Powerman 400w PSU?

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 14:36:12 -0400, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

Wes, how do you tell if a cheap power supply is any good? The problem with
buying a no-name supply is just that, it's no name, nobody stands behind
it and if it's a piece of crap no company's reputation will be sullied. I
don't doubt that you've been able to buy many cheap supplies over the
years that are just fine. The problem for the average consumer is that
there is no way for them to know if a particular cheap supply is any good.
The price of branded supplies is low enough that there is no reason to
take a chance. Saving $50 isn't worth it if it's going to cost you even 20
minutes of your time down the road.

When it comes to PSU's, I just read the labels. Not just the 600W part,
but the amount of current each rail will handle, and then compare that to
the 600w to see if they are about the same. I have seen one or two that
claimed high wattage and then when you added up the per rail wattage it
was 200W or more less. Obviously one should shy away from such a PSU. Once
I have found a good no name brand, I try to stay with it next time. When I
was buying for work, I bought all the same brand from the same distributor
for years, with the exception of one time I bought 10 really cheap ($2
each) ones. 2 of those failed within the first 60 days, but the rest are
still running OK afaik. That was about 5 years ago. Didn't buy any more
like that though. When my old 400W PSU that came in a case I bought
wouldn't power up my A64 system, I ordered 3 cheap PSU's for a total of
less than $50 and then tested them all in my A64 system. They all
worked under load. I left the 600W in, and put the other 2 in the closet
where one still sits. The other I gave to my brother when he upgraded from
a Duron to AN XP cpu and he only had a 250W. The original 400W had no
label other than a piece of paper with 400W on it. It's still running my
K7 system today and is about 4 years old. And just as I do with ram, I
always buy a PSU that's rated a lot higher than what I really need. So if
it's a little weak, so what. At todays price of $18 for a 600W PSU, why
would I care if it only puts out 550W or even 500W considering what a name
brand 500W PSU cost. And it's very possible the store name one and the
Name brand one were made at the same place. There's also a lot of name
brand PSU's that won't really reach there max rating. More than one might
think too. But most, just like the cheap PSU's, will at least come close
to it.

A quote from a recent PSU review at tomshardware.

"But even today, the no-name product market is showing the way. Dealers in
our comparative shopping segment tgstores are already offering power
supplies for as little as 17 bucks. For that you get a solid 300 watts,
which is enough for most PC systems and mandatory warranty provisions."

--
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Need good help? Provide all system info with question.
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On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:50:35 +0100, Derek Baker wrote:

I have AMD.

The difference is that even when AMD were cheaper they weren't several times
cheaper.

At one point in time, it cost several times the price of an AMD to achieve
the same performance with an Intel.

Q-Tec 650 watt £19.95:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...Q_Tec_139.html

Seasonic S12 430 watt - which is what I have - £49.95
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonic.html

You really think the Q-Tec is as good as the Seasonic, offering more 50%
more power at 40% the price?

Even if it only offered the same 430W, it would still be a better buy from
the limited info on the links you gave. These links didn't provide
specific rail info however, so i wouldn't buy either without researching
that, and since I'm not in the market for a PSU, I'll leave that to you.
The Q-Tec is AMD aproved though and I didn't see AMD approved on the
Seasonic on your links.

--
KT133 MB, CPU @2400MHz (24x100): SIS755 MB CPU @2330MHz (10x233)
Need good help? Provide all system info with question.
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
Verizon server http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

tomdodge wrote:
Will this psu made by Powerman be sufficient for A64 3200+ 512kb (s754)
on ASUS K8V SE Deluxe with two 256mb, one WD hdd, DVD-rom, and floppy
drive with 3 fans cooling the PC case?


