Does having plenty of power help smooth out issues with generic PSU's?

BlueWeasel · Post by **BlueWeasel** » Mon May 19, 2003 12:51 am

It's time once again to upgrade my brother/parent's system and I have picked up the following from the FS/FT forum:

ECS K7S5A v3.1 MB
XP 2000+ (no plans to overclock)
256mb PC2100 x 2

Additional components (already in old system):
30gb Maxtor 7200rpm drive
16x DVD drive
24x CDRW drive
GF3 Ti200 64mb
56k modem
SB AudioPCI sound card (may use onboard audio)

I have heard that this particular ECS board has issues with the power supply in general. However, most of the posted problems I have seen appear to stem from low-watt PSU's with XP systems.

I have yet to get a PSU, but was planning on picking up a generic 400W unit from a local store. I have this exact same PSU in my system (Epox 8RDA, XP 2000+ not overclocked, 2 HDs, 2 optical drives, numerous fans, etc.), and its been perfect for months.

Will having the 400W in a typical, non-overclocked system possibly help to smooth out the PSU issues? Or does it just go back to the quality of the PSU (ie, using name brand units -- Antec, Enermax, etc.)?

The fact that the 400W PSU has worked great in my system makes me think it would be fine in the new system.

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Mon May 19, 2003 6:52 am

ive built a few systems with this board, and have had good luck with the cheap raidmax powersupplys from svc

I also read a review about a channelwell , and a linkworld (channelwell rebadge) 420 watt psu that is fairly high quality without the sticker shock
http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/cwt420/

this can be found for 20-30 on the net:-)

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon May 19, 2003 6:27 pm

High wattage does not overcome the voltage instability of a cheap PSU. No good having a 500watt PSU if the voltage strays down to 4.6 and up to 5.5 volts. Lack of voltage stability is what leads to crashes and (in some cases) mobo damage.

A quality PSU costs more because it:

a) Has better quality components
b) Has a bigger heatsink inside
c) Has better cooling (good PSUs have two fans)

Weight is a good rough guide for PSU quality (because of the weight of the heatsink inside). Matter of fact Directron posts the weight of all the PSUs it sells for that readon. I've found that quality PSUs weigh more than 5 lbs. Anything thats weighs a pound or two is crap.

Buy AT LEAST somethign equivalent to this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.a ... G301P%2DVB

This is what I buy right now for replacements for clients. It meets AMD and Pentium4 specs but is not AMD recommended because it only has 1 fan (although if you're a typical PCAbuser you probably have a LOT better HSF on your CPU than a retail one anyway).

This is also a 'decent" cheapie: http://www.newegg.com/app/Viewproduct.a ... hFor=SL300

Directron.com and NewEgg have good prices on PSUs, but make SURE it's P4/AMD Athlon capable (Directron sells lots of really inexpensivwe PSUs but they're only for older P3 systems).