The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

The Thermaltake is certainly cheap, I'll give it that, but it's nowhere near a 400W PSU, it's really a 250, as it has pretty much the exact same rail specs as the 250W units you find in prebuilt Compaq PCs. Two 80mm fas for a PSU that weak seems a bit overkill to me. The guy running a Q6600 and 8800GTX on it is sailing very close to the wind (though it isn't impossible, what he asks of it, if you don't overclock the CPU, a system with those components is unlikely to draw more than 230-240W DC)
The 500W is a bit better with two rails, but rail 1 is relatively weak, and it will have issue running imbalanced systems. Plus, who says you get the rebate? There are plenty of much better units out there for less than $70 pre-rebate, the Corsair 400W CX for example.
All academic though really, as all these units are powering systems that draw less than 120W in Russ' line of work, so as long as they last, the specs are almost completely irrelevant to his customers. Not so to a lot of people here though, I will point out.

 

sammorris: The PSU is 4 his mother inlaws Computer, and hes shopping price 4 something that will B reliable at a better then low price [Thats kinda the way I read his POST]. I'm pretty sure though shes a pretty heavy gamer and needs a better PSU. IF Memory serves me, SHES RUNNING A PRETTY HEAVY DUTY Computer that needs lots of WATTS & Ampers

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail
$40.99 ($28.99 after $12.00 Mail-In
Free Shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

I suggest U read some of the REVUES on this 1

 

Sorry, what? You say someone's mother-in-law's PC is going to be for gaming and then recommend the weakest of all the PSUs we've discussed. I assume the irony has been lost on me here...

 

It was a smart ass remark..Did U read his POSTS, Hes shopping price..Actually U R the one pushing higher end PSUs

 

Sorry, your english is terrible, so it's hard to make out smartass remarks.
There's a difference between high-end and solid. Because I recommend PSUs that are no more expensive pre-rebate but aren't mediocre brands suddenly I'm pushing high end units on someone?

I merely don't understand the fascination with units that clearly aren't as powerful as they are rated, when there are power supplies out there for the same price that DO what they say on the box. Everybody's so defensive of these mediocre units.

 

sammorris: Point me in the DIRECTION OF A BETTER PSU 4 the same price, as the 1 I've shown

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256019

You will note that neither of these have a 6-pin PCIe connector. The answer is they shouldn't. If you run a graphics card that draws that much power, you shouldn't be looking at 300-350W PSUs. Before anyone comments, the "430W" Thermaltake has a single 18A rail. The Seasonic has two 17A rails (Max 24A combined), and the Silverstone an 18A and a 16A (Max 25A combined) - making the 300/350W units actually more electrically powerful than the Thermaltake, which is really a 300W unit with a 6-pin attached, giving the illusion it's a more powerful unit than it really is (especially with the 430W sticker)

 

sammorris: Can U read ? Both those R 1/3 Higher in price. The man is shopping price
Also read the REVUES on the one I listed

 

Actually they're the same price, pre-rebate.
The reviws for the units are pretty much the same, but since very few people buy OEM PSUs, there is less evidence to go on.

The irony is that the Thermaltake PSU is so inefficient that you will lose that rebate in your electricity bill within months.

 

Their R no Rebates listed 4 these: So whats your point, they R higher priced

 

Only if you actually get the rebate. If it arrives, it'll still be weeks after you've bought the unit. The amount of money you drop to actually acquire the unit is the same (in fact, slightly less), and there's no rebate hassle, and as I mention before, $10 buys you what, 50KWh in electricity? Even for a system that only uses 80W d.c. (we're talking dual core and basic graphics here) the 10% gap in electricity means at 10 hours' use per day, it's less than a year before the Thermaltake has used that extra 50KWh.

 

@Russ
sending my mobo(GA-EP45-DS3R) back to gigabyte today. got the rma# finally 5 days after i requested it. i had to call gigabyte to get it lastnight. i talked to a tech there named Chuck.maybe you know him. i mentioned the issue with the sata ports not working all the time getting the errors it has gotten about replaceing the cables and such. he said that could be causeing the BSOD and not seeing any drives. he thinks the entire sata plugin area might be bad.SB??? so it is off and away today.

 

That sounds about right Rob, it is perfectly possible for any hardware to cause a BSOD.

 

I haven't had any problems with rebates. Also a few weeks is better with Xtra Bucks in hand. A stamp & an envelop is all thats needed.
I swear U Younger Generation, have no $ VALUES. Monet 2 U seems to grow on trees, I'm 63 and look at it as in about 6wks I'll have Xtra bucks

 

No, I'm from the UK where we don't bother with crappy rebates. We just get the right price to start with. Our only problem is VAT.

 

The way I see it is you will pay $10 more for the seasonic psu but you will save alot in the long run. The seasonic is an 80% efficient psu and will save on electric bills in the long run for a 24/7 computer. So you can either save $10 right away or save alot more in electric bills.

 

Finally, another voice of reason in this thread...

 

Also we have a new psu thread for a reason. Why not continue the conversation here

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2/761115#4608360

 

My Dominator rebate arrived in about six weeks for what it's worth. The only problem I've ever had with rebates is that the latest one (from corsair) is some sort of citi debit/visa gift card. Personally I prefer the old fashion check which is a lot more versatile and easier to work with and wasn't too happy to receive corsairs new form of rebates.