Power supply value for $
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Posted by Kevin K on February 9, 2005, 2:32 am
Please log in for more thread options Will I get value for money with a name brand power supply over a no name one? I can pay 3x more a one with the more maketing hype. Or will the extra $ be worth ut? cheers Kevin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by kony on February 9, 2005, 2:05 pm
Please log in for more thread options On 8 Feb 2005 23:32:58 -0800, kevin_nzl88@hotmail.com (Kevin K) wrote: Yes but it's not just about value for money, it's also about accurate wattage ratings, safety features and component quality at least high enough for good lifespan. Power supplies should be unobtrustive, you're not necessarily buying "value" rather than needed function per the system. To put it another way, suppose you buy a 500W generic worth only 250W. If your system only needed 250W and the amperage:rail distribution was right you might get good value from it, accidentally rather than purposefully unless you knew through testing the exact qualities of brand "x" generic. This ignores any potential safety features, if there were a problem there could still be a more costly recovery from failure of power supply or other components. >I can pay 3x more a one with the more maketing hype. Or will
>the extra $ be worth ut? Comparison of specific units must be considered, they can't simply be lumped together as "3X more... marketing hype" vs. generic. Some commercially marketed PSU are better than others. Even more sobering is that most of the best name-brand power supplies have very little marketing at all, don't need to be pushed on buyers. Zippy, Delta, Fortron, et al are not marketed much if at all for retail sales. Delta is the largest and yet most aren't even familiar with their products, being found mostly in servers, workstations and OEM proprietary casing sizes... but due to OEM usage they have a large PC presence. It is a question of what you actually get for the money as much as the amount of $. So yes, it is easily worth 3X, or even 10,000X more for the better unit _IF_ you need the wattage. Buying a generic with 550W stamped on it's label isn't any assurance that is a sustained value rather than a peak, and such practices should be illegal, IMO. Applying towards a purchase, determine the needed capacity per system. If you can't determine whether brand X model Y is accurately rated for sustained output, you'd then be gambling on whether it's true output and features are sufficient. IMO, unless you MUST have fancy eye-candy the best value on PSU are Sparkle/Fortron, particularly in the 400W-530W range there is nothing of same quality at same (or lower) price-points when purchased online. In retail stores the pricing on PSU varies so wildly that it must be ignored... unless there is an emergency such that a replacment must be had immediately. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by doS on February 15, 2005, 12:08 am
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I concur, I have a Fortron 530... > On 8 Feb 2005 23:32:58 -0800, kevin_nzl88@hotmail.com (Kevin
> K) wrote: > > >Will I get value for money with a name brand power supply over a no
> >name one? >
> Yes but it's not just about value for money, it's also about > accurate wattage ratings, safety features and component > quality at least high enough for good lifespan. Power > supplies should be unobtrustive, you're not necessarily > buying "value" rather than needed function per the system. > > To put it another way, suppose you buy a 500W generic worth > only 250W. If your system only needed 250W and the > amperage:rail distribution was right you might get good > value from it, accidentally rather than purposefully unless > you knew through testing the exact qualities of brand "x" > generic. This ignores any potential safety features, if > there were a problem there could still be a more costly > recovery from failure of power supply or other components. > > >I can pay 3x more a one with the more maketing hype. Or will
> >the extra $ be worth ut? >
> Comparison of specific units must be considered, they can't > simply be lumped together as "3X more... marketing hype" vs. > generic. Some commercially marketed PSU are better than > others. Even more sobering is that most of the best > name-brand power supplies have very little marketing at all, > don't need to be pushed on buyers. Zippy, Delta, Fortron, > et al are not marketed much if at all for retail sales. > Delta is the largest and yet most aren't even familiar with > their products, being found mostly in servers, workstations > and OEM proprietary casing sizes... but due to OEM usage > they have a large PC presence. > > It is a question of what you actually get for the money as > much as the amount of $. So yes, it is easily worth 3X, or > even 10,000X more for the better unit _IF_ you need the > wattage. Buying a generic with 550W stamped on it's label > isn't any assurance that is a sustained value rather than a > peak, and such practices should be illegal, IMO. > > Applying towards a purchase, determine the needed capacity > per system. If you can't determine whether brand X model Y > is accurately rated for sustained output, you'd then be > gambling on whether it's true output and features are > sufficient. IMO, unless you MUST have fancy eye-candy the > best value on PSU are Sparkle/Fortron, particularly in the > 400W-530W range there is nothing of same quality at same (or > lower) price-points when purchased online. In retail stores > the pricing on PSU varies so wildly that it must be > ignored... unless there is an emergency such that a > replacment must be had immediately. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Derek Baker on February 9, 2005, 4:04 pm
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> Will I get value for money with a name brand power supply over a no
> name one? I can pay 3x more a one with the more maketing hype. Or will > the extra $ be worth ut? > Yes. -- Derek | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by DaveW on February 9, 2005, 6:58 pm
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The name brand units (Antec is the best) are built to much higher specs and more conservatively rated. They use MUCH higher quality parts. -- DaveW > Will I get value for money with a name brand power supply over a no
> name one? I can pay 3x more a one with the more maketing hype. Or will > the extra $ be worth ut? > > cheers Kevin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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>name one?