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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."
For best results, use a good brand's PSU. Not the latest "XXX Watt" from No-NameBrand
Incidentally, you get what you pay for.
Now I'll go RTFA and see if I'm right, but I've got a _feeling_ about this one.
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Is there something that these power supplies contribute towards overall system stability that "cheap" ones don't? Are they really worth the money?
The article was very good at measuring everything measurable about the power supplies, but didn't answer the question "Why would I want one of these?". So why would I?
My other car is first.
in my experience quiet power supplies are quiet because they have slower fans, and so result in a hotter case. So you end up putting in faster & noisier case fans, and get back where you started.
Is there something that these power supplies contribute towards overall system stability that "cheap" ones don't?
No, but they'll probably last longer. Your motherboard has a jillion capacitors and whatnot to completely smooth out the power before it hits any chips. Drives are less fussy.
The article was very good at measuring everything measurable about the power supplies, but didn't answer the question "Why would I want one of these?". So why would I?
Because you're one of the brand of "computer experts" who spends as much as he can, puts as many blinking lights and windows as possible into his case. You bought UV-reactive rounded cables to "increase performance". You spent $400 on a watercooling setup to get a 10% FSB speed increase - and are completely ignorant of the fact that you more likely degraded your machines overall performance as a result.
If this is you, you NEED one of these. Two of em, actually. You need ultra smooth high-end power for your peltier plates and water pump, after all.
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From the article:
Would you dare put cheap gas in a Porsche?
Am I the only one who answered "Absolutely; gas is gas"?
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Why PSU reviews? As you so effectively illustrated, there are a lot of people out there who think that one power supply is as good as another. There are people who complain about kernel panics and blue screens and swear up and down their hardware is fine, but still have the same $3 power supply that came with the case.
Ask a hardware engineer about the importance of clean, consistent power. I'll bet you dollars to donuts he won't say "buy the cheapest supply you can find, 'cause big PSU's are only good for powering LAN party foolz' casemods."
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Another vote for Sparkle, their power supplies have done well for me. Lots and lots of 3.3V amps, which is pretty crucial these days. They're quiet, stable, and are still among the least expensive.
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Is it worth buying two cheap-o power supplies that cost less combined than an expensive one so you have a spare?
Would you rather buy a pair of $40 PSU's, have one crash 12 months in, lose all your data due to faulty power to the hard drive, then install your backup (which will likely crash also, as it's in the same system)? Or would you rather spend $120 on a quality PSU, not lose your data, and probably never burn out?
I think a bit of money is worth it because over two years, the extra $40 will hurt you a lot less than losing all your data would.
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Another item I found lacking is that they only tested one power supply of each type. If you happen to get a bum PS from one manufacturer, you can draw faulty conclusions from the benchmark. They should have at least done two of each to see if there were wild differences. The Ion PS, which performed poorly in the A/C ripple (whatever that means), could have been a bad Ion PS. We'll never know...
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Why does such an obvious high-quality product always get ignored?
IMO, one reason is that they've missed the boat on a new trend in PC homebuilding - low noise. The top PCP&C PSUs are great from an electrical standpoint, but they're noisy. Meanwhile Antec, for example, has focused on PSUs that are high in quality and low-noise as well.
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That's not normal, unless you're talking about really cheap power supplies. You might want to look into a decent UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation).
If I have computer, and it has a 200W power supply, if I replace that power supply with a 500W, will the computer consume more power from the wall? Like, will my exectricity bill for the computer be 2.5 times more expensive?
:)
Do I only use power to meet the demands of the devices? Like if I have a 200W supply, but only have devices that use in total 150W, do I still draw 200W from the wall?
I hope you understand what I'm asking, boss is lerking, gotta be quick.
I personally, have taken a cheap, no name power supply and changed all the caps in it. result: much better power supply.
I always crack open power supplies to see what brand caps they use, because I know from experience that its caps failing in power supplies that kill them.....
and your computer.
I have seen a brand new brand name power supply use the WORST caps.
so, you can compare these brand name supplies all day, but there might be a cheap one thats more stable, if not better made.
shop around, you might be suprised.