What are the top 5 brands of PSU?

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rsnellma

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Jul 17, 2002
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I am looking at Allied & ThermalTake PSUs and am wondering if they are anywhere near the PCP&C, Fortron, Antec, Enermax, SPI, Vantec brands. Thanks in advance.

Bob2001
 
NewEgg has a ThermalTake 420watt for $38 shipped. Is this a good PSU? I don't overclock and I am just looking for something with good solid, durable performance to run my 3rd machine.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=17-153-006&DEPA=0

3rd machine specs:

Asus A7N8X-X Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Buffalo 2x256MB PC3200
1xWD 80GB SE HDD
VisionTek Geforce 3 Ti 500 64MB
Adaptec 2940UW SCSI Adapter
Plextor 8x20 CD-R (SCSI)
Plextor UltraPlex 40x (SCSI)
Generic Floppy Drive
4 x CoolerMaster Neon Blue 80mm Case Fans

Thanks in advance.

Bob2001
 
TT isn't as good as PCP&C or Antec, but it's a decent PSU that's certainly a step up from no name PSU's. I would think it'd do fine with your third system. I'm thinking of adding one of those to my son's computer with similar specs.
 
Leading Manufacturers would be
FSP Group (Fortron, Sparkle, Verax, Conrad, AOpen, and in the Past PCP&C)
Zippy (Emacs, PCP&C in the past)
Channel Well Technology (Antec)
Sirtec (Thermaltake, Aspire, High Power)
Seasonic
Topower (Vantec, Tagan, OCZ)

most manufacturers make several models with various quaility of components
from high performance to marginal
and some brands are comprised of models from more than one manufacturer

Id really investigate it on a model by model basis
with independent conformation of the specs
 
i have a 350w Turbolink (generic, i think)... i bought it for $25 last year.... i modded it a couple months ago... and its still chugging along quite nice.... yep, i would say im pretty lucky.... :D
 
Id eliminate that Allied from the running, it just this side of Generic
(actually is more like that side :p )
 
Hey Ice_Czar, can you confirm or deny if the SilverStone's are made by Sirtec? I was given that reply from previous positngs here in the [H]. Just wanted to know for sure.
 
Allied is definitely a cheap ass PSU. I purchased one for my former AMD system about 8 months ago and it worked fine until the motherboard happened to crap out. When I tried rebuilding the system maybe 2 months ago, the piece of junk capacitors in it exploded on me when I hit the power button, sending shearing hot sparks up and down my forearms, leaving me slight burn marks.

Honestly, I'd say Enermax is the best bargain power supply that won't fail unless extremely stressed. For ample stability however, I trust Antec or Fortron. For the extreme power, I'd say PC Power and Cooling.

Everything is all opinion based however, so there are bound to be variables in the equation. Although I think that any halfway saavy computer enthusiast will agree on my opinion of Antec and PC Power and Cooling.

Dark Assassin
 
oops, i didnt mean turbolink, its like Channel Well Technology Co... aka CWT

i dont know how i thought of turbolink, must be another psu i own
 
rsnellma said:
what are the top 5 brands of PSU?
Click to expand...

Based on what measurement? Sales? Returns? Reliability? Selection?

.B ekiM
 
In terms of quality and performance, its pretty clear. I wouldn't go with 5 best companies, but the differnet tiers so to speak that the companies are int.

keep in mind this is budget be damned.

Absolute Best

Pc power and cooling, Zippy Emacs

Tier 1

Fortron/Sparkle

Tier 2

Antec, Enermax, CWT, Vantec, Seasonic, Tagan

Tier 3

Thermaltake, Allied, that kind of brand.I would only reccomend psu's in tier 2 or above.
 
computerpro3 said:
In terms of quality and performance,
Click to expand...

How did you measure quality, computerpro3? Build quality? MTTF? Component quality?

How about performance? Are you measuring ripple? Heat generated at particular load? Dropout level? Noise rejection?

Or are your rankings based on gut feel?

