GPUReview.com - View Single Post - The Power Supply FAQ. Please read before asking your PSU question!

Steve · 05-22-2006, 05:25 PM

Brands continued

Sparkle
Between May and August 25th VERY few people have left any reviews for even the best Sparkle PSUs. Why??

August 25, 2006 stats: 17 PSUs (15 are OEM) from $13.99 to $139.99. Total Sparkle PSU reviews = 167.
Newegg only has one retail Sparkle PSU, the other 20 are OEM.
August 25, 2006 NEAR Ex = 77.19%
August 25, 2006 NEAR Gd = 15.98%
August 25, 2006 NEAR Tl = 93.17%

Sparkle PSUs that stand out according to New Egg's customers:

Sparkle FSP350-60PN ATX 350W OEM
Excellent 100% 4 votes

Sparkle FSP180-50NIV SFX 180W OEM
Excellent 100% 11 votes

SPARKLE FSP300-60PN ATX 300W OEM
Excellent 100% 8 votes

SPARKLE FSP550-60PLG EPS12V 550W OEM
Excellent 85.71% 18 votes
Good 4.76% 1 vote
Average 4.76% 1 vote
Poor 4.76% 1 vote
One PSU died after a year and took 2 hard drives with it.

Sparkle PSUs that have the lowest New Egg ratings:

SPARKLE Power Q ATX-350GU ATX 350W
Excellent 72.22% 13 votes
Good 16.67% 3 votes
Very Poor 11.11% 2 votes
One PSU blew up and the other was apparently too loud.

Tagan/E-Power

August 25, 2006 stats: 8 PSUs from $24.99 to $90.99. Total reviews = 105.
August 25, 2006 NEAR Ex = 73.65%
August 25, 2006 NEAR Gd = 11.61%
August 25, 2006 NEAR Tl = 85.26%

Tagan PSUs that stand out according to New Egg's customers:

ePOWER Tagan Cheetah EP-450XP-C1B ATX 450W
Excellent 91.67% 11 votes
Poor 8.33% 1 vote
DoA.

ePOWER Tagan EP-520XP-C1B ATX12V 520W
Excellent 83.33% 10 votes
Good 8.33% 1 vote
Average 8.33% 1 vote

Tagan PSUs that have the lowest New Egg ratings:

ePOWER Tagan Puma II EP-450XP-P2B ATX12V 450W
Excellent 73.91% 17 votes
Good 8.7% 2 votes
Poor 4.35% 1 vote
Very Poor 13.04% 3 votes
Has no PCI Express connector, died after 4 days and not delivering the advertised power.

Thermaltake

August 25, 2006 stats: 14 PSUs from $39.99 to $189.99. Total reviews = 1,588.
Notes:
The Thermaltake Silent PurePower TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) ATX 420W has been rated 520
times by New Egg customers, the Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W has been rated
810 times! Apparently those PSUs are wildly popular.
August 25, 2006 NEAR Ex = 63.49%
August 25, 2006 NEAR Gd = 15.49%
August 25, 2006 NEAR Tl = 78.98%

Thermaltake PSUs that stand out according to New Egg's customers:

Thermaltake Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX 480W
Excellent 83.46% 217 votes
Good 7.69% 20 votes
Average 3.46% 9 votes
Poor 3.46% 9 votes
Very Poor 1.92% 5 votes
Several died after 3 months to a year, some taking motherboards with them.

Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W
Excellent 79.38% 643 votes
Good 13.33% 108 votes
Average 2.72% 22 votes
Poor 2.1% 17 votes
Very Poor 2.47% 20 votes
Many DoA's, some died after 1 to 2 weeks and some people had problems with the rails not staying
within tolerance levels.

Thermaltake Silent PurePower TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) ATX 420W
Excellent 80.38% 418 votes
Good 9.81% 51 votes
Average 5.19% 27 votes
Poor 3.27% 17 votes
Very Poor 1.35% 7 votes
The "Very Poor" ratings stem from DoAs and failures after 2 weeks to 1 year and most of the "Poor"
ratings have to do with the PSU being too loud.

