Power Supply Recommendations (Corsair?)

[joehorror]

Hey Folks! I'm planning on swapping out my Dell Dimension 3000's current power supply with a new one and I'm checking out the supplies on Best Buy's website. Can anybody recommend me a power supply that's got high wattage but nothing considered overkill? I mainly listen to music, download films (legal downloads) and watch ripped DVDs on the HDD so I'm not looking for something that'll power a small third world country. I'm no gamer so I'm just interested in a power supply that'll give me great power and last me a few years without breaking the bank.

Here's a list of power supplies I'm looking at:

BEST BUY POWER SUPPLIES $50 - $99.99

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

You would be better off buying this one online IMO, but if you can't, then you should get the same model at Best Buy, Click here for a link to it on BB's website.

 

[raybay]

Your Best Buy list is excellent, but compare prices.
Be aware that there are 137 different power supplies by brand name, and when you include all the models, there are perhaps 400 models to consider. You have to look at the UL Label to find out if they are even legal, and some UL labels are fake. Out of the 87 brands, perhaps 34 ar worth considering. Elsewhere on the TechSpot forum, there is a long, and excellent list of power supplies by brand and model, and separates those by gaming abilities. Those with a valid UL number have been tested in the USA, but there are a lot of fake UL numbers… because who polices these frauds.

We get along quite nicely with Corsiar, FSP Group, Sparkle, and Seasonic as we have never had one fail.

Here is our list, and naturally, we expect some arguments on TechSpot: Some Good Ones. If you want a better power supply, pick one with dual rails, then sound out the people here on TechSpot:

ABS Tagem; Antecs except Antec Basiq and Antec Earthwatts; AeroCool; Azza; BFG
Coolermaster; Corsair; Enermax; ETA Sis; FoxConn; FSP Group; iKonik; iStarUSA; Kingwin; Lian; MGE; Mushkin (usually); OCZ (a favorite); PC Power and Cooling – Makes many of the very best under a number of brands, and if we could afford them, that is all we would use; PowerMonkey; Rocketfish; Seasonic; SevenTeam; Silverstone; Sigma; Sparkle; ThermalTake;
True Power; Tuniq; Vantec; VisionTek; WinSis; Xigmatek; Xion; Xclio; and Zalman.

Not So Good: ACBel; Antec Basiq; Antec Earthwatts (but there are techs on this list who love all Antecs without discrimination. Antec seems to have slipped, based on the large numbers of failed power supplies we see, but then, Antec sells a LOT of power supplies); Apevia; Apex; Athena; Atop; Bestec – Just plain awful; Bgears; Broadway; Coolmax; Coolermax; Cyberpower; Dynapower: ePower; Fellowes; HEC - awful; HiPer; HiPro - awful; InWin; KDM; Konik; LinkWorld; Logisys - awful; PowerCom; PowerMan – pretty awful; RaidMax; Rosewill; Startech; SunBeam; Topower; and Ultra (Some people on this forum like Rosewill and Ultra a lot... they appear to be the same power supply).

 

[red1776]

Thanks for the list Raybay, I purchased a Sigma shark 635w after reading a guru review, and it has performed beautifully for me, but it is rarely on any of the lists i have found. same for my FSB BoosterX5 i added when i added a third 4800 series card to my system. seems rock solid,low heat, low ripple, but i don't hear of anyone using them.....so i don't recommend them as my use is anecdotal i suppose, and not much to be found on what seems to be an $80.00 gem. was wondering if you run into these dedicated PSU's much?

 

[raybay]

I think it is on my list... Sigma is becoming more widely available, and so far, the price is right.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The Bgears Straight-Power are actually pretty good, and have a good reputation in Europe, where they're mainly sold. They're FSP-made, like the OCZ StealthXStream PSUs.

For Cooler Master, I can only recommend their eXtreme Power 500W+ units and the Real Power Pro 850W+ ones, as well as the Silent Power Pro series. These eXtreme Power units (not all, just those) are made by Seventeam, while the other two are made by Enhance.

I do not agree with the Rocketfish though, but that may be because I have only seen the 700W model sold at BB, which was a rebranded Huntkey PSU; garbage through and through.

@red1776, the Booster is a great choice for small cases where bigger PSUs cannot physically fit.

 

[dmill89]

I'll seccond the disagreement on rocketfish they are overrated, overpriced, and lacking in quality (not the worst but not comperable to other psus in the same price range from more respectable companies)
review avalible here: http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ5MSw1LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Also listing the Antec Earthwatts and Basiq as bad seems a little odd
Antec Earthwatts PSUs are made by seasonic (non -D suffix 430w, 500w models, all 380w models) or Delta (-D suffix 430w, 500w models, all models greater than 500w)
Antec Basiq PSUs are made by FSP (the basiq 350w, 500w have no internal design modifications and are identical to other OEM FSP models except for the stickers and the antec logo stamped into the case)

The only Antec PSUs that seem to have cronic problems are the CWT (Channel Well) made Smart power 2.0 and their failure prone capacitors (The fact that this is a "silent" design that runs hot doesn't help any) These units have been discontinued and Antec no longer uses CWT as an OEM.