.B ekiM
 
well it gets a little fuzzier the lower youd drop in computerpro3 rankings
and we are making generalization for companies that offer various models but

PCP&C has the fatest rails, lowest noise and ripple, and tight transient response and voltage regulation, with decent efficiency, for the top end of thier line, since their rep is as the Rolls Royce of the category, they make great strides to maintain it, which is why they are able to ask twice as much and get it, however the affordable models, would stretch down into the next teir possibly lower

Zippy is likely in the next tier and is really oriented towards servers, and redundants
while there numbers might not be as good, they are well within the spec for the current crop of servers at any given time and are considered top tier there.

the next tier Id group Fortron in with Antec (Channel Well Tech.) Seasonic, & Topower
but the shades of models would range from better to adequate, based on the same criteria
the typical capacity, verasity of the figures given for rating (with the standard industry windage) and the quality of the build\regulation and ripple
Sirtec (Thermaltake) would also strech up into this category, and some models of those listed above strech down to the next

which is marginally adequate, with possible issues, those supplies that are unable to adequately deal withless than perfect power upstream and voltage regulation onboard that is less than a top quality build

at the bottom, are companies, that lie through their teeth with heavily inflated or deceptive ratings, flyweight generic PSUs that are bundled with cases, with a considerable percentage failing to reliably power a lite load of comonents and nearly all putting a heavier load at risk

so the basic criteria, is the ability to perform the job without risking the investment made in your other components, and that job actually varies quite a bit, as do the tiers
selecting the right model for the job, is a big issue, as you get closer to the edge of capacity you safety margin decreases, can the supply deal with a brownout at the same time there is a interior load change without an overshoot of voltage, when loaded to near full capacity?

eyebunnn re SilverStone = Sirtec
I hadent heard that, got a link to that thread?
 
mikeblas said:
How did you measure quality, computerpro3? Build quality? MTTF? Component quality?

How about performance? Are you measuring ripple? Heat generated at particular load? Dropout level? Noise rejection?

Or are your rankings based on gut feel?

.B ekiM
Click to expand...

Gut geel, of course :rolleyes: .

I have personal experience with almost all the brands I mentioned. I chose my pc power and cooling 510 deluxe because it had the most overall power, was close to the quietest, had the beefiest caps and heatsinks, was the only one with active PFC, only one with line conditioning, tightest voltage regulation outside of NASA (1%), most amps on each rail, low heat, lowest ripple, best build quality, longest warranty, best tech support, best componet quality, and the fact that it could be custom built. Would you like me to go on?

I don't just judge componets by "gut feel". Ice Czars post pretty much accuratley summed it up. I have had the pcp&c510 deluxe, Antec 430, Antec 550, Fortron 530, Thermaltake 480, a few CWT 420's, and had experience in my friends machines with vantec, allied, sparkle, deer :eek: , sirtec, turbolink, pcp&c 410 deluxe, powmax, and all sorts of generic. I ve taken apart all of them and modded most of them. I know what I'm talking about.
 
Also, remember Allied = Deer, and Deer = Fire, so it's worse than generic in my book
 
computerpro3 said:
I know what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...

I haven't said you didn't, computerpro3. Problem is, people like me, those of us reading your note, might not know what you're talking about. You've presented an ordered list, but didn't tell us what it was ordered by. Since you didn't list any specific criteria, I can't know what you think is important or inconsequential.

computerpro3 said:
Would you like me to go on?
Click to expand...

The parameters you list are interesting. Which ones get priority?

You seem to have used some values which aren't measured, but reported. Are PSU manufacturer's notoriously honest at reporting accurate numbers? Or understating their maximum limits?

.B ekiM
 
mikeblas said:
Are PSU manufacturer's notoriously honest at reporting accurate numbers? Or understating their maximum limits?

.B ekiM
Click to expand...
Usually quite the opposite; Fortron & PCP&C have a tendancy to underrate their supplies, where as most supplies are vastly overrated.
 
computerpro3 said:
In terms of quality and performance, its pretty clear. I wouldn't go with 5 best companies, but the differnet tiers so to speak that the companies are int.

keep in mind this is budget be damned.

