Spec me a PSU, bitches!

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 22:09

Hi guys,
My folks PSU has blown, I'm after something 400W+ for what is essentially an old machine (p4 1.7ghz/512Mb PC100 RAM/30Gb HDD - essentially it's an Ebay + browsing machine with light graphics editing) so don't need ultra fancy SLI capable shit.
The reason I ask is that this is the 3nd PSU they've blown, although to be fair the first PSU was HP's own weird form factor one, their second PSU was utter bargain basement shite that came with the machine and this third one was just some random one bought from Dabs - it's been over the course of 4 years I guess.

So as well as a new surge protector - I wonder if any of you guys know of a good quality make of PSU to recommend in this situation (Maybe with a good manufacturers warranty)?

(Yes, I am in the computer repair + support industry, but I don't touch hardware these days - really don't give shit about it anymore, so I'm out of touch. If I needed to replace a PSU it'd either be under warranty so a new one shipped out or I'd walk to a computer store and just buy a random one or grab one from stock or shout at our procurement guy and shout "buy me a psu,bitch")

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 22:15

I'd go Enermax or tagan to suit

ISTR they both have 3 year warranties, which should be plenty, had good experience with both makes.

Has the machine been plugged into the same house socket/circuit every time it has died? could be shitty wiring + a fridge or such killing it.

Post by **HereComesPete** » August 11th, 2007, 22:17

Hmm, money wise, if you want to spend absolutely fuck all, I used to have an ebuyer psu, it was a not quite good enough to be enermax enermax, if that makes sense*. 500w for £12, but thats a piece o shit and may last ages, may blow super fast. £30 will get you this Antec Thats not bad, antec generally work well, its got 3 years, the rails and modular crap will most likely fit in proprietary cases with odd parts at strange places, plus its neater and clears air flow. I can go higher if you want!

*it doesnt does it! It was an enermax reject, but functioned in my machine for 3ish years with stable rails, never complained, and never gave me cause for alarm.

Post by **FatherJack** » August 11th, 2007, 22:35

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:I'd go Enermax or tagan to suit

ISTR they both have 3 year warranties, which should be plenty, had good experience with both makes.

Has the machine been plugged into the same house socket/circuit every time it has died? could be shitty wiring + a fridge or such killing it.

I concur, a £40 ~380W model from either, with a surge protector/mains smoother should do the job, with perhaps some instruction on not switching off the socket, unplugging it or pulling out the cable - no point buying a new PSU if either the power source, or the way it's treated is the problem.

It might seem a lot lot spend, but it'll likely be good for at least their next PC.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 22:39

FatherJack wrote:perhaps some instruction on not switching off the socket, unplugging it or pulling out the cable - no point buying a new PSU if either the power source, or the way it's treated is the problem.

It might seem a lot lot spend, but it'll likely be good for at least their next PC.

Also, I'm not sure about antec PSUs, I have a sneaky feeling eion had issues with one in a build for a friend (in that they need a certain amount of load to start) But i'm not sure, you'll have to wait a few hours for that to be confirmed or denied.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 22:46

OK, I'm gonna go for this I reckon. I'll order it shortly. £57.56 inc. delivery and vat

Don't think they're doing anything wrong, AFAIK they either let it go to standby or hibernate and occasionally reboot it. They're fairly well trained by now and on the whole my folks aren't a lot of hassle anymore and things rarely go wrong. The old man does go for porn occasionally from the emails that I get from the AV (I should tell him someday I get these reports, it's a little too much information though "oh Dad, I know when you're wanking etc")

Anyway if there is consensus here then I'll go a e-buying....

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 22:50

Works for me, should handle an upgrade too.

and introduce him to thehun or such, it'll lower the TMI factor greatly.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 22:55

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Works for me, should handle an upgrade too.

and introduce him to thehun or such, it'll lower the TMI factor greatly.

I did years ago.

I think he's just brave and ventures out on his own in the dark. But FF + NOD32 (I should NoScript him too, but = more training) seems to hold the fort atm. (They also have a regular full C drive image scheduled on a Sunday afternoon to an external drive in case of disaster)

I did put him on a limited account for ages, but several programs including Ebays Turbo Lister were so badly programmed that they didn't work properly, so I gave up.

Thanks for your advice everyone.

Post by **HereComesPete** » August 11th, 2007, 22:57

Could be your mum going for the porn!

Good choice on the psu, but personally I would have spent less and got the antec, it has 3 years warranty. Must be something in there that makes the psu's die, its not faulty house wiring is it?

total tangent, I recently read about a guy who had a similar problem to you re the eHdd, he claimed for insurance when his failed, but none of his legitimate iTunes purchases were covered, let alone his other stuff, and they didnt recover anything when he sent it off, insurance companys = fail+lies.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 23:08

HereComesPete wrote:total tangent,
<snip>
insurance companys = fail+lies.

