Help, I need some power supply recommendations

[beansontoast]

I never thought I'd ever buy a seperate psu but my asus a7 has already killed 2 (so called...) 400W supplies.

I've been looking at different ones tonight. There's no way I'm going to buy one of these enermax ones for about £100, it seems too extravagant. I've seen 2 that I think will be ok, Hiper 520W supply (yes it's from ebuyer & I hate them too) and this cheaper one (there's a review of the hiper one on the site in the second link).

Has anyone ever had to buy another psu, or got any experience of these 2? I am definately going to buy some psu or other by monday evening cos I need one - my daddy pc is brown-bread at the minute. This is not a cock-measuring exercise, just pointing that out because my experience of hardware advice posts is that people are just telling others what goodies they are buying

Cheers, beans

[Violator]

One thing that people often try and save money on is their PSU. I can never quite understand why, it's such a vital part of the system.

Bear in mind here that a higher W rating doesn't necessarily mean better. A good quality 350W PSU will often outperform a poorer quality 400W.

I use the Sparkle 400. Not cheap, but absolutely solid. The 5v rail sits at 4.99 (this is with overclocking enabled) and the 12v sits around 11.98. Stability on these rails is crucial to having a stable machine.

And you really don't need a 550W supply unless your PC is out the door with devices, and even then I'd doubt it. What you need to look for the the output on the 3 main rails, 5v, 12v & 3.3 (2.5 if using DDR).

Spending a few extra £ now will probably save you heaps of hassle later on, especially if you are or ever intend overclocking the PC at all.

[beansontoast]

Thanks geez I took that advice in and ordered a decent power supply. I suppose in the long run I can keep using it even when I change my tower in the future