Five Power Supplies Compared

EconolineCrush writes "Tech Report has done up a comparison of five high-end power supplies that looks at actual voltage levels and AC ripple content. The article also takes a look at environmental factors like noise levels and each power supply's impact on system temperatures. Think power supplies with like wattages are created equal? Think again."

Comments

older tests :

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.h tml

21 power supply tested here :)

Re:So what difference does a good power supply mak

[neodymium]

Good PSUs contribute a lot towards system stability. For example, a moving head in the HDD causes current transients (so does a CPU switching between normal operation and power saving mode). Bad PSUs have huge voltage drops during these transients, good PSUs can buffer them quite well. These transients can cause anything between nothing and total system crash.

Also, the ability to filter noise out of the AC helps with stability...

Re:So what difference does a good power supply mak

[saskwach]

In a cheap power supply, you can get inconsistent voltages, crazy transients, crosstalk, and if the power demand from one line goes up it can drop the wattage/voltage on the other lines. Cheap power supplies are also frequently noisier (sound too) than high end ones and run less efficiently (read: hot) than better designed, more expensive power supplies. Think about it: your computer operates because of well controlled voltages. If your voltage drops by 2V, some transistors will go into their linear range and cause crazy crazy crap to happen.

Re:So what difference does a good power supply mak

[Tmack]

Having worked at a computer repair shop, I can assure you, YES there is a BIG difference between cheap PS's and quality ones. Cheap ones will last only a few months on any newer system, they might last a few years on older ones. Blown PS's was one of the most frequent repair jobs, and anytime someone requested the cheapest part to replace it with, I knew I would see them in a few weeks. They also affect System stability, if the PS cant put out the power the computer needs, it will crash (and the PS will burn itself up sooner as well). Got frequent blue-screens/sig11's and cant find anything wrong? Change your PS to a better one, there's a good chance thats the cause. Go to a local computer shop and pick up a cheap one in one hand and a good one in another, you will feel the difference. I always recommend Sparkle (there are some re-branded ones made by sparkle, will have SP in the model #) and HEC, and although I havent RTF yet, I would bet one of those is at the top, and the other is close to it.

Another thing to consider when buying a case.. the PS they put in cases are the CHEAP kind, unless they specify what kind it is, I generally expect to replace it within a year. A few years ago I had one of the dual socket370 BP-6 boards, it refused to boot on the PS I had that came with my case (Enlight none the less). I swapped it to a sparkle 300watt and have had no probs since.

This was also recently covered by Tom's Hardware, and earlier by a few other sites. The sparkle and HEC normally blow away the rest, with their 250w beating the specs for most 300+w, and even being able to hold 300w operation themselves.
just my $.02

Tm