In the reviews, people have run some high end video cards with this power supply... ones that require a lot of amps... such as this one. We know it can handle at least 22 amps...
(5/5)
"It just works. Resolved a low power issue I was having with a new graphics card(8600GT). The 8600GT wants 22 Amps on 12v rail. This PS solved that issue with head room amps to spare on the 12v rail. Tough to find a PS at this price range that does all that. NewEgg does it right... as always."
(5/5)
"Pros: Not one DOA, I have ordered tons of these for client builds and not one has quit on me yet! heavy and seems to be well built. Last a long time, Strong 12v rail.
Cons: Don't care too much for the gold fan grills...
Other Thoughts: I have powered 8600GT's, 9600GTs, with two drives, quad core CPU, many fans two HDDs and more! these babies can handle a lot of equipment. Really worth trying for the price!"
I believe this PSU would last a lot longer than it's similar price range cousins. Throughout all of the reviews, there have been no reports of it catching fire, frying computers etc. If you want to see some cheapies that do the above check some PSU's from Coolmax, Logisys, Sunbeam/CaseGears.
Coolmax CA-400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159043&Tpk=coolmax ca-400
Horrible reviews for a PSU... there are more bad reviews than good
(2/5)
"Pros: The only good thing about this power supply is the looks. Nice. shiney chrome. Also, Newegg is awesome when it comes to speedy delivery and rma's. I highly recommend them.
Cons: After I installed this power supply, I smelt something burning. 5 minutes after that, the dang thing died on me. Glad it didn't ruin any other hardware on my system. Should have went with the worst reviews on this one. Don't try to be cheap and save a buck, not worth it! Also the power connectors are lame. They have some kind of sleeve on them that makes it hard to plug into anything."
(1/5)
"Pros: shiny
Cons: Unexpected product change- From reliable to dead and worse!!! One was dead, two putting out killer overcurrent. Hope my new mb is ok. One got out in a customers box. darn it.
Other Thoughts: Total 4 in a row bad! Have used dozens of these. Now I need to look for another cheep reliable PS. Not much of a selection, only 600+ to choose from. Not much of a refund after paying for all that shipping!!!!"
Logisys 575w PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170017
(1/5)
"
Pros: Cheap.
Cons: Very low quality, badly build, sloppy connectors are short, the dang thing blew up in a busrt of smoke and electric flame. It almost took out my whole new computer.
Other Thoughts: I will never buy LOGISYS items again. Very cheaply made and dangerous."
(1/5)
"Pros: Cheap price
Cons: System would not power on consistently. Had massive electric fire with smoke pouring out."
(1/5)
"Pros: Great price, good wattage, worked fine with no problems for 1.5 years, covered cables, lots of connectors, 2 fans
Cons: I was sitting in my dorm room last night and all of the sudden smoke starts pouring out the rear fan of the power supply and fills the room, the smell of burning plastic ensues. I quickly run over and yank out the power cord (monitor went black but the fans were still running). I open it up and one of the red cables running to a hard drive was completely melted with the wire showing.
Other Thoughts: I'm lucky my dorms fire alarm didn't go off, I didn't see any flames. I hope none of the components in the rest of the case are damaged. I never had it under a very heavy load."
When I buy my power supplies, I look at the reviews. I was needing something inexpensive, wthis Dynapower PSU fit the bill perfectly. Most people have had a really good experience with this thing, and I believe it has a 2 year warranty, unlike the 1-year one that the other cheap PSU's offer. Like I mentioned before, it's quiet/cool running, has a bit of weight to it... the heaviest 20 dollar PSU I have ever seen, even the casing on it is strong, not thin like the other guys. Look @ my review on it (cubecompmtdx) for more detail. I was trying to keep the bill under $200 for my new upgrade of parts. If I would have bought something like a FSP unit or something expensive, the bill probably would've been $250-260, when I only had $200 to spend.
Sparkle/FSP are great PSU's but FYI, they don't always last forever either. The last FSP unit I had magically turned itself into an electric fireworks show throwing sparks everywhere and pouring toxic smoke into the whole house, luckly nothing was fried because I was testing the unit.
