power supply question

[raverx3m]

ok so after about 6 months of use my antec truepower 400w supply ate sht. i totally forgot about warranty adn took it apart to find 3or 4 caps are pretty much toasted and it makes hi pitch noise when its on.
also for some reason it will power up on itsself about 2 minutes after i shut down my pc.

accordint to numerous psu calculators i only need 340w power to run everything i have.
about 80% of time i have winamp on and maybe 5-10 IE windows open and maybe photoshop or whatever.

also my mobo is kinda crippled from the time i upgraded bios to latest version it lost cpu voltage controls and half of system fans so i donno wtf happened.

i ve looked over few threads here about power supply and been browsing thru newegg for days tryin to pick one.
tops im lookin to spend on is is 80 dollars
modular if possible
with 4sata power connectors
and enough amps to drive the pci-e EVGA 6600GT 128mb ddr3 video card
i looked allover but couldnt find the power requirements for it
according to newegg the 6800gt needs 18 or 19 amps not sure how much of a difference is between those

any suggestions?
im not lookn for anythin fancy
just want a psu that will last longer than 1 year or at least past warranty.
i ve seen so many people complain about antec psu dyin after 6 months that i totally lost respect for them.

something like that would do i think
Newegg.com - FSP Group (Fortron Source) Blue Storm II 500 ATX 2.2V 500W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CSA, VDE, NEMKO, CNS, CE, CB, FCC - Retail

[peterhuang913]

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

this is worth the extra money

[b1gapl]

I'm glad, you're not skimping on the PSU, price wise. For just about $3 more than the FSP, you can get a power supply with more power and more amps:
Newegg.com - XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P3 550W ATX12V 550W Power Supply 100-240V / 200-240V UL, CUL, TUV, CB, VDE, FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail

[PanzerKammander]

6600GT is around 45watts of power, about 15 amps on the +12 rail. Sooo..

Id get this one in your case, its out of stock but should be in around the 27th.

Newegg.com - XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P3 550W ATX12V 550W Power Supply 100-240V / 200-240V UL, CUL, TUV, CB, VDE, FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail



bigapple beat me to it.

[phucng_10]

You can either go with peterhuang913 or b1gapl's suggestion. Both are very good PSU's.

[raverx3m]

but do i really need more than 500? i mean from what i understand they are more efficient when theyr runnin at at least 70% of the max load so if i get 550 and i only use like 300 watts for every day operations wouldnt that be a waste of power?
plus the latest game i play on this pc is tron 2 or possibly quake 4 thats it
i mostly use it as jukebox some winamp visuals maybe and movies
this pc is probably gonna get another sata drive and maybe a soundcard but thats it for upgrades if im gonna upgrade serious ill replace mobo memory processor and pretty much everything except HD and cdroms so...

[b1gapl]

It won't be a waste of power, because the power supply, will only supply the power you're using. So if you're using up 300w, the power supply will not supply all of 550, but just the 300 that you need.

It's also good for future upgrades, since you will be upgrading quite a lot, later on.

[raverx3m]

so what they mean by psu efficiency?

[peterhuang913]

The higher efficiency the better. If a gfx card needs 100w of power: 65% efficiency = 154w drawn from the outlet but 80% efficiency = 125w drawn from the wall. This means that less heat is produced and less power is wasted when the PSU converts voltages.

[OnlyCurious]

Just received my xclio 550w that a few people already suggested. Came from Newegg, packed nicely, and the manufacturer's box is really nice too... LOL. It's really heavy.... and from what I've heard, heavier the PSU the better.