Absolute Best

Pc power and cooling, Zippy Emacs

Tier 1

Fortron/Sparkle

Tier 2

Antec, Enermax, CWT, Vantec, Seasonic, Tagan

Tier 3

Thermaltake, Allied, that kind of brand.I would only reccomend psu's in tier 2 or above.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me? Thermal take as good as allied? I'm running a a64, nforce3 mobo, 2 scsi 10k cheetahs in raid 0 and 4 120 wd 7.2k hds in raid 0, plus 9800 128bit pro running a thermaltake 480 watt psu. This psu kicks ass. My antec 480 failed on me twice, 1 after 6 months running my 4 120's, second from a rma after 4 months with the scsi + ide. My friends 430 burned out after 2 months and second after 1 year running 3 maxtors raid 0. I think tier 2 should AT LEAST have a thermaltake. Even look at neweggs reviews on the thermaltakes psus. Enermax is up there too, maybe tier 1. Most people these days have problems with Antec. Antec should at highest, be tier 2 but rightfully tier3. And allie shouldn't even be included in tier 3, more like tier 4. Allie is bad. But most of your other info is correct. I felt the power of pc power and cooling, great, great, psu. Excellent.
 
John-K said:
What about SilenX?

http://www.silenx.com/productcart/pc/viewCat_Z.asp?idCategory=20
Click to expand...



well first off SilenX isnt a manufacturer per se
This one is made by Fortron (Fortron Source + Sparkle Power = FSP Group)

next the SilenX sold by SilenX isnt the same as the SilenX sold by Ahanix or at least according to them :p

List Of Sites Carrying Counterfeit SilenX Goods:

Axion Technologies - www.axiontech.com
ColorCase - www.colorcase.com
Jacoltech - www.jacoltech.com
New Type Computer Workshop - www.ntcw.com

SilenX™ Authenticity

Customers beware of counterfeit SilenX™ products carried elsewhere! They are not authentic SilenX™ components being distributed by a company, Ahanix, which has a history of trademark infringement, counterfeiting and distributing poor quality products. If you see SilenX™ products carried at ColorCase, ExoticPC, Sharka or on Ebay, among others, do not be fooled! We do NOT service counterfeit products, there is simply no warranty on counterfeit goods whatsoever and the likelihood of product failure is very high on the counterfeits! Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding this matter. We simply do not tolerate copyright infringement and counterfeit products, those who choose to do so will be prosecuted by the maximum extent allowed by law
Click to expand...

so you have a company rebranding Power Supplies as their own complaining about another company counterfeiting said rebranded power supplies :p

but
from the first link (Silent Mike @ silentPCreview one of the few reviewers I trust so read the whole thing but here is a sample)
The SilenX 14 dBA power supply was one of the most celebrated products discussed in the forums of Silent PC Review. The posts about the SilenX PSU seemed to begin around February, and quickly became a series of big raves by numerous forum members. The general consensus in the SPCR forums that it is the quietest fan-cooled PSU available. Naturally, the SilenX PSUs quickly got short-listed to be reviewed in SPCR.

ExoticPC sent a sample at the beginning of March. The original intent was to have the review published by around the end of March, but then confusion about the SilenX brand began.

Peter Kim, who was originally employed by ExoticPC, broke away to begin his own independent business under the name of silenx.com. The PSUs sold at silenx.com are branded SilenX. At the same time, ExoticPC continues to sell SilenX brand PSUs as well.

Without getting into the details, suffice it to say that the SilenX brand PSU supplied by silenx.com and exoticpc.com appear to be essentially identical, notwithstanding changes made by either silenx.com or exoticpc.com since mid-March. Regardless, please note that this review refers specifically to the SilenX 14 dBA 400W PSU sold by ExoticPC. As far as I am aware, ExoticPC have not made any changes in production since then.

FORTRON-SOURCE ORIGINS AGAIN!
The reason Fortron-Source is listed alongside ExoticPC under manufacturer at the top of this page is because they are the OEM supplier. Like several other 300W quiet PSUs reviewed by SPCR, the SilenX 400W is based on a Fortron-Source. On the outside, except for the big ExoticPC SilenX label, this PSU looks identical to a Fortron-Source FSP400-60PFN
Click to expand...

now those are ATX PSUs however its pretty clear where their OEM manufacturing lies
FSP Group is one of the largest manufacturers going (in fact they have manufactured for PCP&C as well) so I think a little more research is in order before the quick purchase ;)
 
HitmanZ said:
Are you kidding me? Thermal take as good as allied? I'm running a a64, nforce3 mobo, 2 scsi 10k cheetahs in raid 0 and 4 120 wd 7.2k hds in raid 0, plus 9800 128bit pro running a thermaltake 480 watt psu. This psu kicks ass. My antec 480 failed on me twice, 1 after 6 months running my 4 120's, second from a rma after 4 months with the scsi + ide. My friends 430 burned out after 2 months and second after 1 year running 3 maxtors raid 0. I think tier 2 should AT LEAST have a thermaltake. Even look at neweggs reviews on the thermaltakes psus. Enermax is up there too, maybe tier 1. Most people these days have problems with Antec. Antec should at highest, be tier 2 but rightfully tier3. And allie shouldn't even be included in tier 3, more like tier 4. Allie is bad. But most of your other info is correct. I felt the power of pc power and cooling, great, great, psu. Excellent.
Click to expand...

