. The factors of time don't really affect power supplies like they do capacitors and diodes and transistors. They can be replaced if you are handy with a soldering iron (capacitors and diodes are...not transistors on a layered PC board)

I'm saying this to you because if you are capable of building your own system... continuing to do so in the future is always in your best interest. You can build a component based system instead of an integrated one. Component based systems (top shelf systems) are often much more likely to be salvaged for future use than integrated ones. The two pieces of a component based system which tend to be more universal in use in the future are the tower and the power supply. Saving money for when you overhaul your current system for a more modern one. Power supplies and Towers tend to not lose their value as time goes by...not like CPUs and motherboards. Last year's Tower sells for the same as this year's...last year's CPU sells for much less than this year's. Getting the picture?

Stay away from the off brands that no one hears of. Corsair, Seasonic, and Antec are three manufacturers with reputations for producing high-quality power supplies, though even they may offer a few duds among all the studs.

Then the knee...a 1800 watt power supply is probably overkill and the capacitors will age out before you can use to its fullest extent. You probably won't ever actually use 1,000 watts in a future system in the next 5 years. (1800 peak watts output vx a system that actually uses 1000 is a good ratio to go by) And getting the thing to actually fit in your tower is probably going to be an issue.

So...all that aside.

Look at compatibility with your system. Is your system with connectors that are readily available on new systems? If not then go cheap and what can get you by on your dieing system to patch it up.

Look at the efficiency rating. 80% or better is a standard...look for those kinda fudging those standards. 80 is true power and 20% is lost in heat. More heat loss is bad...(but I think you kinda knew that)

Speaking of heat...a larger heat sink and larger fan is better than a noisy, smaller fan.

The Newegg site is usually pretty reliable for supplies. So is Amazon. Just know what you want before purchasing. No one likes returns.

Happy hunting.
 
Yeah, the tower I am looking at has three built in fans, and is rather inexpensive for what it has. I am looking for a power supply that has 6 sata connectors. I don't quite need that many yet, but it will be useful to be able to install more components, like a all in one unit you can place in one of the drive bays that has a mix of micro sd ports etc...

I currently have 3 internal drives I am using as part of my system. Two HDDs and one SSD.
 
As an electrician...an old electrician...I would go higher with wattage output from a power supply.
A home PC can do a lot of things with the processing power it has. Integration into home automation being one of them.
As such, power over Ethernet is one manner I see being used more and more. Small tablets being used in various locations to serve as HMI devices. (HMI is human-machine-interface)
Meaning that you can do almost anything to your home while in another country or room if you have internet. Turning on/off cameras, video/audio or lights or air handlers. Then the graphics cards are running several monitors... again more power is needed...and the motherboards are running higher frequency and bandwidth processors than ever before and only getting larger. That means more power.
Laptops are configured by balancing power and heat. A tower has no such limitations. Often times when a motherboard and CPU are scrapped the power supply and tower are salvageable for a new system...but only if the power supply is of sufficient size and connections.
Where many people look at the CPU it's lifetime is rather fleeting. A power supply can last through several motherboards and CPUs... especially if you stay out of the knee of the transformer (stay away from the limits of output on each tap)
That's where I would encourage you to spend the money.
John is still correct, Knotical. I never built a unit with less than 350 watts once they were available.

The only catches:
  1. the measurements, no matter the wattage is a serious cosideration
  2. How many pins, 20 or 24 where the Mainboard connects
  3. do you need a four pin connector? these are usually found next to the Processor.
 
They do make SATA splitters. But the issue then is the issue about sufficient power at hand at the tap on the transformer. Carefully going over the specs on the PSU is a must. Doubling the available/peak power vx the consumed power is a must. Overtaxing one tap on the PSU is just as bad as using an undersized one.
 
So, of you computer gurus, what brands/manufacturers would you recommend for a new power supply? I am looking in the mid 400 watt range. I am hoping to use this for quite a few years.

Pretty much anything Seasonic. Lots of Corsair models are those rebranded as well. Normally you can expect to outgrow one of theirs rather than see its death.
 
Back
Top