Here is the details on Powerman 400w psu:

FSP400-GN
MaxOutput: 400 watt

+3.3v=28A
+5v=40A
+12v=16A
+5VSB=2A
----------------
-5v=0.3A
-12v=0.8A
----------------

Fuse Rating: 10A,250v

----------------

+3.3A & +5v = 235 w MAX

TIA!
Whoa, you peeps! Arguing over psu? Ingore the name, but the answer is
in amps. I read somewhere online that A64 cpu runs fine on +12v of 20A
and up. My friend once had a cheap name psu with 12A on line +12v which
could not run A64 2800+. He later bought Antec 430w that had 26A on
+12v. That worked! But I searched the internet for this psu I have and
came up NOTHING. Yes, even Powerman's website doesn't list FSP400-GN! So
the last resort is posting this in this newsgroup, only to read garbles
that didn't directly answer my question. Besides this, I haven't even
STARTED building my first A64 PC. This "cheap" psu is currently powering
a P4 2.4C, on MSI Neo-LSR with 2 WD hdd, DVD-RW/CD-RW, DVD/CD-RW, 2x256
mb, and 2 floppy drives. That's why I posted in here to see if it could
power up A64 with just using a single hdd, dvd-rom and floppy drive
before yanking psu out to put in another PC case to replace socket A
system for A64.

On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 09:12:57 -0700, tomdodge wrote:

Whoa, you peeps! Arguing over psu? Ingore the name, but the answer is
in amps. I read somewhere online that A64 cpu runs fine on +12v of 20A
and up. My friend once had a cheap name psu with 12A on line +12v which
could not run A64 2800+. He later bought Antec 430w that had 26A on
+12v. That worked! But I searched the internet for this psu I have and
came up NOTHING. Yes, even Powerman's website doesn't list FSP400-GN! So
the last resort is posting this in this newsgroup, only to read garbles
that didn't directly answer my question. Besides this, I haven't even
STARTED building my first A64 PC. This "cheap" psu is currently powering
a P4 2.4C, on MSI Neo-LSR with 2 WD hdd, DVD-RW/CD-RW, DVD/CD-RW, 2x256
mb, and 2 floppy drives. That's why I posted in here to see if it could
power up A64 with just using a single hdd, dvd-rom and floppy drive
before yanking psu out to put in another PC case to replace socket A
system for A64.

Well, I suspect it's not a Powerman PSU, but a Generic made by Sprakle as
that's the only brand I find in conjunction with FSP400. As I said the
first time, it might work, but the +12v rail is a little weak. The 400W I
had wouldn't power up my A64 3000+ system, but I didn't have any info on
it for the +12v rail either. It could have been only 12A afaik. Try it and
see if it works.

--
KT133 MB, CPU @2400MHz (24x100): SIS755 MB CPU @2330MHz (10x233)
Need good help? Provide all system info with question.
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
Verizon server http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

Here is the details on Powerman 400w psu:

FSP400-GN
MaxOutput: 400 watt

+3.3v=28A
+5v=40A
+12v=16A
+5VSB=2A
----------------
-5v=0.3A
-12v=0.8A
----------------

Fuse Rating: 10A,250v

----------------

+3.3A & +5v = 235 w MAX

TIA!
Whoa, you peeps! Arguing over psu? Ingore the name, but the answer is in
amps. I read somewhere online that A64 cpu runs fine on +12v of 20A and
up. My friend once had a cheap name psu with 12A on line +12v which could
not run A64 2800+. He later bought Antec 430w that had 26A on +12v. That
worked! But I searched the internet for this psu I have and came up
NOTHING. Yes, even Powerman's website doesn't list FSP400-GN! So the last
resort is posting this in this newsgroup, only to read garbles that didn't
directly answer my question. Besides this, I haven't even STARTED building
my first A64 PC. This "cheap" psu is currently powering a P4 2.4C, on MSI
Neo-LSR with 2 WD hdd, DVD-RW/CD-RW, DVD/CD-RW, 2x256 mb, and 2 floppy
drives. That's why I posted in here to see if it could power up A64 with
just using a single hdd, dvd-rom and floppy drive before yanking psu out
to put in another PC case to replace socket A system for A64.

