Highly-Annoyed

Hi all,

My motherboards have been dying too often for it to be coincidence, so suspecting my PSU, I plan to upgrade it to something with a little better power and reliability.

I've had my eye on the Corsair HX620 for many months now and plan to order one today (along with a new motherboard).

The Corsair HX620 runs to about £85 GBP (around $170 USD) here in the UK, so before I place the order, I wanted to ask you guys if you had any suggestions for something better, for around the same price?

Obviously I want a/some powerful 12v rail/s, so mere overall wattage is not the only consideration. I'd like something modular, but I can live without it as I have done for years and ideally I'd like something fairly quiet and cool running as well. I would really like something with excellent stability, reliability and longevity, as I really want a PSU I can rely on to be a solid workhorse for years to come.

Thanks!

Highly-Annoyed

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Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. -Plato
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. -Euripides .. Terrifying are the weaknesses of power. -Greek Proverb
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kpo6969

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817256011
64amps on the 12v
The Corsair is 50amps on the 12v

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ATX PSU Maximum Combined 12v Ratings
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=205763

Corsair Psu Finder
http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/default.aspx

marmaduke

And this one...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703009

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Sons Comp(My build): A64 X2 4600+, Zalman 9500CPU cooler, ASUS A8N-SLI Mobo, 2 Gig G.Skill memory, eVGA 640Mb 8800GTS, 300Gig PATA maxtor H.D.,500Gig SATA H.D. S.B. Audigy 2 ZS, 750W PC P&C P.S., Logitec M518 mouse, Saitek Eclipse keyboard, Dell 2407 LCD Monitor, Dual boot; XP/Vista

TnB= Gir

He is in the UK.

On topic though, I went from a dying OCZ power supply (after only 3 months of use ) to tis Corsair 750TX and I couldn't be happier. Absolutely amazing quality.

marmaduke

So they don't sell PC Power & Cooling and Silverstone in the U.K.?

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Sons Comp(My build): A64 X2 4600+, Zalman 9500CPU cooler, ASUS A8N-SLI Mobo, 2 Gig G.Skill memory, eVGA 640Mb 8800GTS, 300Gig PATA maxtor H.D.,500Gig SATA H.D. S.B. Audigy 2 ZS, 750W PC P&C P.S., Logitec M518 mouse, Saitek Eclipse keyboard, Dell 2407 LCD Monitor, Dual boot; XP/Vista

marmaduke

I'm sure the posts were meant as just examples of options available. Its easier to pick out something you're familiar with (i.e. buying from newegg) rather than trying to find a on-line store your unfamiliar with in the U.K.

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Sons Comp(My build): A64 X2 4600+, Zalman 9500CPU cooler, ASUS A8N-SLI Mobo, 2 Gig G.Skill memory, eVGA 640Mb 8800GTS, 300Gig PATA maxtor H.D.,500Gig SATA H.D. S.B. Audigy 2 ZS, 750W PC P&C P.S., Logitec M518 mouse, Saitek Eclipse keyboard, Dell 2407 LCD Monitor, Dual boot; XP/Vista

Highly-Annoyed

Thank you both for responding.

As far as i can see, both of your suggestions would meet my criteria, in terms of the list of would-likes and wants I posted. The only proverbial bone I have to pick is with price. The Silverstone is one beast of a PSU indeed, but it runs at around 50% more than the Corsair from UK online stores I'd buy from, which is a bit more than I'm really prepared to spend to be honest; not that you knew that of course, so thank you anyway for the suggestion .

The PC Power & Cooling looks to be very similar in spec to the Silverstone, having only 4amps less on the +12v rail. It's also quite a bit cheaper than the Silverstone (about 23%) and has only the single +12v rail.

I have to ask (and this may sound like a silly question) but is there any real advantage to having multiple 12v rails? I guess there is, as so many PSU manufactures produce PSUs with multiple 12v rails, but I'm not sure what that advantage is? The Silverstone has two 12v rails, the PC P&C has one. Is this something to give consideration to, or doesn't it really matter?

Thanks again for both of your inputs on this. Atm, I'd be leaning towards the PC P&C as an alternative to the Corsair, as it's only about 11% more costly than the Corsair, but is very comparable to the Silverstone, albeit with a single, instead of two, 12v rails.

If anybody else would also like to make a suggestion I'd be pleased to hear from you .

Highly-Annoyed


EDIT:

You know, I'm seeing the 750 TX for about 11% less than the HX620. How does the TX compare to the others already suggested and also to the HX620?

Thanks for your input .

Highly-Annoyed

__________________
.
Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. -Plato
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. -Euripides .. Terrifying are the weaknesses of power. -Greek Proverb
----—-—-————————————————————————————————————————————————
My Favourite Windows XP Freeware Page . ...' ..'. Wowza's Core 2 Duo Motherboard Analysis
----—-—-————————————————————————————————————————————————
OCN Camera Club
Nikon D300 | Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 | Tamron 90mm Macro f2.8 | 2X SB600 Speedlights

Dawlish7

I would say Stick with corsair, i am very happy with mine, they are stable and rock solid reliable

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eureka

Could go with the non modular Corsair PSUs.

marmaduke

This is from PC Power & Coolings web site...

" 8. ARE MULTIPLE 12-VOLT RAILS BETTER THAN A SINGLE 12-VOLT RAIL?
With all the hype about multiple 12-volt rails (ads claim that two rails is better than one, five is better than four, etc.), you'd think it was a better design. Unfortunately, it's not!

Here are the facts: A large, single 12-volt rail (without a 240VA limit) can transfer 100% of the 12-volt output from the PSU to the computer, while a multi-rail 12-volt design has distribution losses of up to 30% of the power supply's rating. Those losses occur because power literally gets "trapped" on under-utilized rails. For example, if the 12-volt rail that powers the CPU is rated for 17 amps and the CPU only uses 7A, the remaining 10A is unusable, since it is isolated from the rest of the system.

Since the maximum current from any one 12-volt rail of a multiple-rail PSU is limited to 20 amps (240VA / 12 volts = 20 amps), PCs with high-performance components that draw over 20 amps from the same rail are subject to over-current shutdowns. With power requirements for multiple processors and graphics cards continuing to grow, the multiple-rail design, with its 240VA limit per rail, is basically obsolete.

PC Power and Cooling is once again leading the industry. All of our power supplies now feature a large, single 12-volt rail. The design is favored by major processor and graphics companies, complies with EPS12V specs (the 240VA limit is not a requirement) and is approved by all major safety agencies such as UL and TUV.3 "

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Sons Comp(My build): A64 X2 4600+, Zalman 9500CPU cooler, ASUS A8N-SLI Mobo, 2 Gig G.Skill memory, eVGA 640Mb 8800GTS, 300Gig PATA maxtor H.D.,500Gig SATA H.D. S.B. Audigy 2 ZS, 750W PC P&C P.S., Logitec M518 mouse, Saitek Eclipse keyboard, Dell 2407 LCD Monitor, Dual boot; XP/Vista