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Thread ID: 45660 2004-05-30 01:24:00 Recommended power supply brands? Billy T (70) Press F1
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240340 2004-05-30 01:24:00 Hi Team

Posted this a while back, matters came to a head this morning.

> No1 son's homework computer has taken to refusing to start, but unfortunately the problem is very intermittent. It fails at switch-on and there is a short burst of HDD activity but no post, no beeps, and the monitor doesn't come out of standby. Pushing the reset button does nothing, Power-Good comes up OK, and the only supply voltage that appears to be out of spec is pin 9 (standby) on the ATX psu plug which should be 5 volts but is only 3 volts with the power off and 3.5 with the power on.


The problem suddenly got worse this morning with a blanket refusal to start, so with homework to be done a snappy fix was essential. Not having got around to buying the new PSU :8} I had to bodge it and fortunately hanging a 100 uF cap to ground off pin 9 brought it straight to life from the stalled state.

So, what are the recommended brands for new power supplies? A 350W jobbie would have plenty in reserve.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
240341 2004-05-30 01:38:00 i just went through this myself actually, not to long ago.
I found that for good reliable brands you are looking at enermax, thermaltake and i think antec (although i may have that name wrong its a name similar)
i paid around $90 for my 420w thermaltake and its going great. Beware of cheap power supplies they are the work of the devil, in particualr do not touch anything labelled as deer or hyena
lagbort (5041)
240342 2004-05-30 01:41:00 i quite like ENERMAX however i have struck one motherboard that caused a standby voltage so i had to change it (used a aopen which worked fine). just check in bios or jumber on board that there is an optoin like keyboard standby/wakeup/startup. sometimes that can draw to much standby current. tweak'e (174)
240343 2004-05-30 01:50:00 Using a Thermaltake HPC-360-102 DF, here for the last 12 months, it seems nice and quiet, and the usual Thermaltake reliability. Not the absolute cheapest in the world, but quieter than most.
Cheers,
R2
R2x1 (4628)
240344 2004-05-30 01:56:00 I use an Enermax 435W model and have had no problems with it at all...and my system is rather power hungry. :-) Sb0h (3744)
240345 2004-05-30 03:05:00 I'll copy and paste from the OCNZ forum PSU thread (forums.overclockers.co.nz) (requires membership):

GOOD:

Antec
Fotron Source (oem for: Powerman/In-Win, Aopen, Verax, Zalman, Silent Power which are all good)

Enermax
ThermalTake
Superflower
Leadman/Powermax

BAD:

Icute (Some people reckon these are OK, but I would much rather not trust a $30 PSU to power my $300 motherboard when I have seen so many die)

HYENA/DEER (My god these things go pop and make BAD smells, the input stage is far too weak for NZ conditions and the primaries are too small)

TIMES

Black Label PRO-V's

-----
I have an Enermax myself and depending on the system specs I would just get a 350W one of them.
kiki (762)
240346 2004-05-30 03:07:00 Enermax or Thermaltake it will be!

Thanks guys, I'm off to Pricespy.:)

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
240347 2004-05-30 06:50:00 Hello Billy,

Also have a look at one of these www.dse.co.nz

Dick Smiths are currently retailing these for $97.00, a very good price for a top quality 400 watt power supply.

I have installed a couple of these recently and have been very impressed.
the weight of the unit alone is a good guide, these are weighty units.

Also while on the subject, they are also selling top quality 3R cases with 400 watt psu (rebranded as DSE) at a price that I have not been able to match anywhere else.

Regards

Alan
Alan Cottrell (624)
240348 2004-05-30 07:20:00 What brand are those DSE power supplies? Who makes them? They could be just cheap Hyena power supplies with a DSE sticker on them :O kiki (762)
240349 2004-05-30 08:36:00 Weight is a very good indicator kiki, I trust it on a lot of items. You never saw a lightweight Rolls Royce :D

Actually I don't think DSE would ruin their good name by rebadging Hyena, and their web image looks OK. It is only $82 trade ex GST and that compares favourably with what I found on PriceSpy. There will be no freight costs either so although it rated much higher than I need, it will probably do me.

I'll judge it when I see it, and if I buy, I'll look for a maker's name inside and post it.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
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