Thermaltake PSUs that have the lowest New Egg ratings:

Thermaltake W0057 PurePower ATX 12V 2.0 500W
This PSU has the lowest ratings out of all the PSUs made by the companies in this FAQ.
Excellent 38.46% 5 votes
Good 7.69% 1 vote
Poor 23.08% 3 votes
Very Poor 30.77% 4 votes
DoAs, and failing after 5 days to 2 months. An electronic technician with "over 40 years experience"
says it is a poorly built PSU.
Funny quote from user who had bad experience with Thermaltake Customer Service:
"I would not recommend Thermaltake PS's to my most bitter nemesis."
He used the word "nemesis"! Who uses that word, or even has a nemesis?

Thermaltake Pure Power W0073RU ATX 520W
Excellent 46.15% 6 votes
Good 7.69% 1 vote
Average 23.08% 3 votes
Poor 7.69% 1 vote
Very Poor 15.38% 2 votes
2 DoA's and a PSU that fried a motherboard and died.

Thermaltake Silent Pure Power W0049RUC ATX12V/ EPS12V 680W
Excellent 49.18% 30 votes
Good 8.2% 5 votes
Average 8.2% 5 votes
Poor 11.48% 7 votes
Very Poor 22.95% 14 votes
Many report that it cannot handle SLi, one man says when his Dual Xeon workstation utilized both
CPUs with multithreading in action the computer would shut down after 2 seconds. A few users
reported failures after 1 to 9 months. Several said the fans in the PSU stop working or never work.

BRAND SUMMARY AREA

NEAR Tl basically means the percentage of New Egg customers who would recommend PSUs from
each brand because it adds the percentage of all the users who voted "Excellent" and "Good"
together. So let's line up all these brands by that value.

NEAR Tl
100% Hiper (only 5 ratings though)
92.94% PC Power and Cooling (very expensive stuff)
91.98% Fortron
91.93% Sparkle (4 PSUs with 100% "Excellent" rating and less than 5 votes)
91.05% OCZ
90.81% Cooler Master
89.93% Enermax
89.02% Tagan (4 PSUs with 100% "Excellent" rating and less than 5 votes)
88.36% SeaSonic
79.97% Antec
78.93% Thermaltake

The whole enchilada can been seen in this nifty graph.

Neato PSU features

Modular Power Supplies

Modular power supplies are a relatively new and pretty sweet feature. Many people who build their
own computers often like to minamize the amount of cables that wind through their computer
case, and modular power supplies make this task sooo much easier.

Modular in this context means "flexible arrangement and use". Modular power supplies allow you to
disconnect the power supply cables that you are not using in your computer at the power supply
unit. You just unplug the cables you don't need and you can throw them in you junk drawer until
you need them.

The picture below is of the 620 Watt Liberty PSU from Enermax.

Notice that there are 8 cables that can be disconnected from the PSU. The only cable that
cannot be disconnected is the cable for the motherboard. The two red connections are
for your PCI-E graphics cards and the other 6 are for your hard drives, fans and optical drives.

On Newegg.com they have 55 modular PSUs out of a total of 319. Out of those 55, 16 of them
are from brands recommended in this FAQ as of June 14th 2006. I will list all 16 of those right here:

Antec NeoPower NeoHE 380 ATX12V 380W
Antec NeoHE 430 ATX12V 430W
Antec NeoHE 500 ATX12V 500W
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W
ENERMAX Liberty ELT400AWT ATX12V 400W
ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W
ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W
HIPER HPU-4B580-MS ATX12V 580W
HIPER HPU-4K580-MS ATX12V 580W
HIPER HPU-4R580-MS ATX12V 580W
HIPER HPU-4S580-MS ATX12V 580W
OCZ ModStream OCZ45012U ATX/BTX/PCI Express/SATA 450W
OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX, BTX, SATA, P4 and EPS12V 620W
Tagan TG-530-U15 ATX12V Version 2.01 530Watts
Thermaltake W0057RU-01 PurePower TWV ATX 12V 2.0 500W
Thermaltake W0073RU Pure Power ATX 520W