I have had a totally opposite experience than yours with the thermaltake 480w supply. Mine could not power my rig without constant reboots and limited my overclock. NOt only that, measuring with a multimeter, the lines fluctuated a lot worse than my antec (which was pretty damn bad), the molex connectors were VERY cheap and cheesy and constantly fell out (yes thats right, the molex connector would just fall off the wires), the fan controller knob broke off. It would also take about a second for the power to reach full upong startup measured with a multimeter; the 12v line for example upon startup would be like 11.3 and only after post climbed to 11.5 and then to 11.8, where it stayed until you started using the pc, at which point it went from 11.65-12.15. Thats too much fluctuation for me. While maybe offering close to the power of the antec, they fit and finish are still very subpar (antecs molex's are gold plated and don't move around in the socket like the thermaltake do, antecs are heavier, and have less fluctuation on the rails). Thermaltake is in tier 3 for me, except maybe for their new 520w or whatever it is psu that I haven't tested.

Enermax isn't tier one for the most part; maybe their coolergiant supplies, but other than that, they are pretty much on par with the antecs. The pcp&c and fortrons consistently have the most quality down their lines; hell a 350 fortron has proven to outpower a 550 antec from some users experience around the forums.
 
I bought a 520w Aspire w/ 3 fans at newegg for a little over 50 bucks. It also has blue leds, green uv wrapped cables and adjustable fan speed on the back. It looks sweet and is supporting my system great.

NF7-S, 2500 mobile, mushkin special 222
right now running at 2.59 ghz 225 x11.5 1.825vCore (sp-97, w/ Tt 90mm)
 
Thanks for the info, Ice Czar. I didn't know anything about all that. It looks like PCP&C for me.
 
I mostly agree with what has been said... Especially that it is best to consider PSU's based on the specific model, not by manufacturer. For example, an Enermax that I got bundled with a cheap Enermax case caused me all sorts of problems that were remedied when I replaced it with a medium-range FSP unit.

My personal ratings in regards to quality are about the same as have already been mentioned. In terms of value though, I tend to favor FSP PSU's as the best bang-for-buck solution...

Deer powersupplies.... ugh.... remind me to tell y'all sometime about how my roommate inadvertently blew one of those up in our dorm room a few years ago.
 
1. PC Power & Cooling
2. PC Power & Cooling
3. PC Power & Cooling
4. PC Power & Cooling
5. PC Power & Cooling
 
blip said:
Deer powersupplies.... ugh.... remind me to tell y'all sometime about how my roommate inadvertently blew one of those up in our dorm room a few years ago.
Click to expand...
reminding you.... NOW... TELL TELL TELL US!!! :D
 
blip said:
Deer powersupplies.... ugh.... remind me to tell y'all sometime about how my roommate inadvertently blew one of those up in our dorm room a few years ago.
Click to expand...

wayne said:
reminding you.... NOW... TELL TELL TELL US!!! :D
Click to expand...


Hey I did that too. Here's a little secret...if you want it to catch on fire and emit loud pops and pretty blue/orange colors all you have to do is press the little button that says "PSU_ON"! Its a great feature by the manufacturer for when you get bored with your pc. Instantly puts on a firework show!
 
also ideal as an emergency smoke screen
when you need to hide from or distract the GF \ WIF :p
 
computerpro3 said:
I have had a totally opposite experience than yours with the thermaltake 480w supply. Mine could not power my rig without constant reboots and limited my overclock. NOt only that, measuring with a multimeter, the lines fluctuated a lot worse than my antec (which was pretty damn bad), the molex connectors were VERY cheap and cheesy and constantly fell out (yes thats right, the molex connector would just fall off the wires), the fan controller knob broke off. It would also take about a second for the power to reach full upong startup measured with a multimeter; the 12v line for example upon startup would be like 11.3 and only after post climbed to 11.5 and then to 11.8, where it stayed until you started using the pc, at which point it went from 11.65-12.15. Thats too much fluctuation for me. While maybe offering close to the power of the antec, they fit and finish are still very subpar (antecs molex's are gold plated and don't move around in the socket like the thermaltake do, antecs are heavier, and have less fluctuation on the rails). Thermaltake is in tier 3 for me, except maybe for their new 520w or whatever it is psu that I haven't tested.

