PCA Forums

after almost making a big mistake (and being saved by FP), i went back to the books and did my studying on PSU selection. i'm probably not alone when i pretty much ignored the details in selecting one.

FP provided good info here:

http://www.pcabusers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47104

this made me think twice before buying something and i started reading reviews and also just general info on power supplies. good explanations of sizing are here:

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsu ... spx?i=3413

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pc- ... 664-7.html

as FP said, it pretty much comes down to the quantity and amps of the +12V rails, along with efficiency.

reading through everything, the most basic of components becomes one of the more complex, depending on the system you're going to build. for simple rigs, it doesn't really matter much...but as soon as you add performance video cards (especially SLI), the number of rails and power distribution across the rails becomes critical.

glad i got the wakeup call from FP! mile

Lately, I've been buying power supplies for the system I will have instead of the one I currently have. So, if I need a 500 watt power supply now, I buy a 750-800 watt one instead. That's one thing that you can count on. Computers needing more power. And yes, the amperage on the +12v rails if very important. It seems that's what everything in the computer is needing lately. IMO, HardOCP does do some of the best power supply reviews. They aren't kind at all. They've found some jewels in the rough & they've found some crappers.

The PSU is the heart of the system. I've seen plenty of rigs with so-so PSUs plagued with BSODs or crashes and upgrading the PSU fixed it.

Now this is not to say you can't run a PSU at max amperage BUT the problem is that a PSU close to max on any leg is also going to be unstable. Efficiency and stability generally deteriorate when you push a PSU close to the max. So yeah, you want some margin.

The big thing now is also these "green" 80 Plus PSUs which are more energy efficient. If you're like me and leave your rig on 24/7 that's an issue.

This is what I have for man rig

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817256045

I used to swear by Antec PSUs. And for their lower end stuff, I still suggest them. But after a rather nasty incident with a NeoPower HE 550W PSU going up in smoke, and subsequently taking my computer along for the ride, I switched to a Seasonic. This PSU is so stable, runs cool and quiet, and handles my somewhat beefy system without any problems. If you want a quality PSU, I'd hit Seasonic. They seem to have quite a following. Plus, I got mine for about $50 off retail, so it made it even sweeter.