THE Best Power Supply?

smarteyeball said:

No. Just because a power supply is rated at XXX watts does not mean it runs at XXX watts at all times. Your components will only draw what is needed.

smarteyeball;

I found this quote:

Another caveat: Optimal efficiency is only reached at a "proper" load. If you have a 500 Watt Power Supply but then a super-low-consumption PC that only consumes 80 Watt, you're not going to reach 80% efficiency and could easily use ~120 Watt (~50% efficiency).

at this site: Does a 500 watt power supply always use 500 watts of electricity? - Server Fault

Now I am not an expert, and I do not know the qualifications of the author, but it does raise the question about the electricity cost, if I understand correctly, of an OVERPOWERED power supply?

smarteyeball said:

But different brands/models impact on overall efficiency. Some have better low/load usage efficiency than others. In fact some power supplies are most efficient around 50% of total load capacity:

This is awesome. Most efficient at 50% load! Smartyeyeball, I do not believe there is actually any disagreement between us!

I would definitely say Corsair. I have used several of their line of power supplies and they have all worked great. They preform perfectly, quietly and according to the research I did when buying (about a year ago) they offered the most reliable and cleanest power overall. They may cost more than other PSU's and it will eat into your budget, but is well worth it.

If you check Corsair's line of PSU's on newegg you will see they each, with hundreds of reviews, have 5 eggs. A great rating, and they have very positive feedback.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Power Supplies,Power Supplies,Corsair Memory

Corsair was apparently voted best manufacturer in 2008 by "Custom PC". I am not familiar with that publication, but Newegg as posted it on each of the corsair PSU's.

I currently have these two PSU's form corsair in use and can say that they are fantastic:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

Brink said:

Agreed. You will need to pay attention to the 80 PLUS rating that the PSU has to help determine the quality of it. The more power it has the more you have available as needed.

Yes, the 80 PLUS rating is important as PSU's that can run at 80% efficiency overall (50% and 100% load) will waste less energy and thus generate less noise, heat, and will consume less power: saving money.

I have nothing but good things to say about these PSU's. They are the first ones I look at when building anything, and I always leave a bit of my budget to pay for it.

kplu said:

Yes, the 80 PLUS rating is important as PSU's that can run at 80% efficiency overall (50% and 100% load) will waste less energy and thus generate less noise, heat, and will consume less power: saving money.

I have nothing but good things to say about these PSU's. They are the first ones I look at when building anything, and I always leave a bit of my budget to pay for it.

kplu;

Would you put these power supplies in the "Over $100", or "Over $200" category?

smarteyeball said:

However, the PSU I bought has nothing to do with bragging or e-peen. With my next upgrade, I do plan to continue overclocking, run multiple cards, add more devices etc.

Of course, with a 1000W PSU, using this site as a a guide http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

You can run an
--overclocked Core i7 965 Extreme Edition
--32 sticks of DDR3 RAM,
--10 high RPM SATA hard drives,
--2 DVD Burners,
--1 BluRay drive,
--1 PCI RAID SATA controller card,
--Dual ATI Radeon 4870 x2's in Crossfire
--10 120mm case fans \

And you still have 10 watts to spare.

Just sayin :)

It depends on the wattage. The 400CX, 450VX, 550VX, 650TX, and 520VX(w/ rebate) are under $100 according at Newegg. This is relatively inexpensive for such good quality parts, especially the 650TX.

The 620HX, 750HX, 850TX, 850HX, 1000HX(w/ rebate) are between $100 and $200.

None of these listed on Newegg are over $200. (The 1000HX is $239 with a $40 rebate.)