yeah, but there aren't any PSUs with that low a rating..though there are plenty of PSUs with 400w+ rating but can't even push out 200W without having smoke come out..

Acbel, depends on model. For most of their PSUs, voltage regulation is not so good when running at the PSU's limit, but its still within safe limits. FSP@Fortron, Silverstone have had perfect, or close to perfect, reputation for all their PSUs. Antec is pretty good, but pretty expensive; and you'll have to check out the models carefully as there were a few which were messed up.

That enermax looks good for the price, but I'm not too sure..its definitely not one of the 'terror' ones but if you're cash strapped might be worthwhile. Don't expect too much though.

I'm surprised your Enhance is performing that poorly..not typical of Enhance at all..is it the same model as the one 3431 is selling?

More rail means more headache balancing the rails..not much difference in performance as long as the rails are evenly balanced. And actually for TRUE multi rail PSUs (with each rail seperately supplied and regulated), having multi rails is a slight advantage, as voltage fluctuations on one rail will not effect the other rails. Unfortunately, most PSU manufacturers cheat (even big names like Antec, Enermax, Acbel) and actually make a single FAT rail and split it out with current limiters so that they can follow the ATX standard. Read PSU reviews on hardwaresecrets.com to find out which PSUs are true multi rail and which are cheating. Server PSUs with multi rails are almost always individually supplied and regulated.

And yes, in the server world, Delta Electronics is equivalent to PC Power & Cooling

Fans hardly take up any power, putting them on any line makes practically no difference

This makes me quite nervous..
Colorful is not a brand you accociate with high-end PSUs..

Acbel & cooler master are quite adequate, despite what shawty says (he got quite high end taste, I think only PCP&C he haven't really belum become his victim). Just take special care not to allow them to overheat (don't la make the PSU the sole exhaust in your system, put other exhaust fans).

Wasn't refering to you, just that >1000W is not exactly something that people would label under the low-end category. Although for this one, I might make an exception...

CM Extreme power series - good low end, stupid high end
CM Real power series - decent midrange, killer high end (check jonnyguru's review of the 800-1000W CM RP (forgot which model exactly), it seriously pwn a lot of other psu in that range)

Read this two reviews of one low watt CM extreme power and one high watt CM extreme power and you'll see why. One is exceptionally good and the other falls quite short of its promises.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/eXtremePower430W/
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/eXtremePower600W/

A lot of PSUs have auto adjust speeds nowadays. Check out silentpcreview's psu reviews and you'll see what I mean

It should be enough. Only the 8800gts/gtx/ultra/HD2900 needs >600W in crossfire/sli

This post has been edited by lohwenli: Nov 7 2007, 03:36 PM

Yeah, but read the 430W review by the same person. Completely different story. Rock solid all the way.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/eXtremePower430W/

Thats what I mean, the 430W model is ok, delivers solid 430W, but the 600W model is just a fake.

Actually its +/- 5%. any more than that, PC guarantee hang or KO already. Overclockers typically insist on +/- 1-3% for a bigger safety margin.
Infamous? Apparently you haven't tried AbitEQ or Gigabyte's Easytune.

Its not the software, its the monitoring chip on the motherboard. What do you expect from something that probably costs less than 3% of the motherboard's total manufacturing cost? As it is, everest is already one of the better software's as it sort of compensates for the inherent inaccuracy of the moitoring chips, others (especially those supplied with the motherboards, eg Gigabyte Easytune, Abit EQ) are often pretty inaccurate, sometims ludicrously so

Well, 5% is what the official ATX spec lists out. Sorry I got you wrong, its just that 'infamous' naturally implies something is bad.

CM extreme power 430w, Acbel E2 power are good. There are others, but I can't remember. Look out for these OEM PSU makers too, they're pretty decent while are cheaply priced, but most shops don't sell them-Enlight, Enhance, FSP/Fortron. These brands are good enough for low power PCs (<300W), any low-midrange single/dual core system (except Pentium 4/D) with a graphic card no higher than 7600/8600/X1600/2600 fits this.

Active PFC is only useful for people who's mains power fluctuates, and don't want to spend RM300 on a decent UPS. APFC allows a PSU to automatically adjust for voltage variations between 92-260V (estimate). The additional power efficiency is just a side bonus, as you will not even save RM100 on electricity bills unless you run 24/7 for a year or more, not even enough to justify the additional cost of an APFC vs a non-PFC unit. Power factor does not play much of a role in Malaysia yet, so don't sweat it.

Its a common thing for acbel PSUs and some other brands as well. Usually it comes from the transformer, and is usually normal though it might be irritating.

It depends on your style of PC interest. If you keep upgrading and/or overclocking, you may quickly find yourself close to the limit of 400-600W power supplies; at which, the power supply will show decreased voltage & ripple regulation which may damage hardware over a long period of time. Also, power supplies age, and after a few years (depending on usage), they will show increased ripple at lower and lower wattages. So you would want a power supply that can provide at least 20% more power than your PC's usage so that you have a safety margin (30% or more is recommended, but >50% is way overkill).

I'm guessing your CPU voltage regulators are not powering up the CPU fast enough, so the CPU isn't recognised on the first boot run. Likely, since you're running a C2Q extreme which is overclocked.

For a start, try booting up your system on stock settings, if it can boot without needing a reset then you have the answer. If it still doesn't work, try again on severely underclocked settings (set the lowest fsb and multiplier) if it still can't detect on first boot. If it can boot properly on stock and/or underclocked settings then it means your motherboard voltage regulators are not powering up fast enough. If on underclocked settings the problem is still there, then its probably some other problem which I'm not familiar with.

Btw, Cooler Master PSUs are mostly manufactured by Acbel. Even the sticker bears some similarities, even the grammar errors are the same


Silverstone is a good & reliable PSU, BUT only in western countries where the weather is not so hot. Failure/problem rates among LYN members & friends have been high, most likely due to the silent fan which might not be cooling the PSU adequately. On the other hand, Acbel often has better efficiency, even among the non-"80 plus certified" models.

IMHO, the acbel r8 700 is really nice.

The PSU calculator calculates the worst case senario, which is not actually possible in real life (trust me, I've tried it on 3 PCs). At most you'll only reach 80% of the calculated power consumption.

Can, but if you go SLI, either don't overclock or go real easy on overclocking.