EggXpert

Looking around on Playtool.com, I found an excellent video card table.  Not only does it order the graphics cards by performance, it also lists the max wattage for many of the cards.  Video card power draw is really hard to find for older video cards and Radeon cards, so this is a great reference. 

 

That site seems to have all the best guides and references.  

Perhaps now I'll get to work on an Eggxpert System Wattage Calculation Guide. 

Well, I'm bumping the Antec Signature up to tier 1, and it definitely deserves a position there.  It has all Japanese caps, including some Rubycon(among the best quality capacitors on the market).  It regulates all of the rails within 1% of what they're supposed to be, even when heavily crossloaded.  It has amazinly good looking soldering work.  Bronze 80Plus rating for efficiency.  The ripple on the 12v rails never even exceeds 13mV.  Not only that, it has a very quiet fan, and very well tuned fan speed control. 

 I think we have a PC P&C killer here.  

read the review.

Kardon:

At $300 it def needs to come down in price before I recommend it over a PC P&C 750 (unless of course the user doesn't have a budget or actually needs an 850watt psu)

well, the PC P&C 860watt power supply also has an MSRP of 299, so $300 isn't really out of line for a power supply of this caliber.  I certainly wouldn't pay that much personally, but, if someone wants a real top-of-the-line power supply, and are willing to pay for it, then the Antec is a fine choice. 

Well, I threw the Xigmatek MC and HC power supplies into tier 2, since as far as I can tell they are identical to the Thermaltake Toughpowers.  Someone was asking about them in the power supply forum, so I added them and directed the person to this list. 

If anyone thinks that they don't belong there(or if someone thinks that they aren't similar to the Thermaltake Toughpowers), please say so. 

/signed

This thread is AWESOME, thanks a million to CompWiz for putting it together. 
I've only been able to personally test a limited number of power supplies in my PC building experience, but I always recommend a solid PS from a reputable manufacturer as the foundation for any good system.  I will be referring to this list often, as there are quite a few brands in the upper tiers that I wasn't previously aware of (as well as some brands in the lower tiers that I thought were better quality, but it's always hard to tell). 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us CompWiz, as well as everyone else who has contributed to editing and refining this list!

- Paul

Tracer76:

jesusmeats:

Heeeey just wait there a second my Xion SuperNova works awesome and its in tier 5? Outrage this is

Xion is poorly built.

Yeah, as I've posted before elsewhere, you can certainly get a model that will work for you excellent over the life of a supply, even go way past it's prime. I've certainly had Tier 4 & 5 supplies that just seemed like Energizer Bunnyies. I believe the list though pertains to an overall ratio or likelihood of reliability. Put another ways, lower tiers will show their true quality eventually, or perform as such. I've used a few XIONs & Sigmas and they were very good, I've had a few go blah on me. But, reading through the thread for the first time in a while, CWiz is right, the Cooler Masters have gotten much better, and I haven't had a problem with one in quite a while. Definitely deserving of a bump up. And lastly, lets face it, if a company's PSU died each and every time, they go out of business. They have to have some units make their way successfully.

Glad to see the list has weathered the misplacement, I had forgotten about it myself, when it's priority was lowered. That's my fault, I didn't think to move it with said new status, and should have. But it is, I is, and all is good.

Keep up the great work CWiz.

Pene

Read this article tonite, http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/atx-psu10.html , (part of a series, which I'l get  to the others) but a few things of note. The BFG sorta of took it on the chin by this guy. The Enermax got a gold star. We have a new player for the list, Super Talent, made by FSP, was a dud, again according to the author. The Xigmatek got smacked a bit too. Certainly no reason to move any brands based on this one dude, but food for thought down the road.

I assume we will need to place Super Talent though eventually.

Penewah!

How's the Antec Basiq? I know that Antec's a higher tier brand, but never heard much about this model

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371019

the new 850watt signature was moved to tier 1 based on this review. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=101.

and the antec signature 650watt should also be tier 1 based on this review. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=113

These are the only 2 signatures i know of so I'm asuming tier 3 may be for older models that are no longer in production but may be floating around the net.

you should reconsider putting the OCZ EliteXStream series in the top tier PSUs. If you read reviews on the OCZ 800W EXS, you will see that a lot of people are having problems with them dying after a few months/weeks. mine has died after 3.5 months. also, it is such low quality that it will not power 2x GTX280s in SLi. there are many people using other brand PSUs at 750W-800W who can use 2x GTX280s in SLi. I purchased it in part because it was on the top of your list and it has failed. btw, i only have one HDD and one DVD burner.

The reviews on these psus cover a lot more than if they work or not. Chances are you have not had a problem because you have not put the psus under any real load. ei only using 200 watts on a psu rated for 500. Try pulling the rated wattage out of a tier 5 and it will normaly die ie 500 watts out of a 500 watt psu.

on top of that many other factors go into tiers. such as the quality of the internals, max wattage, efficiency,  ripple,  noise suppression, connectors, etc. 

