Budget PSU - Topower vs Acbel vs Coolermaster

[galapogos]

Hi,
I'm helping my friend build a system, and obviously he's gonna need a new PSU since his old one is pretty old. Anyway, the system is pretty midrange, and consists of the following components:

i965p motherboard with intel core 2 duo E6300
2x512MB or 2x1GB PC5300 DDR2 memory
ATI Radeon X1900GT/1950Pro
1 320GB HDD
1 DVD burner

PSUs are more limited in my country, so I've selected those that seem good in the budget, they are the following, sorted by price in ascending order:

CoolerMaster eXtreme 430W
Topower EP-450
Acbel E2 450W
CoolerMaster RealPower 450W
Topower EP-500

The only PSU in that list that's reviewed here is the CoolerMaster eXtreme 430W, which was given a pretty good rating and had pretty solid rails. Reviews of the RealPower 450W weren't as stellar - despite costing more, it apparently offers less power on both the +12V rails and doesn't really conform to ATX2.0 specs despite claiming to be.

Any opinions on which one's the best in that list? We're gonna get everything on less than 2 days time.

Thanks!

[jonnyGURU]

I don't know how you can say a review of the RealPower 450W was not as stellar as the eXtreme Power 430W when I never reviewed the RealPower 450W. I only reviewed the RealPower 550W and I thought it did very well.

The Acbel E2 and CoolerMaster RealPower 450W are the same PSU. So go with either one based on price.

I don't know the specs off the top of my head, but just judging from the quality of the three OEM's mentioned here (Hipro, Topower and Acbel) I personally think Acbel is a better OEM than Hipro or Topower.

[galapogos]

Sorry, I didn't mean that the review of the RealPower 450W was done here. I meant the eXtreme 430W's review here (http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/eXtremePower430W) wasn't as stellar as the RealPower 450W reviews I found on the web, such as at SPCR (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article205-page1.html) and xbitlabs (http://xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu_5.html). xbitlabs has also reviewed the 550W version and said that it was an improvement on the 450W, so I'm not so sure about the 450W.

So would you recommend the RealPower/E2 450W over the eXtremePower 430w? The former is about 60-70USD while the latter is only <50USD.

[jonnyGURU]

Seriously? I would consider upping the budget and least another 20USD.

[galapogos]

Hmm, you don't think those PSUs in the list will power the system in question? Or is there another reason for getting a more expensive PSU? I'm looking for a decent, reasonably priced PSU that will cause no problems for the system, not neccessarily the best PSU I can get. My friend's kinda on a budget and it's hard enough trying to get him to see that a good PSU matters.

[BryaN.sG]

i would like to know if the specs for the CM realpower 450w are to be trusted too. http://www.coolermaster.com/product_common_images/8cf7f4ca055153114c1805ceca991ed4.jpg

[jonnyGURU]

i would like to know if the specs for the CM realpower 450w are to be trusted too.

What about it?

And 22A on the combined 12's really isn't too much.

[BryaN.sG]

If specs are true, would the 29A on the cheaper extremepower 430w be better than the 22A on the realpower?

[jonnyGURU]

Not sure.

Although the 430W did hold up with a 32A load on the 12's for me.

Hard to believe a 450W PSU has only 22A on the 12's. :(

[Mantralord]

How does this one sound?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163110

It has 300W total on the 12v, which should be plenty for that system. It's made by Enhance, has some of the cables sleeved, and has a great price. Sounds pretty good to me.

[jonnyGURU]

He's in Singapore.

Hey wait... You have Seventeam in Singapore, don't you?

You should be able to get an ST-580 or ST-620.

[galapogos]

Hmm, from the specs it does look like the cheaper eXtreme 430 is better than the RealPower 450W, especially when the former had a pretty good review over here.

jonny, you keep recommending higher powered and more expensive PSUs. While I do respect your recommendations, I'm curious as to why. AFAIK, the system in question here is pretty mid-range and isn't really that high powered, and doesn't really call for a 500-600W PSU? Am I wrong? Besides, the PSUs that I mentioned are pretty decent I thought...if they aren't meant for systems of these specs, then what systems are they meant for?

In fact there are Seventeam PSUs here. There's a Seventeam 420W for about 50USD(god knows what model though), a 400W and a 450W "EAG True Power Supply 18MT", which are between 80-90USD. That's about the limit I think my friend would be willing to spend on a PSU, if not beyond it. Are any of these better than the ones I mentioned above?

