What power supply do you guys use for basic customer builds?

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d3v

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Now that I'm down to my last couple of PSU's in my inventory I am now on the look out for a good quality PSU to stock up on. I've been using basic 350w FSP units for years with no reported problems from customers however the particular model I had is proving difficult if not impossible to now buy new, so just wanting to know what you guys use that you know work reliably for 5+ years in basic customer builds.

Articles such as this make me very hesitant and paranoid about buying PSU's at all :eek:
 
3 out of the last 4 Corsair Builder Series have had to be sent back. I'm out of patience with Corsair now, or at least that series.

I've moved over to OCX.

For cheaper builds I just use a cheap generic grey metal job. You have to accept with the under £50 ones that you're taking pot luck. Chances are it'll last a couple of years but a proportion will blow in a week. There are no reliable cheap PSUs that I'm aware of.

Avoid CIT/Colors ones. They are really bad.
 
I have had good luck with Newegg's Rosewill brand for basic needs. Before SATA took over, I got the 350W versions, now I mostly stock the 400s and 450's.
 
Seasonic are my favorite...head and shoulders above the rest. It's what I'll use in my own rigs.

In the past, Antec and Enermax were two other brands I'd trust.
 
Just a bit off topic....

We had a guy bring in a tower last week. Dead as a doornail. The guy didnt want to take it to his "regular" guy because everything he fixes seems to break down again a few months later.

Turns out it was a dead power supply. I don't recall ever seeing a "Logisys" power supply before so I "newegged" it and saw its on sale for $14.00 :p

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170016

The thing died a couple months after installing it and the customer wised up and switched techs. The machine was old so it didnt need many SATA connectors so I put a Thermaltake 430 and its alive again.

I can't imagine a tech being so cheap as to buy such junk for his customers.
 
NYJimbo said:
Turns out it was a dead power supply. I don't recall ever seeing a "Logisys" power supply before so I "newegged" it and saw its on sale for $14.00 :p

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170016
Click to expand...

The link broke but I found Logisys power supplies at Newegg....
I've seen that brand before but never saw their price...I see one at $12.99.

OK...$13 dollars for a power supply?
LOL
I wouldn't trust that thing to power my pocket sized flashlight!
 
I have yet to see a bad cooler master psu. Sold hundreds of them as replacements. For higher end machines, I use seasonic. For servers, I only use OEM parts.
 
It's funny, I was on NE this morning looking at PSU's and saw these. I was almost tempted to try one out, but thought better of it. What gets me though, is the fact that a good percentage of these Logisys PSU's have such high (quantity and quality) user feedback ratings on NE. Makes me wonder about validity of choosing hardware based, in part, on how many "eggs" it has.
 
X2 onthe Rosewill Stallion series 400 watt. I've had 1 failure (after 5 weeks) out of the last 10. I used to use the Antec Basiq but switched (pun) to Rosewill after 2 DOA's. I'm sure the Rosewill could have produced the same DOA's.

They cost about $30-35 and usually ship free from the Egg.

My typical residential consumer won't buy a $150 PS. I give everyone the option and explain the difference and 98% of my clients go the cheap route.
 
I use Sparkle Power (SPI) ATX-400-PN-B 400W power supplies on most replacements and even new, lower power builds (Core i3). They're around $34-36 CAD and I've installed over 100 in the last 6 or so years and never seen one fail. They are completely OEM and don't come with a box or power cable.

On the other hand, I decided to try 7 Corsair CMPSU-400CX which got rave reviews online and come with a box, power cable, manual, etc. I got them for $31.99 each and 6 of them died :eek: I will never purchase another Corsair 400W PSU again but I have had good success with the 430 and above Corsair builder series, contrary to MobileTechie's experience :confused: Which is whay I use for mybigger builds.
 
ClickRight said:
I use Sparkle Power (SPI) ATX-400-PN-B 400W power supplies on most replacements and even new, lower power builds (Core i3). They're around $34-36 CAD and I've installed over 100 in the last 6 or so years and never seen one fail. They are completely OEM and don't come with a box or power cable.

On the other hand, I decided to try 7 Corsair CMPSU-400CX which got rave reviews online and come with a box, power cable, manual, etc. I got them for $31.99 each and 6 of them died :eek: I will never purchase another Corsair 400W PSU again but I have had good success with the 430 and above Corsair builder series, contrary to MobileTechie's experience :confused: Which is whay I use for mybigger builds.
Click to expand...

I use these too (also mainly for replacements in generic OEM machines) and also find them very reliable.
 