Don't see an real reviews for the orion. but HEC also makes http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/332/1 which uses a similar design and sucks.

Sunbeam Tuniq seems to be one that's hard to find data on. How are they?

lots of hard work and time spent on this list, I appreciate the time and effort compwiz did.I use as a ref. all the time Thanks

What happened to our old bud CompWiz anyways? He hasn't been on since 12/18 and I've been knocking around a tierage question/placement for the new Tuniqs. Not the best, but the reviews are some what indicative of maybe a 3. I know he posited we could edit as we please, I know, but he is schooled, versed, and well "argued" LOL, on PSUs. J/k CW, but really, much repsect there.

So anyone know?

And I'm still surprised no reviews on their 1000W, I mean $90 after MIR, Tuniq Ripper PSU-RIP1000W-BK 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply , heck I'm ready to pull the trigger myself and see what we get. lol.

Pene

Wow, qreat stff

 

 

I'm thinking a 3 based on the findings at hard ocp? For the price it is amazing. Much better than many crapy 800-1000 watt psus that cost a lot more.

But using no name chinese caps and  just barely staying within specs on the 12v rail under load would kinda worry me. But still teh psu actually can function at full load wich is something many other psu manufatures can't say.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTYwMSw5LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA====

Very awesome; something else to add to my toolbox. :)

What is it about A-Top anyway.  Their dual 12v rails are listed at 22W each, which should work fine.  Why don't they work?  And is A-Top affiliated with Raidmax?  How would I go about contacting the company itself?   And would the A-Top SUPER CHARGE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817184008)  be able to SLI anything?  I have 2 9600gt's and a Pentium D 940 with a XFX 750i mobo.  I already have a 500w Ultra-V with 28W on the single 12v rail, and I think im like .7W short with my current PSU.  Do I need to upgrade?  And what about running dual PSU's through a module.  I've got a 350w that I was maybe going to run fans and cd/dvd with using this thing (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7772/bus-156/Bitspower_X-Station_Multi_PSU_Module_-_Green_LED_BP-XSU-GR.html?id=ETK9BK7G)  I'm not really willing to spend another 40 bucks on a new PSU when I already have 2.   What should I do? 

 Thanks

G 

Well, I'm just finishing a very hectic school semester.  I should have time soon to get caught up with the latest power supply reviews.  

 

Penewab, thanks for the suggestions, I'll look over reviews and add in the power supplies you mentioned when I get a chance.  

Welcome back CompWiz!

Welcome back CompWiz. Glad to see you back.

MrProgrammer:

hey i'm building a matx pc, i plan to have an 8800gt, 200gb hdd, and 2gb ram, these are just the basic, i plan to upgrade them as soon as the pc becomes slow or not up to date with the hardwares. please tell me which one of these psus are the most inexpensive yet reliable psu.  right now i have the ocz stealthxstream in my shopping cart and it is taking over my budget. $600. the psu should not cost more than $55. better if its around $40

 Well, for the last few months the OCZ StealthXStream 500watt and 600watt models have been on sale pretty commonly.  I picked up a 500watt one for $15, and a 600watt one for $20(on newegg, w/ free shipping). 

They're good power supplies, and can actually put out a good bit more power than they're rated for.  In testing on HardwareSecrets.com, the 600watt model was able to put out 728watts, amazingly enough.  

Either one of those would be the best bang for your buck on a power supply.  If you plan to run SLI in the future, go with the 600watt model.  Otherwise, the 500watt one should be fine. 

Unfortunately, there really haven't been any good low-cost power supplies on sale this month.  Hopefully some new rebate deals roll around in May.  

glad to see you back and giving as usual good advice

Penewab2007:

Read this article tonite, http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/atx-psu10.html , (part of a series, which I'l get  to the others) but a few things of note. The BFG sorta of took it on the chin by this guy. The Enermax got a gold star. We have a new player for the list, Super Talent, made by FSP, was a dud, again according to the author. The Xigmatek got smacked a bit too. Certainly no reason to move any brands based on this one dude, but food for thought down the road.

I assume we will need to place Super Talent though eventually.

Penewah!

Good article.  I added the BFG ES and Enermax. 

Where do you think the Super Talent belongs?  The 5v rail is overrated, but modern computers don't really use that rail.  Do you think it belongs in tier 4 or 5? 

Have you seen any other reviews of Super Talent power supplies?

 The Xigmatek seemed to do pretty well in the review.  That unit was already listed in Tier 2, and I don't see any reason to move it. 

JRP:

How's the Antec Basiq? I know that Antec's a higher tier brand, but never heard much about this model

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371019

Antec Basiq power supplies are good budget units.  They can put out the watts that they're rated for. 

I'm surprised that I didn't have those listed yet.  I placed them in Tier 3.   Thanks for the tip.