05-22-2006, 05:25 PM	#3
Steve The Progenitor Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 148 Video Card: GTX 580 SLI	Brands continued Sparkle Between May and August 25th VERY few people have left any reviews for even the best Sparkle PSUs. Why?? August 25, 2006 stats: 17 PSUs (15 are OEM) from $13.99 to $139.99. Total Sparkle PSU reviews = 167. Newegg only has one retail Sparkle PSU, the other 20 are OEM. August 25, 2006 NEAR Ex = 77.19% August 25, 2006 NEAR Gd = 15.98% August 25, 2006 NEAR Tl = 93.17% Sparkle PSUs that stand out according to New Egg's customers: Sparkle FSP350-60PN ATX 350W OEM Excellent 100% 4 votes Sparkle FSP180-50NIV SFX 180W OEM Excellent 100% 11 votes SPARKLE FSP300-60PN ATX 300W OEM Excellent 100% 8 votes SPARKLE FSP550-60PLG EPS12V 550W OEM Excellent 85.71% 18 votes Good 4.76% 1 vote Average 4.76% 1 vote Poor 4.76% 1 vote One PSU died after a year and took 2 hard drives with it. Sparkle PSUs that have the lowest New Egg ratings: SPARKLE Power Q ATX-350GU ATX 350W Excellent 72.22% 13 votes Good 16.67% 3 votes Very Poor 11.11% 2 votes One PSU blew up and the other was apparently too loud. Tagan/E-Power August 25, 2006 stats: 8 PSUs from $24.99 to $90.99. Total reviews = 105. August 25, 2006 NEAR Ex = 73.65% August 25, 2006 NEAR Gd = 11.61% August 25, 2006 NEAR Tl = 85.26% Tagan PSUs that stand out according to New Egg's customers: ePOWER Tagan Cheetah EP-450XP-C1B ATX 450W Excellent 91.67% 11 votes Poor 8.33% 1 vote DoA. ePOWER Tagan EP-520XP-C1B ATX12V 520W Excellent 83.33% 10 votes Good 8.33% 1 vote Average 8.33% 1 vote Tagan PSUs that have the lowest New Egg ratings: ePOWER Tagan Puma II EP-450XP-P2B ATX12V 450W Excellent 73.91% 17 votes Good 8.7% 2 votes Poor 4.35% 1 vote Very Poor 13.04% 3 votes Has no PCI Express connector, died after 4 days and not delivering the advertised power. Thermaltake August 25, 2006 stats: 14 PSUs from $39.99 to $189.99. Total reviews = 1,588. Notes: The Thermaltake Silent PurePower TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) ATX 420W has been rated 520 times by New Egg customers, the Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W has been rated 810 times! Apparently those PSUs are wildly popular. August 25, 2006 NEAR Ex = 63.49% August 25, 2006 NEAR Gd = 15.49% August 25, 2006 NEAR Tl = 78.98% Thermaltake PSUs that stand out according to New Egg's customers: Thermaltake Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX 480W Excellent 83.46% 217 votes Good 7.69% 20 votes Average 3.46% 9 votes Poor 3.46% 9 votes Very Poor 1.92% 5 votes Several died after 3 months to a year, some taking motherboards with them. Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Excellent 79.38% 643 votes Good 13.33% 108 votes Average 2.72% 22 votes Poor 2.1% 17 votes Very Poor 2.47% 20 votes Many DoA's, some died after 1 to 2 weeks and some people had problems with the rails not staying within tolerance levels. Thermaltake Silent PurePower TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) ATX 420W Excellent 80.38% 418 votes Good 9.81% 51 votes Average 5.19% 27 votes Poor 3.27% 17 votes Very Poor 1.35% 7 votes The "Very Poor" ratings stem from DoAs and failures after 2 weeks to 1 year and most of the "Poor" ratings have to do with the PSU being too loud. Thermaltake PSUs that have the lowest New Egg ratings: Thermaltake W0057 PurePower ATX 12V 2.0 500W This PSU has the lowest ratings out of all the PSUs made by the companies in this FAQ. Excellent 38.46% 5 votes Good 7.69% 1 vote Poor 23.08% 3 votes Very Poor 30.77% 4 votes DoAs, and failing after 5 days to 2 months. An electronic technician with "over 40 years experience" says it is a poorly built PSU. Funny