105 PSUs reviewed!

[Babrbarossa]

Well it would seem that Matbe.com has broken the record for the most PSUs inlcuded in one review. The article is in french but their recommendations are listed below if you can't read the language of law and poetry. For some reason, when they recommended the two higher power PSUs they said that is was useless to have that much power, but the odd person might insist on it- no wonder they think north americans are odd.

Recommended Higher end PSUs
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850 watts, 196 euros
Silverstone Strider ST75F 750 watts


Recommended Budget PSUs
Antec Earthwatts 500 watts, à partir de 60 euros
Antec Neo HE 430 watts, à partir de 65 euros
Be Quiet Straight Power 400 watts, à partir de 62 euros
Fortron Green 400 watts, à partir de 52 euros
Fortron Blue Storm II 500 watts, à partir de 70 euros

More from Matbe.com

[Patriote]

At each and all (Or almost) review they did of a big watt PSU such as the Thermaltake Thoughpower 1200W ... they say how useless it is to buy it

They pissed me off so much that i closed to page. Damn Frenchs "From France".

[SKYMTL]

Actually, you guys should be aware that all of this roundup is based around the Euro-version of these PSUs. When operating at 220V, a PSU behaves quite a bit differently....especially in the effciency numbers.

[Babrbarossa]

Right! haha, never thought of that

[b1lk1]

High wattage PSU's are a complete waste of cash considering a 15A 110V Circuit in your house could not keep up with the draw. People who believe they need more than 750W should really think about seeking professional help. The best thing to do is to stop buying inefficient units.

[Babrbarossa]

I don't know how accurate these PSU calculators are, but I just did a dual-loop water cooled quad core, with a raid configuration and SLI GTXs and it was 1086W- I know this is a pretty extreme system, but even on a single loop and only one GTX card, it was still over 900W.

eXtreme Outer Vision

[b1lk1]

Those calculators are worthless. I have run dual card setups for a long time and never needed more than 500W. A Quad core SLI 8800GTX dual waterlood with plenty of accessories will need 800W tops. I don't know if most people realize that you cannot pull 1000W of power out of a normal household wall socket when the PSU is fully loaded down. Unless you have a completely dedicated wall socket with say a 25A breaker, you will guaranteedly trip the breaker or pop the fuse. Power supply companies have perpetuated the myths we need more and the consumers are sucking it up like drones. Get a Kill-A-Watt meter and see what your PC actually pulls out of the wall socket. You will be amazed when it is probably half what you think it is.

My PC is OC'd and SLI'd which are OC'd. I run 2 drives in RAID 0 and I have a spare HD for data. 2 DVD drives, 8 fans, some lighting. My PSU eats it up and spits it out. I would feel 100% comfortable running SLI'd 8800GTS's AND a Quad core.

[Babrbarossa]

I'd also feel perfectly fine to double up my 8800s on my 700w PSU- my original pont was that I didn't think that 750W power supplies were rediculous, but as SKYMTL pointed out, the reviews were done on 220, so in europe, I guess they are.

[SKYMTL]

All right, here is the breakdown for all you you who are interested.

For houses with 15A fuses:

Most houses are wired with 15A fuses on normal wall connectors. 15A on a 120V line means it can output 1800W PEAK. Even though a normal household fuse is rated at 15A peak, it is only able to output about 13A on a continuous basis. That means a PSU can safely suck around 1560W from one of these lines. That DOES NOT MEAN that a 1560W PSU loaded at 100% will be ok. You have to take effeciency into account and this is where it gets complicated....

So, if you have a 1600W PSU loaded at 100% and that PSU has an efficiency of 80% it is actually drawing 1920W (1600W + 20% power waste). So there goes your breaker.

Basically, when plugged into an outlet with a 15A fuse the MAXIMUM PSU size you can have (when loaded at 100%) is about a 1300W PSU which must be rated at 80% efficiency OR MORE. (1300W + 20% waste = 1560W).


For houses with 20A fuses:

Some houses (and my condo) are wired with 20A fuses. It is still running at 120V so these lines can output a PEAK of 2400W and about 2100W continuously.

Now, if we do the same thing as we did above we come up with some interesting numbers. On a 20A outlet we can have an approximate maximum of a 1700W PSU (at 100% load) with 80% or more efficiency. Anything above that and the breaker will probably blow.


Now you can also see how important efficiency is if we ever need these crazy-big PSUs.

[Patriote]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

All right, here is the breakdown for all you you who are interested.

For houses with 15A fuses:

Most houses are wired with 15A fuses on normal wall connectors. 15A on a 120V line means it can output 1800W PEAK. Even though a normal household fuse is rated at 15A peak, it is only able to output about 13A on a continuous basis. That means a PSU can safely suck around 1560W from one of these lines. That DOES NOT MEAN that a 1560W PSU loaded at 100% will be ok. You have to take effeciency into account and this is where it gets complicated....

So, if you have a 1600W PSU loaded at 100% and that PSU has an efficiency of 80% it is actually drawing 1920W (1600W + 20% power waste). So there goes your breaker.

Basically, when plugged into an outlet with a 15A fuse the MAXIMUM PSU size you can have (when loaded at 100%) is about a 1300W PSU which must be rated at 80% efficiency OR MORE. (1300W + 20% waste = 1560W).


For houses with 20A fuses:

Some houses (and my condo) are wired with 20A fuses. It is still running at 120V so these lines can output a PEAK of 2400W and about 2100W continuously.

Now, if we do the same thing as we did above we come up with some interesting numbers. On a 20A outlet we can have an approximate maximum of a 1700W PSU (at 100% load) with 80% or more efficiency. Anything above that and the breaker will probably blow.


Now you can also see how important efficiency is if we ever need these crazy-big PSUs.

sh** Thats some great infos! Thanks!