Psu.. The PSU on my pc has decided to burn out and I need to replace it asap.. I am completely clueless as to what I should be looking for, the current one is a EZ Cool ATX-600 JSP 600w.... Does it matter whether it's 450, 400, 500w etc? Are there any compatibility issues I should be aware of - ie. with my motherboard? The ones of seen on dabs are talking about Graphics Cards in the same sentence as PSUs... what's the story? Any help much appreciated! Cheers
In terms of compatibility all PSUs will fit most PCs. They all have the same basic plugs, a motherboard ATX plug, some power plugs for HDDS/CDs/DVDs/Fans, some floppy drive connectors and some SATA plugs. A PSU that states it has a connector for a graphics card just means it has an extra plug to power the onboard cooling fan for the GPU. If you're running with an older graphics card its not really something you should have to worry about. However there is a world of difference between a bargain bin PSU and a high end one, and it's not as simple as the wattage rating either. Shamelessly nicked from one of juski's posts, which explains it better: "At the cheap end, your 500W PSU probably CAN dish out 500 watts, but not where they're most needed (5V and 12V voltage rails). What you need to look for is not the Watt rating but the combined power of 3.3V, 5V and 12V voltage rails. You might find a '500W' PSU but when you look at the specs closely see that it can only dish out 200W on the 3.3, 5 & 12V rails at the same time. So what you look for is USABLE Watts At the more expensive end of the market you get your money's worth. A £50 500W PSU will be much more likely to dish out a lot closer to a real 500W (i.e. where you need it) than the £10 ones." You can find that a well built 300W PSU can deliver far more power across the 3.3/5/12v rails than a cheap 500. I've got a well built 250W and I'm running two hard drives, a DVD writer, a GFX card with a massive cooler on the side and a few other bits, and I don't have any power problems. try working out how much power you need using this and base what you're gonna get on that. Round your result up to the nearest 100 watts to give yourself some room for expansion. Also try and get one with a 120mm fan - the larger fans can remove more air from the case with the same revolutions per minute and they're quieter (and run cooler) than the standard PSUs.
Cheers Conway, most of it went over my head but I get the idea... What do you reckon to this one, I don't want to spend a massive amount cos I'll probs be getting a Macbook next year... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Corsair-VX-55...ryZ51061QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem I don't exactly punish my machine by any stretch..
looks pretty good to me, to be honest its more than you need, but if you get it you probably won't need to buy another one next time you upgrade your PC