quote from user who had bad experience with Thermaltake Customer Service: "I would not recommend Thermaltake PS's to my most bitter nemesis." He used the word "nemesis"! Who uses that word, or even has a nemesis? Thermaltake Pure Power W0073RU ATX 520W Excellent 46.15% 6 votes Good 7.69% 1 vote Average 23.08% 3 votes Poor 7.69% 1 vote Very Poor 15.38% 2 votes 2 DoA's and a PSU that fried a motherboard and died. Thermaltake Silent Pure Power W0049RUC ATX12V/ EPS12V 680W Excellent 49.18% 30 votes Good 8.2% 5 votes Average 8.2% 5 votes Poor 11.48% 7 votes Very Poor 22.95% 14 votes Many report that it cannot handle SLi, one man says when his Dual Xeon workstation utilized both CPUs with multithreading in action the computer would shut down after 2 seconds. A few users reported failures after 1 to 9 months. Several said the fans in the PSU stop working or never work. BRAND SUMMARY AREA NEAR Tl basically means the percentage of New Egg customers who would recommend PSUs from each brand because it adds the percentage of all the users who voted "Excellent" and "Good" together. So let's line up all these brands by that value. NEAR Tl 100% Hiper (only 5 ratings though) 92.94% PC Power and Cooling (very expensive stuff) 91.98% Fortron 91.93% Sparkle (4 PSUs with 100% "Excellent" rating and less than 5 votes) 91.05% OCZ 90.81% Cooler Master 89.93% Enermax 89.02% Tagan (4 PSUs with 100% "Excellent" rating and less than 5 votes) 88.36% SeaSonic 79.97% Antec 78.93% Thermaltake The whole enchilada can been seen in this nifty graph. Neato PSU features Modular Power Supplies Modular power supplies are a relatively new and pretty sweet feature. Many people who build their own computers often like to minamize the amount of cables that wind through their computer case, and modular power supplies make this task sooo much easier. Modular in this context means "flexible arrangement and use". Modular power supplies allow you to disconnect the power supply cables that you are not using in your computer at the power supply unit. You just unplug the cables you don't need and you can throw them in you junk drawer until you need them. The picture below is of the 620 Watt Liberty PSU from Enermax. Notice that there are 8 cables that can be disconnected from the PSU. The only cable that cannot be disconnected is the cable for the motherboard. The two red connections are for your PCI-E graphics cards and the other 6 are for your hard drives, fans and optical drives. On Newegg.com they have 55 modular PSUs out of a total of 319. Out of those 55, 16 of them are from brands recommended in this FAQ as of June 14th 2006. I will list all 16 of those right here: Antec NeoPower NeoHE 380 ATX12V 380W Antec NeoHE 430 ATX12V 430W Antec NeoHE 500 ATX12V 500W Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W ENERMAX Liberty ELT400AWT ATX12V 400W ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W HIPER HPU-4B580-MS ATX12V 580W HIPER HPU-4K580-MS ATX12V 580W HIPER HPU-4R580-MS ATX12V 580W HIPER HPU-4S580-MS ATX12V 580W OCZ ModStream OCZ45012U ATX/BTX/PCI Express/SATA 450W OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX, BTX, SATA, P4 and EPS12V 620W Tagan TG-530-U15 ATX12V Version 2.01 530Watts Thermaltake W0057RU-01 PurePower TWV ATX 12V 2.0 500W Thermaltake W0073RU Pure Power ATX 520W __________________ Intel Quad Core QX6700 │ MSI P7N SLI Platinum \| 4GB Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 \| Vista Ultimate 64 bit Zalman 9500 LED │ GTX 580 SLI│ Samsung 22" 3D LCD \| LG 55" Passive 3D LED HDTV Sadly the remote has vanished from the material sphere. So it's stuck on Animal Planet- Dr. Orpheus Last edited by Steve : 08-25-2006 at 08:44 PM.