It would still be able to run as it would not take more than 250-300W, but problem is that enermax has a history of high random failures. Can't figure out why, I've heard of enermax failing on various PCs, each with different power requirements, so its not because of overloading. Could be a QC problem.

why almost all psu now.. are quad rails??
any single rail psu.. that falls under rm500 price range?

Hm... was wondering if there's any "modular" type of PSU that's within the RM200 budget range? Kinda lazy to go over the thread. But i kinda looking for a modular unit so that i can limit the amount of cables in the already super small mATX i'm using.

This post has been edited by GRexer: Jan 4 2008, 05:19 PM

got what... Silverstone ST56ZF , RM500

Its actually not a problem if you distribute the load evenly across the rails. Anyway, most of the PSUs are actually single rail PSUs, the label is lying. For example, an Enermax Liberty 500W I opened has both 'rails' connected together-how on earth can it be dual rail? The explanation is simple-PSUs manufacturers have been lying so that they can keep up to the latest ATX spec (which is several years old btw) which states that no rail in a PSU is allowed to output more than 240W (more or less, I didn't read the spec back to back) which results in a maximum of 20A for the 12V line.

The spec was so unsucessful that eventually Intel gave up on it (unofficially) and PSU manufacturers have started to manufacture single rail PSUs in more recent years.

hmm better for the user to just focus on the output and the efficiency of the psu, than to worry about railings.. hmm. Of course, note the !12V amperage too.

one single fat rail already give me peace of mind... , i will definitely not getting those multi-rail, combined rail or whatsoever , errr... plus modular type too... i won't getting that... , it's just my personal preference about getting new PSU

1-I read in some articles said look for at least 18A for the 12V. What will happen if using below 18A?

2-Cant any1 tell me how to recognize the power supply pure power of not.

-TQ-

< 18A = not enough power to juice the current hardware and peripherals.bigger = better

18A on the 12V probably exists in dual or quad 12V rail PSU's. If you look at the overall total, it should be sufficient.

ermm,two different opinions.
Mine to describe more details.
I tried doing some google but hard to find the answers.
So,in terms of using a lots of latest high end OR mid range hardwares 18A is sufficient rite?
As i can see,a lots of osu thats use above 18A on the 12V rails,the price range is quite high.

Oh ya,i saw this Acbel E2 510.Rm 2++.
The cons is,its not Active PFC. I am not sure whether its passive PFC or not.
So does this psu recommended to run a OC system that needs roughly 500Watt power?

First, you might want to understand what is a 12V rail and what it is used for. After that, you would like to understand why there are single, dual, triple and quad 12V rail. Let's take the Corsair HX 620W as an example. The picture below shows that each 12V rail only has 18A but there are 3 of them. Always look at the "combined output" of all the rails and in this case, it is 600W.



On single rail PSU's, the 12V rail has a much higher value. Your next question might be what are the differences. Well, you can google around and there are plenty of articles. So tell me, this PSU has 18A on the 12V rail and not to mention it's a Corsair HX 620W. Do you think it wouldn't be enough to power your rig?

Many people tend to have a total misconception about PSU's and sometimes do not understand how it works. It might be very confusing but you will never go wrong getting a PSU from a reliable make (don't get those unknown brands). To be very honest, a 450W-500W PSU is good enough to support a C2D with 8800 and 2 HDD's, DVD ROMs. For those who have the extra cash to spend, there's no harm getting a bigger one.

the diff between single rail and multi rail

single = we can simply connect the hardware into any power connector

multi rail = all hardware in 1 rail, must not exceed more than 18A (i take the HX 620W above as the example)

This post has been edited by sjn hassan: Jan 5 2008, 01:53 AM

The 12V line powers the CPU and often the GPU as well. CPUs typically take 60-130W, and GPUs can take 30-150W, which results in a current of 7.5-23.3A on the 12V line. Most PCs are towards the lower end of the range, so 18A is enough. The high end here is assuming a quad core and a sinlge 2900XT, no overclocking. No other graphic card takes anywhere that much power, and dual cores take significantly less than quad cores, so most pc won't even touch 23.3A.

There is no sure way to tell if a PSU is pure power or not without using a load tester. Reviews by tomshardware, jonnyguru and silentpcreview are done using load testers so you can check their reviews. I think xbit labs does too, but I haven't had time to check.

It should be OK, I've yet to see an Acbel fail a load test. PFC is not important unless you're using a UPS. APFC does have a little side bonus though, its more tolerant of voltage fluctuations.

Yeah, the read headache is finding out what rail powers each connector. Sometimes its not even mentioned in the manual.

Do the corsair TX series reach malaysia d? looks like i might upgrade PSU if wanna use quad core as currently using Acbel iPower Gold 550w which i think ampere are low...

anyone facing load problems with Silverstone Strider series, aka, ripple. or is it normal for even high end psus? My ripple is often 0.02V

IMO... most, i mean... almost 100% of available PSU do have ripple, the only PSU not having ripple as other PSU (lowest ripple) is PC Power & Cooling ...

errr... that's what i read la from JonnyGuru.Com, eXtremeSystem.Org

@sniper

then next stop is PC Power and Cooling lor. Sell off my strider, get that PSU to feed my little darling baby e2140 with delicious voltage with those ripples.. hmm

, aiyoh... your E2140 does not deserve that kind of PSU, unless you're using Quad Core kaaa, not to mention the price is...

@everyone
anyone knows what is the device that read how much wattage draws from our system/PC? i've seen a lot @PSU reviewer... does this device can be used on other electric stuff such as TVs, Radios?

Ha guys,i saw a new gigabyte power supply.Its not the odin model.
Its stated as 500Watt and NON-PFC.
RM220.

So any of you guys know about this psu d? mine to share the experience?

I tried to google,but forget the model name.