PSU advice, overkill? Or underwhelming?

A

Aofil

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Location
Gauteng
I am a little stuck here..Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My specs are:

Intel Q9400 core2 Quad (2.66Ghz)
Intel DG45ID media series Mobo (1333 fsb)
Radeon HD 4890 1 GB DDR5
1 GB DDR3 Ram (soon to be 4)
Samsung 23" 2333 lcd

I have a 400Watt PSU fitted in this system (it came with the case). The price of the case with ths PSu was around R300. The lab tech who sold it to me told me that the brand was 'sparta' and they only stocked that... Now, I can't seem to find anything on Sparta PSUs on the web (maybe its an incorrect name? or they just aren't big?)

Anyway, the PSU didn't suffice and my PC barely runs 15 minutes before saying goodnight, hence im looking into a new PSU.
They sell a 750 Watt Sparta PSU for R1001, does anyone know if these PSUs are decent at all? Or can anyone give me some good purchasing advice for a good quality PSU of around 600Watts (I'll need more though, according to Neweggs PSu calculator i need 539Watts before i even consider my peripherals like PCi slots and fans...)

I'd preferably not spend as much as a R1000 on a new PSU but am willing to if it will serve its time...

Sorry if this is unclear:
a) How trustworthy are Sparta PSUs?

b)Would 750Watts (sparta) be overkill, and would it use a lot of electricity/I have no efficiency rating for it :(

c) I see that Vantech are quite popular, are there any good deals out there and what do u guys think will do for my system?

--Once again THANKS so much for the help and swift replies, i'm new to this forum and very glad i joined.
 
Not all PC brands will have a web presence. Alot of the PSUs are rebranded and come from a few manufacturers. They're fine if the specs are correct, but it is usually a better bet to try and brand name product. It's not like the brand owners actually make them, but they probably request better manufacturing controls from the PSU manufacturer and if there's a dodgey PSU under a brand name you are quite likely to find many complaints about it online.

Case + psu combos these days are good for non-demanding PCs such as generic you'd give to some for basic web surfing, etc, at home.

Vantec is good, but so are all the rest. It's just that Vantec offer more for the buck.
 
Dude whether you have a 450w psu or 2000w the power usage will depend on what you are running.

If you can afford a 750w and think you may use that amount in the future then go for it.
 
But what to go for, thermaltake is most expensive, Vantec have some very good deals! But i dont know how much i need, if 500-600Watt were to be sufficient id go with vantec ion2+...best deal on prophecy
 
If you are in CPT you are welcome to hook up my Zalman metre and get an estimate of consumption.

Sometimes those online calculators really get whacky. What they don't tell you is that with multi-rail PSUs you can still switch off when one of the rails pulls too much power.
 
Aofil said:
But what to go for, thermaltake is most expensive, Vantec have some very good deals! But i dont know how much i need, if 500-600Watt were to be sufficient id go with vantec ion2+...best deal on prophecy
Click to expand...

Any branded 460 - 500watt PSU will be fine.

Your PC will use around 300watts max...
 
500W continuous across all rails seems to head quickly for the R1K mark.

Why not get a Vantec ioN2+A van-550A? It'll be some R200 cheaper than the van-600AS.
 
+1 Don't overkill with your PSU unless you plan on running Xfire in the near future - that's the only thing that makes a real added strain. 4890 will need 600w max - 550 is fine.
 
Aofil said:
So i've decided to go with this, The Vantec Ion2+ 520Watt PSU...
I hope it'll be enough, btw Subversion what else are you running on your system, so i can see if its similar
Click to expand...

im running an am3 athlon II 245 and still on DDR2 RAM.

but the biggest power drain in your system will always be the gfx. nice thing about that vantec is it has very good amps on the two 12V rails, which is actually more important than wattage.

its a great psu, and will give u more than enuff power :)
 
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