Power supply (PSU) concerns

Buzzing noises are most often caused by coil whine, where the current passing through the wire in the coil will cause the core to vibrate at a audible frequency. This is a common problem on corsair psu's mixed with certain video cards/motherboards.

Capacitors almost never cause whining. The only time they do this is if the PI filter's core is loose and the capacitor is in or near failure mode and causing more ripple to pass through the pi filter.

Capacitors are hardly dangerous if you know what you are doing, most good quality power supplies, even cheap ones, discharge in a couple of minutes, but you should check the voltage across the bridge rectifier just in case.

As for HEC psu's. Ehhhh. The cougar power's sold in Europe are pretty good, but the HEC cougars as well as other HEC's are not very good at all. I would stay away.

Just make sure you dont fry anything!!!

Hi guys,
I recently decided to upgrade my graphic card (I curently run only integrated HD 3200) to Gigabyte radeon HD 5850, but my psu only has like 270W which is obviously not enough.. Here are other specs of my PC:
1. Motherboard - ASUS M3A78 PRO
2. Graphic interface - ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics -> going to be Gigabyte Radeon HD 5850
3. Memory -2048mb (dual)
4. CPU -AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
5. CPU Speed -3097 (overclock from 2900) / bus speed: 213,6 MHz
6. Power Supply Make/Model - curently 270W
7. OS: Windows XP Prof. 32bit

since I still use xp and doesnt have such hi-tech PC 500 or 550W should do right ? I was thinking maybe: "Arctic Cooling Fusion 550, bulk" that seems nice in terms of performance/price...
thanks for any help!

btw I dont have to worry about PSU going along with my motherboard right ? I know that it is noobish question, but better be sure than sorry

450 watts is probably enough for that if you get a good one!

You don't have the right motherboard model name there,the Asus M3A78 isn't an integrated board( i know because i owned a M3A78).

A 500\550w psu will be more than enough for the 5850.

right, fixed it it is M3A78 PRO.. ok, 550 it is, I might be upgrading other componenets and I read somewhere that gaming PC should not go under 500..

I would rather have extra power than be short of power.
A 550w would be perfect,i had 2 ATI 4770's in crossfire with a 550w PSU and never had a problem with power,even when i overclocked everything in the PC.

A good-quality 500-550W PSU will do; that Arctic Cooling unit is a very good choice, being built by Seasonic and delivering a decent (for its price) 33A on the +12V rail.

The Corsair 450VX has the same specs however and comes with a larger warranty, which makes it a better choice if it can be found for around the same price as the Fusion PSU. The only con I see with it is that you'll need a Molex-to-PCIE converter since the 5850 needs two power connectors. It should still deliver enough power for your system though, since a high-end system with an HD 5850 will not draw more than 300W or so; you should easily be on the safe side IMO. Read the links for proof of the power consumption.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5850,2433-13.html
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/amd-radeon-hd-5870-5850-power-consumption-summary-66340/
http://hothardware.com/Articles/AMD-ATI-Radeon-HD-5850-Performance-Review/?page=10
http://techreport.com/articles.x/17652/9

hmm I see, I decided to go either with this Arctic Cooling or with Corsair VX550 550W to be sure if I upgrade later on. So which one of those ? Corsair has 3 years larger warranty, but is like 25 bucks more expensive.. and would I need that, whatever converter on this corsair as well ?
thanks!

I would go for the Corsair VX550 and you wont need the molex to 6 pin converter.

I want to buy the Power Supply Tester for PSU, and i search some stores and found two, which one is best? Any suggestion will great appreciation!
24 20 Pin PSU Power Supply Tester
Black PC 20/24 Pin PSU Power Supply Tester

Seconded.

I got myself one of these last month as I decided that the old one which only tested the 20/24 pin output was not telling me the truth. This thing works a treat and well worth the extra

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179997

Hey everyone, just recently joined these forums so I'm not quite so sure if this question would be bested placed in this topic. I've just recently ordered a GTS 250 video card along with a BFG 550 power supply after looking around for some new upgrades.

BFG GS Series BFGR550WGSPSU GS-550 Power Supply - ATX, 550 Watts, 140mm Silent Fan - That is the fan I've ordered.
As for the specs that are going to use these parts is a pre-built SR5710Y model using an MCP61PM-HM (Iris8) motherboard. They're replacing a stock 250w psu along with an intergrated 6150 SE gpu. The main concern I'm having or can just be paranoia is that the PSU is not sufficent enough or possibly have enough connectors for this tower. I know it has enough SATA cables, but after looking up the internal connectors for the motherboard I'm not sure has other cables that are needed.
If any other info is needed, I'll post it :S
Thanks in advance. Oh and if by chance the above psu isn't sufficent enough the budget for a replacement is about 60$ if anyone can find a suitable model. :3;

Power Supply Testers don't tell you much... and they are not accurate in details. The BFG is fine. The Corsair is better.

This is a great choice if you can afford it, otherwise this PSU is the best for $60, and it's actually $10 cheaper with a promo code.

Hi guys i was just wondering would a Arctic Power 500w psu be ok for my setup?

Intel Dual Core E5700 3.0GHz
ASUS P5G41T-M LX2/GB
Rendition 2GB DDR3
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX (768)MB
250GB HDD

Thanks

I would spend the extra pennies and go for at least 750 watt if you can.

I would say get yourself a decent 550w if you can.A 750 is overkill for your PC unless you plan to upgrade to a sli\crossfire set up later.

BMfan - I would say get yourself a decent 550w if you can.A 750 is overkill for your PC unless you plan to upgrade to a slicrossfire set up later.

Cheers mate will get it today once I sort my pc start up problem