Power supply concerns

[Terminashunator]

I'm using a power supply that came with my case. Problem is, that is it SFX. I've watcched enough of Linus, TTL, Pauls Hardware, PcPerspective, etc to know using the power supply that came with my case is a bad idea.

 

As of now, I have no reason to question the power supply except that it came with my case.  It has worked fine. 

Nothing inside the PSU gets "that" hot, the exhaust coming out is only mildly warm and I live in a warm room (30c somestimes).

 

I have torn the power supply apart and made sure it was safe even before I hooked it up. Checked solders, made sure caps weren't leaning against a heatsink, etc. 

 

If this were any other consumer electronic device, such as a radio, I would not worry. But it's my computer power supply.

 

It is a 300w "Power" branded PSU-300SFX It is rated relatively well on Newegg, made by Athena Power.

 

I currently run a 3570k @ 4ghz and a AMD R7770 at stock. With a KillAWatt, i pull around 220w from the wall with P95 and Furmark.

 

 

 

Furmark + P95 for about 15 minutes. 

 

 

I think this power supply is going to do okay until I can afford one of the Silverstone SFX units. What is your take on things?

[helping]

Get the silverstone one as soon as you can ):

[Guest GRRigger]

PSUs like that can die in 1 year time and waste alot of energy. Until you get new psu i guess it will be fine.

[Terminashunator]

Get the silverstone one as soon as you can ):

I plan to, but when the price premium is $50 more than a ATX power supply, it makes it hard.

 

 

PSUs like that can die in 1 year time and waste alot of energy. Until you get new psu i guess it will be fine.

I've had it since... February? And has power factor correction of around 60%. it's pretty bad.

[gogo809]

Really the problems you have with cheap and cruddy power supplies are legion. There are all sorts of technical terms for them like under and over-volt protection, ripple, etc. Suffice it to say, "value" power supplies have the bad stuff like ripple, and not the good stuff. What this means is the power supply ends up not doing what it is supposed to do which is:

 

1. Convert the AC power from the wall to DC power for your computer.

2. "Condition the power to clean it as power (in the US for sure) is very dirty and will kill sensitive electronics.

 

Bad power supplies do not do a good job of either of those tasks. In the end, this is the risks you run:

 

1. Reduced life (Why did my motherboard fail, its only 3 years old)

2. Blowing smoke (improper solder and cold solder issues)

3. failure to protect against power event. (Brown out, etc).

4. Failure to produce stated wattage. (this happens all the time where say the max wattage you could actually pull from a 430w psu is 400w).

 

Its very difficult to convince gamers of this, but the power supply is the most important component in your system. That is not to say you have to go out and buy a $150 beast, there are plenty of good ones in the $50-$75 range to pick from. Seasonic is making really good power supplies right now, and it is hard to go wrong with one they manufacture. They make power supplies for XFX (all) PC Power and Cooling (some) Corsair (the best half) Antec (Earthwatts series specifically), as well as having their own "Seasonic" branded power supplies competing. Use a tool like PcPartPicker.com to help you find the cheapest one.

 

Then find reviews on it. Hardware Secrets and others take the damn things apart and inspect the internals. They are able to tell minute differences between different models and explain what it means!

 

Edit: An auspicious first post *facepalm*. So SFX yeah, not ATX......same thing only Silverstone like you said. The 300w SS-300SFD should suit your needs just fine, and at $50 on the egg, it is affordable. There is also a 350 W model around the same price. The 450W model is soooo much more expensive sheez.

[Terminashunator]

Really the problems you have with cheap and cruddy power supplies are legion. There are all sorts of technical terms for them like under and over-volt protection, ripple, etc. Suffice it to say, "value" power supplies have the bad stuff like ripple, and not the good stuff. What this means is the power supply ends up not doing what it is supposed to do which is:

 

1. Convert the AC power from the wall to DC power for your computer.

2. "Condition the power to clean it as power (in the US for sure) is very dirty and will kill sensitive electronics.

 

Bad power supplies do not do a good job of either of those tasks. In the end, this is the risks you run:

 

1. Reduced life (Why did my motherboard fail, its only 3 years old)

2. Blowing smoke (improper solder and cold solder issues)

3. failure to protect against power event. (Brown out, etc).

4. Failure to produce stated wattage. (this happens all the time where say the max wattage you could actually pull from a 430w psu is 400w).

 

Its very difficult to convince gamers of this, but the power supply is the most important component in your system. That is not to say you have to go out and buy a $150 beast, there are plenty of good ones in the $50-$75 range to pick from. Seasonic is making really good power supplies right now, and it is hard to go wrong with one they manufacture. They make power supplies for XFX (all) PC Power and Cooling (some) Corsair (the best half) Antec (Earthwatts series specifically), as well as having their own "Seasonic" branded power supplies competing. Use a tool like PcPartPicker.com to help you find the cheapest one.

 

Then find reviews on it. Hardware Secrets and others take the damn things apart and inspect the internals. They are able to tell minute differences between different models and explain what it means!

The problem is there are onlt three SFX size units that have been reviewed as far as i can tell. A Seasonic 300w, and two silverstone ones. Problem is, with the SFX size, there is a massive price premium. When Corsair sells their CX430, an 80+ bronze power supply for less than $30 the option to get a great power supply for cheap is easy.

 

SFX have three units that are even worth getting, and all of them are $50+, which I cannot afford right now.