ClickRight said:
I use Sparkle Power (SPI) ATX-400-PN-B 400W power supplies on most replacements and even new, lower power builds (Core i3). They're around $34-36 CAD and I've installed over 100 in the last 6 or so years and never seen one fail. They are completely OEM and don't come with a box or power cable.

On the other hand, I decided to try 7 Corsair CMPSU-400CX which got rave reviews online and come with a box, power cable, manual, etc. I got them for $31.99 each and 6 of them died :eek: I will never purchase another Corsair 400W PSU again but I have had good success with the 430 and above Corsair builder series, contrary to MobileTechie's experience :confused: Which is whay I use for mybigger builds.
Click to expand...

Guess it's a matter of luck: the 400CX was a SeaSonic built unit (the 430CX is made by CWT). Seasonic are the PSU experts and their stuff is usually very good.

Having said, I've been spec'ing 430CX for non high-end builds and haven't had any trouble. Then again the only PSU I've had to RMA were two OCZ ones (as it happens I only bought two OCZ PSUs so that's a 100% failure rate - also had to RMA some of their RAM but never their SSDs since I won't touch them!).

My bench machine has 330W Seasonic which I got for £25 on sale - wish I'd bought a few that time.

Quality PSUs are so hard to find - I've never found a decent one I trust and price is not necessarily an indication of quality...

I remember building this PC with a Sumvison 300W PSU for £8 (wasn't my idea but they guy wanted a nice Antec 300 case but didn't want to spend on a decent PSU and I didn't put my foot down) and it's still going strong five years later.
 
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KompuKare said:
Guess it's a matter of luck: the 400CX was a SeaSonic built unit (the 430CX is made by CWT). Seasonic are the PSU experts and their stuff is usually very good.

Having said, I've been spec'ing 430CX for non high-end builds and haven't had any trouble. Then again the only PSU I've had to RMA were two OCZ ones (as it happens I only bought two OCZ PSUs so that's a 100% failure rate - also had to RMA some of their RAM but never their SSDs since I won't touch them!).

My bench machine has 330W Seasonic which I got for £25 on sale - wish I'd bought a few that time.

Quality PSUs are so hard to find - I've never found a decent one I trust and price is not necessarily an indication of quality...

I remember building this PC with a Sumvison 300W PSU for £8 (wasn't my idea but they guy wanted a nice Antec 300 case but didn't want to spend on a decent PSU and I didn't put my foot down) and it's still going strong five years later.
Click to expand...

Yup, loved the 400CX, if I'd known they would discontinue them I would have bought a few extras for myself. Both of my personal rigs run the Seasonic X-650, great PSU.

I find that very few review sites can properly review power supplies. Most of them just throw it in a high-end system and give it a 10/10 because it powers it stably. Hardocp.com and jonnyguru.com are about the only places I trust to give a real PSU review.

I have seen some of those cheap PSU last for 6-8 years but when I see stuff like this I know I will never trust them in any of my rigs or a customer's:

cheap_psu.jpg
 
James_S said:
I find that very few review sites can properly review power supplies. Most of them just throw it in a high-end system and give it a 10/10 because it powers it stably. Hardocp.com and jonnyguru.com are about the only places I trust to give a real PSU review.
Click to expand...

yes, gotta love jonnyguru - after they're through with reviewing a PSU it just parts since the de-solder stuff just to see. Hardopc I'm not so sure about since I've never read their PSU reviews but I don't trust them since their GPU methodology is very suspect.
 
KompuKare said:
yes, gotta love jonnyguru - after they're through with reviewing a PSU it just parts since the de-solder stuff just to see. Hardopc I'm not so sure about since I've never read their PSU reviews but I don't trust them since their GPU methodology is very suspect.
Click to expand...

I'm not a big fan of the GPU reviews either, I get that they're trying to compare overall gaming experience as opposed to hard FPS numbers but I just can't get used to it. However, their PSU testing methodology is thoroughly documented so you can decide for yourself: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2007/02/25/hard_look_at_power_supplies/
 
We have had a couple of bad corsair ones too so I won't be stocking them again. Have used thermaltake, antec, enermax and seasonic without much trouble. Have had trust power supplies for the lower end market and they seem decent.
 
Someone mentioned this puppy somewhere (I forget) and I ordered a couple in to try out. Have to say Im happy with them. Infact, I know carry them for car supplies. Not that expensive but holds up quite well.:)

hec HP485D 485W ATX12V Power Supply
 
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