PSUs the good, the bad, and the ugly

[red1776]

Hi gang,
every year at this time I get several requests from friends and friends of friends to build the best cost effective machines for them ,and this year is no different. I am currently putting together two machines, and have been relying on recommendations regarding PSU's, from Rage and Captiancranky (thanks boys). what i find difficult it to identify a Quality build. when the power ratings and reviews on paper appear similar for a quality PSU and a piece of junk. many of the not so good PSU's claim to be 80% and have the same 12v rail service and continuous wattage rating....etc as the good ones.It gets particularly important during 'budget builds' when they want the best bang for the buck and dont want to spend $150
on a psu. would someone in the know share thier wisdom as how to identify a quality psu build, and a good 50.00 deal?
It would be very appreciated.

thanks

 

[kimsland]

Here is a huge thread on Power Supply (PSU) concerns
Spanning from 2002 to 3 weeks ago! (7years)

 

[Tedster]

also use this before buying and add 30%

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The OEM is usually what matters. There is a link in my sig to an excellent sticky on Guru3D that states the OEM for almost any PSU out there.

These are the only OEMs I recommend buying from:
Andyson (BFG and Ultra X-Pro\X-Finity models only)
ATNG (CoolMax GreenPower only)
Channel Well Tech
Delta
Enermax
Enhance
Etasis
FSP (non-Epsilon models only)
Seasonic
Seventeam
Topower\Tagan
Zippy\Emacs

 

[LinkedKube]

Before I borrow a power supply I usually look into the technology in the thing. Like what capacitors are used and who makes them. Bad capacitors=inefficiency, usually.