An industry based on gambling that things are going to go horribly wrong?
Never!
I'd rather go to William Hill and say "Here's 50 quid on my house being burnt down this year"

Post by **deject** » August 11th, 2007, 23:10

That looks a bit expensive for a 400w PSU, but whatever.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 11th, 2007, 23:11

HereComesPete wrote:total tangent, I recently read about a guy who had a similar problem to you re the eHdd, he claimed for insurance when his failed, but none of his legitimate iTunes purchases were covered, let alone his other stuff, and they didnt recover anything when he sent it off, insurance companys = fail+lies.

I wonder if data isn't covered by contents insurance.

Possibly the HDD is contents, but the contents of the contents isn't contents. or something

deject wrote:That looks a bit expensive for a 400w PSU, but whatever.

true, but that's mostly because there's not much call for decent 400w PSUs these days, most people will just buy a cheapy 5-600w jobbie.

Post by **FatherJack** » August 11th, 2007, 23:32

deject wrote:That looks a bit expensive for a 400w PSU, but whatever.

You pay a little extra for the modular ones. Give you good flexibility, though - no more cables in the case than you need, and much more likely to work in any future PC.

It's only £40 list price, but the shipping's nearly a tenner and they seem to add VAT after that, as presumably the shipping company charge them VAT.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » August 11th, 2007, 23:39

deject wrote:That looks a bit expensive for a 400w PSU, but whatever.

Yeah, but I've been buying cheaper ones and they keep dying, so in the long run it should cost less in theory...

It's unlikely they'll upgrade for years, the spec of the PC (with XP on) is more than enough for what they need it for, add to that I have an exactly the same spare CPU+mobo+RAM combo in the wings for if the mobo ever goes and weekly HDD images for if the HDD goes.

It's the PSU thats the problem!

Fred Woogle · Post by **Fred Woogle** » August 12th, 2007, 4:17

tagan!

that is all!

eion · Post by **eion** » August 12th, 2007, 6:19

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Also, I'm not sure about antec PSUs, I have a sneaky feeling eion had issues with one in a build for a friend (in that they need a certain amount of load to start) But i'm not sure, you'll have to wait a few hours for that to be confirmed or denied.

I am sure about Antec PSUs. See also "plague" and "avoid"; at least the one that my friend had, which was a 430HE as I recall.

Total complete and utter fail, and it did indeed require a certain amount of load to start. Quite a high amount, and it was a bitch to diagnose, because normally when a machine won't post properly you start pulling hardware out - which in this case made it worse.

After we noticed that changing the fan speed switch had an effect, with less fan speed making it less stable, we stuck a few more hard disks and fans in and got Windows installed. Then we got a new PSU.

Post by **deject** » August 12th, 2007, 15:35

Can you guys get PC Power & Cooling PSUs over there? IMO they're the best ones out there, but they're also among the most expensive.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » August 12th, 2007, 15:39

deject wrote:Can you guys get PC Power & Cooling PSUs over there? IMO they're the best ones out there, but they're also among the most expensive.

Not currently, but now OCZ owns PC P&P, they might appear.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » September 8th, 2007, 21:02

By the way, it was delivered and even fitted by my father on his own! Werd up!
Thank you for your help peeps.

Anhamgrimmar · Post by **Anhamgrimmar** » September 14th, 2007, 23:20

OH GODS! ITS A ZMOBIE THREAD!

Ahem.

I've just come back from a 3 week all expenses denied holiday in the Leeming area, and after the journey from hell, decided to sit down, relax, drink a beer and play some internet spaceships and stuff.

I believe berk may have been at my PSU however, because as soon as i plugged it back in, the room was filled with the lovely smell of burning electronics, and no lights on the case at all at all.

Having discounted the actual wall socket (my laptop is quite happily charging off the same outlet) i'm forced to aquire a new PSU.

System specs are:

Asus A8Nsomething motherboard
Athlon XP 4000+
1GB Memory
1 80gb HDD
1 8 GB HDD
SBlive 1024.
X800 GTO
(yes i know, but i'm a cheapskate, and its enough for me)

now the expired PSU is a 'EZ Cool' 600W unit, so i'm assuming i need another one to the same spec or there abouts. Its not gonna need much future headroom, because i'll be getting a full new system at somepoint.

Any recommendations for a cheapass PSU? Or is it just a case of grabbing the nearest 600w unit thats got enough plugs?

Also, if someone wants to spec me a new system (£600, dont need Keyboard/ mouse/monitor) while their at it, that'd be great as well