Buyer Remorse or Upgrading Fear, PSU in Question

maguszxz

maguszxz

CAGiversary!
This is my first upgrading project, taking my nearly 5 year old PC and adding a new video card, 500W psu, and 2Gbs of memory (that will come later). I love really think I made the right choice on the video card but the power supply is the one in question. My first choice was a 30 dollar Hec Compucase for 30 bucks but I went against fearing it was too cheap. Then I picked out a nice Rosewill one for 50 bucks but sadly it was sold out this morning. So I picked middle of the ground, and got a Apevia 500W PSU for 40 bucks with free shipping. The reviews were very middle of the road but with a lot of reviews on Newegg, you have to take them with a grain of salt. My budget won't permit me to go higher than 50 bucks because I want to save money for my first build. I know about the price of quality but I want to extend the life my media center PC for a few more years. Anyway, here is the link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148027

Let me know what's going on.
 
The reviews on that are reasonable enough and the price is low enough that I would just go with it. If you decide to buy one from a more reputable manufacturer you could try something like this thermaltake power supply, although it costs $10 more and has slightly worse rails.
 
[quote name='DrFoo']The reviews on that are reasonable enough and the price is low enough that I would just go with it. If you decide to buy one from a more reputable manufacturer you could try something like this thermaltake power supply, although it costs $10 more and has slightly worse rails.[/quote]

I have high hopes that everything will be ok, it didn't look so bad and it was what I wanted for a good price. If it goes bad, I will swap it out for something else. I just need to relax for right now and pray that it doesn't fry my parts.
 
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Well just looking at the reviews less than 20% of people were unsatisfied with it and I doubt the power supply fried any computers; it probably just stopped working. Also keep in mind people who have power supplies that fail are far more likely to leave reviews (at least I'm assuming so because when I get angry at a product that has failed I usually want some sort of revenge :D).
 
I never really thought about that. I guess emotions do affect a review and its quality. Some reviewers just hulk out and write DOA and then that's it.
 
Honestly I wouldn't get that PSU, if there is something you do not want to skimp on it's the PSU

DO NOT read the Newegg reviewers they know nothing, get yourself a quality PSU it will pay off in the end
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I knew my Cag brethren wouldnt let me down. I will know better when I start my first build. I won't cheap out there. I just wanted to save money on my old PC. I know a few brands to keep my eye on but any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Also, this might be a foolish question. I went to eXtreme PSU Calculator with everything came up to 276W. Do you think I will be able to use my old 300W PSU with my new video card. Please let me know.
 
It depends on your new video card. You need the right connectors (modern video cards often have their own pci-express power connector that old power supplies don't have) and you would probably be cutting it close for power. You might as well try it anyways. The worst it would probably do is not start, shut down randomly, or slow down your computer.
 
[quote name='maguszxz']Thanks for the advice, everyone. I knew my Cag brethren wouldnt let me down. I will know better when I start my first build. I won't cheap out there. I just wanted to save money on my old PC. I know a few brands to keep my eye on but any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Also, this might be a foolish question. I went to eXtreme PSU Calculator with everything came up to 276W. Do you think I will be able to use my old 300W PSU with my new video card. Please let me know.[/quote]


short answer is no.

those power calculators are fine to figure out a baseline but usually you would want at least something close to or higher than +50%.

reason being is that in my experience, those power calcs are about what the system is at idle and when you beef up the graphics card or start putting the pc under a high load (like gaming for example) the power draw is much higher. I'll throw down my specs to show you what I mean. It ain't much but it works fine so far....although my Sony is dying on me I think...


Power Supply:
Coolmax CXI-600b 600w

Motherboard:
Asus M2N-SLI 560 chipset

Graphics Card:
EVGA 8800GT 512MB DDR3

RAM:
4GB DDR2 800

CPU:
AMD Athlon X2 6000+ (3Ghz)

DVD-ROM & Sony DVD writer

250gb Seagate and 500gb Western Digital hard drives
 
ok, I get what you saying. My specs are a bit timid.

PSU:
HIPRO 300W

Mobo:
Asus

RAM:
1Gb DDR2 400

CPU
Pentium D 2.8Ghz

DVD Rom and DVD Burner

250 Gb Seagate HDD

Video card (for now)
Radeon X300 SE

New video card:
Sapphire Radeon HD 4650 Low Profile

Here's the link to it
 
I just want to throw in my 2 cents about Apevia: I had an Apevia PSU in an old computer. Note the had. It decided it needed to die one day, and instead of just quietly going, it fried my mobo along with itself when I went to turn it on. The wonderful blue smoke came out of the PSU and nothing worked after that. I'd really, highly recommend staying away from them. Spend the extra money and get a good brand. You'll regret it later if you don't.
 
[quote name='maguszxz']Soooo, I should just send it back before I put it my computer?[/quote]
I would recommend it, but it's up to you. If you feel it's safe, then go ahead and use it. I just wanted to share my experience with you. If it were me, I'd get rid of it and get something else though. Power supplies are one thing you never want to go cheap on with a computer.
 
Well, I will test it out on my spare part PC for about a day before I try it in my computer. I have prayed on it. If any issues come up with it, I will send it back soon as possible. I just don't like waiting two days for something and then have to send it. I will heed the warnings well. If it doesn't work, I will go to Staples and get an Antec PSU.
 
meh...I'd go with that Thermaltake that was posted earlier. It's about the same amount of power and there's a rebate for it so it'd wind up being less than the Apevia. Not sure how much an Antec would cost but it'd probably be more since it's retail but if it isn't I'd say go for it.
 
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