I notice some of the PSU these days are already sleeved (out from factory). Anyone knows which of those are good ones?

Actually have you guys tried or ever wondered if there is really a need for such high capacity PSU?

The issue and talk of PSU's have been very much over-rated throughout the years. Undeniably, hardwares today need more power but this normally apply to top end graphics card or perhaps if you have plenty of fans. The good old hard disk and DVD-ROM doesn't need an extra 30% power to get it running.

Many thought that having a high capacity PSU would ensure a good overclock but in fact, this isn't always the case. To overclock well, you not only need a good chip + RAM but also the knowledge. Trust me, it's not always as simple as bumping the voltage and increasing the memory bus; it takes more than that to get the best out of it.

You have to see what type of hardwares you have on your PC and get a PSU according to your needs. There's no point investing on a 500W-600W if you have a simple setup like mine (1xHDD, 1xDVDROM, 3xFans).

A simple experiment - use a 350W and later swap with a 600W to see if it gives you a big difference. Technically, I'll be getting better numbers on the rails, lesser ripple effect, etc but note that many PC's run on cheap Icute or unbranded PSU's and able to survive for years. The only time PSU might kill your hardware is when it's really under-powered or it's too old.

If you have plenty of hardwares, top of the range graphics card which is power hungry then it makes sense to get a "big" PSU. My word of advice is don't just get a 500-watter because everyone says its good (especially from the review sites). Get a PSU which suits the hardware in your PC.

DevilMan, I'm running on a cheap 390W Acbel CPU and doing 8 x 410 on my E2140. I believe it can still go further too.

Maybe your overclock is not stable and you might need more Vcore.
Other reason is maybe it's too hot. I don't think it's a PSU issue.

It's normal Everyone has it I guess.

Don't worry about it
It's normal that it fluctuates.

12.19 is what your 12v rail value is and from your screenshot, everything looks fine. I can see that you're running CPU/RAM at stock voltage so no overclocks

Here you go

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_rail

Generally, the higher the number, the better it is but having lower numbers doesn't mean it's bad (unless we're talking about terribly low numbers).

I've tested both Gigabyte Superb 720W and Odin GT 550W. Although the Odin GT 550W is a quad 12V rail PSU, the +5V and Vdimm gives a lower reading compared to the 720W.

I think Gigabyte Odin Pro is a good choice for that price range. Plus, it's modular.

Yup but 800W is a bit too much really Don't have to spend so much of cash for that IMHO.

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.

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.

ocz, you might want to address your PSU questions in ocforums, xtremesystems, etc. People there would give you a better idea of what it is about

I think you should consider modular PSU's these days.

You can get a new Gigabyte Odin for less than RM400.

In case you guys don't know, many PSU's are outsourced and made by another company and CM, Gigabyte, etc just put a label on them to sell as their product.

The Corsairs are good and most recommended but it's not cheap over here.

Yeah, I had the Odin Pro 550W The best thing is modular.

In case you guys don't know, plugging the same PSU on different boards would get you different readings For example, if it does 5.25V @ 5V rail on mobo A, it doesn't necessarily give the same reading on mobo B.