My old 400 watt no-name (Xsonic, actually) PSU was replaced today, not
because of failure, it is still working, but because 2 of the caps are
starting to bulge after 2.5 years of solid service. 2 friends had similar
rated Antecs that were made around the same time as my cheapie and both died
over 1 year ago - outside the warranty period. I clean out the guts of the
computer, including the inside of the PSU every 3-6 months so that is how I
found the bad caps.

The AMD-64 uses a bit more power than the older Athlons and some of the not
so recent P4s so I think the 16A on the 12V rail of your current PSU is
borderline for a new A-64.

Eighteen amps on the 12V rail would be OK for an A-64 without much more than
2 HDs and 2 opticals and a few extra PCI/PCI-e cards and a bit of
overclocking.

Some 939 boards have 8 SATA connectors on board so if you wanted to use them
all them you will need a bit of extra capacity on the 12V rail, about
20-25A, depending on how much stuff you want to power up. Keep in mind that
a lot of inverters and such for lighting use the 12V supply so if you want
to drive that stuff, get a PSU with more than 400W.

Keep in mind, the ratings an the Antec are maximum ratings for each voltage
rail, not the average. The 26A figure for the 12V rail you quoted would be
the maximum it could supply on that rail as long as the current outputs for
the 5V and 3.3V rails were reduced.

If you are like most people I know, you will use the same PSU through a few
board and CPU upgrades so I would suggest you get the biggest PSU you can
afford and try for 600W or better, be it cheapie or name brand.

Dave

The AMD-64 uses a bit more power than the older Athlons and some of the not
so recent P4s so I think the 16A on the 12V rail of your current PSU is
borderline for a new A-64.

Eighteen amps on the 12V rail would be OK for an A-64 without much more than
2 HDs and 2 opticals and a few extra PCI/PCI-e cards and a bit of
overclocking.


16A on +12v a borderline? That makes me wanna to try this out with big
one fan-sided CoolerMaster copper heatsink,
one hdd, dvd-rom, 2x256mb ddr and ASUS 9600XT inside with no case fans
to cool inside cuz I'll leave case open - no side cover
and see how it can run. I'll post the results later.

"tomdodge" wrote in message
...
The AMD-64 uses a bit more power than the older Athlons and some of the
not so recent P4s so I think the 16A on the 12V rail of your current PSU
is borderline for a new A-64.

Eighteen amps on the 12V rail would be OK for an A-64 without much more
than 2 HDs and 2 opticals and a few extra PCI/PCI-e cards and a bit of
overclocking.


16A on +12v a borderline? That makes me wanna to try this out with big one
fan-sided CoolerMaster copper heatsink,
one hdd, dvd-rom, 2x256mb ddr and ASUS 9600XT inside with no case fans to
cool inside cuz I'll leave case open - no side cover
and see how it can run. I'll post the results later.

I am very interested to see how you go. Keep us all posted.

Dave

12V rail is too low. Normal is 18A.But I would get at least 20A+ on 12V. New
power supplies are offereing 2 12V rails at 18A plus sata hd connections.
Go over to newegg.com and look at power supplies.They've got a PS for every
conceivable budget and power requirement.

"tomdodge" wrote in message
...
Will this psu made by Powerman be sufficient for A64 3200+ 512kb (s754)
on ASUS K8V SE Deluxe with two 256mb, one WD hdd, DVD-rom, and floppy
drive with 3 fans cooling the PC case?


Here is the details on Powerman 400w psu:

FSP400-GN
MaxOutput: 400 watt

+3.3v=28A
+5v=40A
+12v=16A
+5VSB=2A
----------------
-5v=0.3A
-12v=0.8A
----------------

Fuse Rating: 10A,250v

----------------

+3.3A & +5v = 235 w MAX

TIA!