Enermax isn't tier one for the most part; maybe their coolergiant supplies, but other than that, they are pretty much on par with the antecs. The pcp&c and fortrons consistently have the most quality down their lines; hell a 350 fortron has proven to outpower a 550 antec from some users experience around the forums.
Click to expand...


I'm thinking that you had a defective unit. I've never had those problems on my thermal. Oh yeah and i take back the enermax tier one. I don't know what i was thinking when i said that, just lost and confused.
 
wayne said:
reminding you.... NOW... TELL TELL TELL US!!! :D
Click to expand...

All right if you insist. :)

So my old roommate was one of those programmer types who never had anything to do with hardware but for some reason felt supremely confident with it.

Anyway, one of our friends brought a computer that was refusing to POST by our room for a quick diagnostic. I knew it was a hardware problem (no POST or beeping, the only thing that happened when you turned it on was the fans half-spun up and then would stop spinning) so I ran through my standard diagnostic routine... you know checking all of the connections, switching around things etc. Then I noticed that whenever I left the computer on for a few moments, I started to smell burning insulation in the PSU.

Figuring that it was a bad PSU (and thinking that I probably should stop messing with it before something "unpleasant" happened), I gave up.

My roommate, however, had a bit of a thing for the friend who dropped it off. I guess he felt like repairing it after I had given up would make him look good. Anyway while I was away at a party (it was a Friday night), he decided to take a crack at it himself. After doing god-knows what to the computer, he decided that maybe if he left the computer on for a while the problem might magically "fix" itself. So he plugged it in, pressed the power-button, and left the room to take a shower.

At some point while he was in the shower, the PSU crossed over from being on the fritz to full-on overload (no idea why). By the time he came back in the room was filled with smoke and (according to his description) lightening was coming out of the PSU. Then the caps on the motherboard burst spraying a slight burst of shrappnel into the air. (We picked metal out of the carpet for quite sometime after that) He dived for the cord and tried desperately to flush the smoke from the room. Luckily he got the smoke out before the fire alarm triggered because if it had the fire suppression system would have activated filling our room with a frothy mixture of water and foam!

Moral of the story, never leave your roommate alone with a potential fire-hazard.

Strangest thing is that I've never been able to figure out exactly what went wrong with the PSU... obviously something happened that caused it to spill a lot of voltage into the motherboard. Ah well.
 
likely the insulation you smelled burning eventually burned off the wire enough to short to something and it sounds like the board was overloaded as well by that short

was the CPU, RAM, cards and drives salvageable? Or did nay of them buy it as well?
 
The RAM was toasted (as in it had some scorch marks on it!) and the CPU was dead as was the graphics card (not that that was a great loss).

I tossed the optical drive (an old DVD-ROM) because I figured it was dead as well. Amazingly the hard-drive survived which was good because the only thing our friend really cared about was salvaging her data. (She had already written of the computer as a loss anyway so she wasn't that upset) I did convince her to just copy the data and then use the drive just for internet downloads and other data that she could afford to lose... I can't imagine that it was that stable after the shock it had had.

It definitely put a damper on my roommate's game though ;)
 
well that sort of points to the +5V rail shorting, and frying the board
on that harness lead?
 
Ice Czar said:
Leading Manufacturers would be
FSP Group (Fortron, Sparkle, Verax, Conrad, AOpen, and in the Past PCP&C)
Zippy (Emacs, PCP&C in the past)
Channel Well Technology (Antec)
Sirtec (Thermaltake, Aspire, High Power)
Seasonic
Topower (Vantec, Tagan, OCZ)
Click to expand...

I somewhat miss Macron in that list, Macron makes good psu's, im still using my 5+ year old Macron 300W for the stuff in my sig + some case fans and nexus baybus. Havent been able to max it out yet :eek: Also been using it in older machines with even more stuff.
 
could easily extend that list to include
Enermax
Ablecom (Supermirco exclusive?)
Heroichi

but it was limited to 5 :p
 
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