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khenry
Once my upgrade was assembled, I caught up with everything I needed to know about power supplies yesterday when I was educated about the kind of generic piece of junk powering my backup PC. It didn’t even feature correct voltage information, thankfully not a problem affecting my Hiper model.
I wanted to push the boat out and have a modular PSU to cover not just this stopgap build, but the next round of parts for a potential future Intel powerhouse. Since it sports multiple 12v rails, it was a shame that my choice, a Cooler Master Real Power 700W model highly regarded by PC Pro (and now pictured in the previous post), turned up dead on arrival. That deflated the buzz of upgrading to my first ever modular unit, even if it’s taken £80 off the cost of the stopgap build.
Up until last weekend I was lucky that perhaps only one PSU I’ve ever owned out of a sea of generic tat, contributed to the death of a PC. That death occured eight months after the whole computer was hit by lightning through the mains, giving me a crash course in surge protection. On further reflection, other generics which died, didn’t take the motherboard and other components with them like the lightning rod.
Learning more about PSUs from the forum, PSU Sensei James Gorbold and Upgrading and Repairing PCs has made me grateful for six years of problem-free daily operation from my generic timebomb, whatever its true wattage. It’ll take a plug-in volt meter to get some meaningful information about its performance, but its waste heat could literally help warm my lounge. Therefore it fits the bill of the other generic stooge power units from issues 26 and 42.
Whilst waiting for the next PSU labs I can pull out every issue from the past year and see who’s picking up the awards. A decent working modular PSU will let me move my Hiper to the backup PC and afford better protection to all my components, both ancient and modern. I look forward to putting my last generic model on the scrapheap later this year!
UPDATE 17/4/08: Change that to later this week. After finding out all I needed to know about power supplies with a crash course my generic model decided to cut out without warning, this morning. Rather than have a second motherboard die off in the same week, I opted for a stopgap model becuause they’re only Socket A parts. Whenever the PSU labs is printed I can upgrade to a modular PSU in the future. The model I chose, an Antec Earthwatts 430W, can return to its box and become an emergency spare.
When a manufacturer like Antec states that its PSU will work at a certain voltage, it’s much more likely to be accurate and it’s the same cost as the generic model it’s replacing, six years on - that buys 80% efficiency and native PCI-E as well as two extra SATA connectors, over the previous model. Tomorrow will be another morning of waiting for the Ebuyer truck - at least it’s for an easy upgrade that can be done alongside moving hard disks and reinstalling XP Pro. I’ll remember that I do this for fun, when I’ve finished!
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