PSU help

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Alfroogy

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My PSU has just died on me:mad:twisted:. Thank God not taking anything with it.

I now how ever need to get a new one.
There is a huntkey 520watt on pc-int for a really good price but I have never heard of them so I would like to get some opinions on it.
If it is not a reliable brand can you make some other suggestions.

I am also looking to get a TB external and a new processor 775 chipset as a full on upgrade is not an option. so adivce there would be welcome too.
*edit* how much of a performance hit do you suffer on a 5400rpm drive vs a 7200rpm drive when used as an external through usb, and is it worth spending the bit extra and getting a lan/esata compatible enclosure
One last thing how reliable are the classifieds both on MYBB and places like prophecy some comments there would be appreciated

My total is budget is 3000 I can stretch it but would rather not as I am starting at university at the end of the month and would like know I have spare cash for any eventualities

Thank you in advance
 
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What's your pc specs? That along with how much you're willing to spend will determine what PSU you should get

The 7200rpm drives are well worth it. However, i dislike the idea of buying those "pre-built" external HDDs as you do not know for sure what brand the hard drive that comes in it is. Also, you are unable to replace the HDD in the enclosure as that will void the warranty. I'd suggest getting the HDD and enclosure separate. Might even work out cheaper

Esata is really awesome. Much faster than USB (it's as if you connected the HDD internally). With USB my HDD maxes out at 30MBps, with ESATA i reach up to 70MBps sustained.
 
Huntkey have been around for a while, but just like any other PSU brand it has those who swear by them and those who swear at them.
 
Hi Alfroogy,

With regards to Huntkey, I posted this on the PCF Forums the other day:
To be frank, Huntkey is a terrible company and they make crappy PSUs. They over-rate their PSU's specs (that 600W PSU is more likely to be only capable of 400-450W if that), test them at temperatures that are far below what you'd call 'typical operating conditions' (for them, it's 25C) and they even attempt to bribe tech publications that review their shoddy products truthfully http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/blog/113 .

The MTBF on their PSUs is also terrible: 50,000 hours @ 25C.
Compare that to the industry norm: 100,000 hours @ 50C.
Click to expand...

7200RPM vs. 5400RPM difference is definitely noticeable. But, if you're just using the external for viewing movies, music, etc and connecting via USB2.0 you won't notice a difference.

Classifieds on MyBB and Prophecy are as reliable as the individual users. I'd recommend learning as much as you can about the person that you're buying from beforehand, if you're not meeting them face-to-face. Try contact other people that they've sold to before.

If you're looking for a PSU, there is nothing but praise for Corsair PSUs. Also, CoolerMaster and Vantec if you're looking for a cheaper PSU.

PM me if there's anything in particular that you're looking for, I can perhaps help.
 
What's your pc specs? That along with how much you're willing to spend will determine what PSU you should get
Click to expand...

My pc specs at the moment are
p4 3.4ghz OC to 3.8
gigabyte ds3r rev2
8800gts 512mb
2gb corsair ddr2 800
2x250gb hdd

As I stated my budget is R3k

The 7200rpm drives are well worth it. However, i dislike the idea of buying those "pre-built" external HDDs as you do not know for sure what brand the hard drive that comes in it is. Also, you are unable to replace the HDD in the enclosure as that will void the warranty. I'd suggest getting the HDD and enclosure separate. Might even work out cheaper
Click to expand...

I was planning on getting them separate. I was just contemplating the WD green vs the black and whether or not to get an esata compatible enclosure

If you're looking for a PSU, there is nothing but praise for Corsair PSUs. Also, CoolerMaster and Vantec if you're looking for a cheaper PSU.
Click to expand...

It was a coolermaster that just died on me 2 weeks out of warranty so I'm not keen on another one. I know corsair are brilliant they are just a bit expensive, but I guess you get what you pay for. I've seen vantec psu's i've also not heard much about them though.

7200RPM vs. 5400RPM difference is definitely noticeable. But, if you're just using the external for viewing movies, music, etc and connecting via USB2.0 you won't notice a difference.
Click to expand...

It's mainly for storage of music, series movies etc.
 
What chipset mobo is that? You might be able to get a dual core (E5300 0.6k or so), psu (Vantec 500-600w 0.8k or so), and the HDD (0.8k for HDD + 0.3k for enclosure). Depending on whether or not your mobo will support the newer processors.

I'd check prophecy forum before buying the stuff new. Q6600 goes for around 1k sh now and will be a HUGE upgrade from a P4.
 
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It's a p35 775 chipset with a 1333mhz fsb it will support all 775 cpus

I was thinking a q8400 which is just under R1.5k on pc-int.
I'm just not sure if i should put in the extra for the q9400 with the extra cache

A mate of mine has offered to sell me his gigabyte odin 470watt psu which i am currently using while I make my decision will it be sufficient? he said he'd give it to me for R150 and its almost brand new and still under warranty
 
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Alfroogy said:
A mate of mine has offered to sell me his gigabyte odin 470watt psu which i am currently using while I make my decision will it be sufficient? he said he'd give it to me for R150 and its almost brand new and still under warranty
Click to expand...

Nice price, otherwise if you're buying new get a Vantec Van-460C, best bang for buck PSU. ;)
 
Alfroogy said:
It's a p35 775 chipset with a 1333mhz fsb it will support all 775 cpus

I was thinking a q8400 which is just under R1.5k on pc-int.
I'm just not sure if i should put in the extra for the q9400 with the extra cache

A mate of mine has offered to sell me his gigabyte odin 470watt psu which i am currently using while I make my decision will it be sufficient? he said he'd give it to me for R150 and its almost brand new and still under warranty
Click to expand...

not because I have a Q6600:whistle: but I read somewhere that the old Q6600s are much better than a lot of the lower end Q8/9 quad cores once overclocked.

Johnny: "Well gees Mister why not overclock those lower end Q8/9s?"

Mister: "Well Johnny they don't overclock all that great"

I might be wrong but you might want to look into that:D
 
I ran that power calculator and it seems the odin will do fine so I'll probably get that seeing as i can get it so cheap.

Now just to decide whether its even worth going for a quadcore as I plan on building an entirely new pc in about 8 months or so.

Thanks a lot for the help everyone it's really appreciated
 
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