Ultra Limited Edition 450W Power Supply - ATX, Dual +12V Rails - $9.97

Quote from moosa : And what makes you think this manufacturer's advertised rating is more accurate than that manufacturers?

Absolutely correct, manufacturers often test psu's under ideal conditions of loading and temperature, and the home user is completely unlikely to experience the same results. Manufacturer listed specs are basically guidelines. I've seen a lot of PS's tested where the units output dropped significantly.

Quote : We've already demonstrated that it does, earlier in the thread, with real math.

Proven with a low cost per killowatt hour no less. I think a lot of the calcs used 11c electricity. My rates in CA start at around 12-13 and ramp up to 45c/kwh pretty fast. I hit that rate level every month, but moreso in the summer.

At that rate (and you'll see the same in many areas) the payback on anything used more than a couple of hours a day starts to materialize pretty fast.

Quote : That's simply not true. Read any professional review of a power supply and they will disassemble the unit and examine which components are used, whether they are high-quality, whether they are reliable and long lasting, and whether the unit has all the desired protections in place and how well it handles heat, etc., etc. They'll also test and measure the power delivery to see how clean it is, how well it sits within voltage guidelines, and how well it deals with abrupt spikes, etc. There are stories all over the internet of people cheaping out on the PSU and either ending up with something that simply fails prematurely or ends up frying the rest of the system in the process. So if the fact that you're possibly losing money in your power bill to run a PSU that gives off excessive heat and noise isn't enough, the thought of using something that's actually safe and reliable should have you considering looking for something quality built rather than whatever is the cheapest Cracker Jack PSU you can find. If you keep your eyes on SD and read reviews, you can find quality PSUs for not very much more. I've done it.

Great advice and I couldn't agree more. Rookies try to squeeze by with a cheap PS and motherboard. People who want stable systems that last a long time and have good resale value buy a good PS and mobo and experience far fewer quirks and problems.

Further, power supplies become weaker over time. Well built higher efficiency models may lose quite a bit less vs a cheapie over time.

The warranty on this is also completely worthless as it'll cost you almost as much to ship it as to buy another cheap crappy PS.

Lastly, the cheapie power supply of today isnt as good as the cheapie power supply you might have bought 5 years ago and the better ones have improved in the same time period, so there is more of a gap than there used to be. Pretty much the case with almost all products during this economic malaise...everything is being squeezed for cost and quality.