[galapogos]

After some digging, I found the local disty for Seventeam, and I believe the models that I mentioned are the ST-420BKV, ST-400EAG and ST-460EAG. HardwareSecrets had a review on the ST-420BKV that lambasted it for using an old AT design, so I guess that one's out(sure explains the price). Is the 400/460EAG better than the previous ones I mentioned? There's no ST-580/620.

Oh I also found that the ExtremePower 550W is pretty cheap too - about 70USD. Seems like a good choice given the good review on the 430W version.

[jonnyGURU]

I suggest more expensive more power supplies because you get what you pay for.

It easy to quantify value with a CPU or video card, etc. You pay more and you get a higher clock CPU or GPU. You pay more for RAM, and you get faster RAM. You pay more for a motherboard and you get more features or better overclocking options. When it comes to power supplies, people look at them and go "yep. 500W." and assume that from that point forward choice will be based on cost.

You've made your own point twice already. The build topology of the ST-420BKV "sure explains the price." and you pointed out how X-bit "also reviewed the 550W (Real Power) and it was an improvement over the 550W."

An X1900 or X1950 can use a bit of power. Let's not open up the potential that we're taking one of these lower power, lower quality power supplies to it's upper limits where ripple is going to be high and regulation is going to be poor.

As for the SevenTeam: The EAG series are from their SSI product line. Totally different than the ATX 2.0 product line the ST-420BKV comes from.

The ST-460EAG is the same thing as the Sytrin Nextherm 460W reviewed here: http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/NexthermPSU460/

[jonnyGURU]

Oh I also found that the ExtremePower 550W is pretty cheap too - about 70USD. Seems like a good choice given the good review on the 430W version.

Be careful with the assumptions and Cooler Master. Unless it's a Real Power, each one is made by a different OEM. You can't blanket say, "if the 430W got a good review, the 550W must be that much better." For example: The 430W is made by Hipro and the 600W is made by SevenTeam. The 430W is a real 430W, but the 600W is a relabeled 500W. I haven't had a chance to play with the 550W, but probably will after X-Mas. I'm pretty sure it's not Hipro because ever Hipro branded units 500W and up are actually made by Topower.

[galapogos]

I understand that you get what you pay for, but I was just hoping there was a quality product within this price range that would work for the abovementioned system...I guess you're saying there isn't.The review of the Syntrin Nexterm certainly looks good enough. I guess I'll consider either that or the eXtreme 430 that also received a good review here.

[Iantikas]

IMHO Antec EarthWatts 430W is best for your config...bye

[madmat]

IMHO Antec EarthWatts 430W is best for your config...bye

Who says he can get it there? Bye yourownself. I'd say go for the Seventeam over the Coolermaster. I've put one of their 750W units to the pressure test and it had the cleanest 12V rails I've seen at around 30mV of ripple at rated output.

[galapogos]

Yup I ended up getting the Seventeam 460EAG, as per the review here. It looks like a pretty quality product, and was decently heavy as well. So far so good.

[Hutch]

I've got a 430W Cooler Master. It's the old 430W build with a single 19A rail running a highly oced Core 2 duo rig. Still haven't got my kingwin 600W RMA back (yea, who would've thought it would take more than a month.) Although it's holding up, it's really being pushed to it's absolute limits. I've measured the 12v rail dropping to 11.52-11.55v under 50% cpu load at max stable overclock. After that I put the multimeter away, didn't want to see how low it was dropping under a 3dmark06 load.

Good choice on the seventeam ;)

[jonnyGURU]

IMHO Antec EarthWatts 430W is best for your config...bye

:confused:

[galapogos]

Hmm, I just realized in the "PSU Recommendations for High End Gaming PC's" thread that the "SevenTeam SSI EPS 12V 2.91 Series and "Fanless" product lines" is listed in Tier 2. Does the Seventeam 460EAG belong in this series? In Seventeam's website it's listed under the SSI EPS Series.

Edit: hmm nevermind, I don't think it is. The only ones in the 2.91 series that are sold here are the ST-650EAD and the ST-750EAJ. Are there any reviews here of those, or PSUs based on them?

Does anyone know the actual +12V rating on this PSU? The website states 18A per rail but the datasheet only claims a max of 15A per rail, but no combined +12V rating. The 460EAD has a combined +12V rating of 32A though.

[jonnyGURU]

The ST-750EAD is the same as the XG Duro 900W and the Ultra X-Pro 750W FYI.