Ldy, the lemony, ligerish ducttaparian's Magic Treehouse of Lost Thoughts

OK, I've tried everything, and I've about given up. The only thing I can think of that could be causing my computer woes is the PS.

And it makes sense-- I'm running a helluva lotta stuff off an old Enermax 350W power supply. And monitoring my power shows that my +12 does dip to 10 much more often than I'd like.

So it's time to replace the power supply. Past time, maybe.

I'm thinking about getting this Thermaltake TR2 500W. $60 ($80, with a $20 rebate) sounds like a great deal.

What do you think? This is (more or less) my current system.

I appreciate your help, as always :)

Hm. Now I can't decide between 500W and 600W. I've added a few things to that old system, including a massive hard drive, dvd rw w/ lightscribe and a USB 2.0 controller.

In any case, I want Active PFC, right? I have an Athlon XP cpu-- do I need two fans? If one's OK, these two look like nice choices at excellent prices:

COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W Power Supply - Retail
HIPRO TOP-600P5 ATX V2.01 600W Power Supply - OEM

Any thoughts? If I do need two fans, then that changes everything.

OK, hopefully, this will be the last power supply post for a Very Long Time.

The two competitors:

Brand	COOLER MASTER
Model	RS-500-ASAA
Price	$99.99
Type	ATX Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91
Maximum Power	500 Watts Continuous
Fans	Dual ball bearing 120mm fan
PFC	Active PFC (0.99)
Main Connector	20+4-Pin
Dual +12V	Yes
SLI Support	NVIDIA SLI Certified
Modular Cabling Support	No
Power Good Signal	100-500ms
Hold-up Time	17ms min.
Efficiency	81% (100W) / 85% (250W) / 82% (500W)
Input Voltage	115/230 V
Input Frequency Range	50/60 Hz
Input Current	10A @ 115V, 5A @ 230V
Output	+3.3@20A,+5V@15A,+12V1@14A,+12V2@13A,+12V3@6A,-12V@0.5A,+5VSB@3.0A
MTBF	>400,000 hrs
Approvals	Nemko / TUV / cUL / CE / BSMI / FCC / CCC
Features
Connectors	1 x Main connector (20+4 pin) 1 x 12V (P4) 1 x 12V(8pin) 6 x peripheral 2 x SATA 1 x Floppy 2 x PCI-E
Features	Intelligent Circuit Configuration Green Power Product High Performance@High Reliability

Brand	HIPRO
Model	TOP-600P5
Price	$74.99
Type	ATX V2.01
Maximum Power	600W
Fans	1
PFC	Active
Main Connector	20+4-Pin
Dual +12V	Yes
SLI Support	No
Modular Cabling Support	No
Input Voltage	115/230 V
Input Frequency Range	50/60 Hz
Input Current	10A @ 115V, 6A @ 230V
Output	+3.3V@28A, +5V@48A, +12V1@20A,+12V2@20A, -12V@1.0A,-5@0.8A,+5VSB@2.5A
Features
Connectors	1 x Main connector (20+4 pin) 1 x 12V (P4) (8/4 pin) 6 x peripheral 2 x SATA 2 x Floppy 1 x PCI-E

I think the Cooler Master continuous sounds like the better choice, but my knowledge of Power Supplies is rather limited. It's more than I wanted to spend, but seems tres secksay.

What do you think? Maybe you have a better idea?

Heh. I discovered this gaming site that had tiered ratings for power supplies, and ended up going with a 500W Enermax Liberty.

A bit more than I'd wanted to spend, but it's rock solid, and should serve me well for a very long time.

Overall, I've been tremendously pleased with my current Enermax-- the fact that I'm only getting rid of it after four and a half years because my computer's outgrown it should stand as a testament to its quality

Thanks for your help, folks :)

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