First post, by AngieAndretti
BACKGROUND: My retro rig is a custom Slot 1 system built around a 1GHz Coppermine Pentium III CPU. I have a couple of DVD drives installed, two SSD's, and a lot of cards installed into the mobo.
My current PSU is a good modern 550w unit with 25a output on the 5v rail. It's done me well but at this point with all the upgrades and additions it's struggling. It still drives the system but the +5 pulls all the way down to 4.5v under maximum load. The PSU also thwarted my CPU upgrade attempt (1.4GHz Tualatin Celeron.) It POSTed but every time the CPU got loaded up the system would spontaneously restart.
QUESTION: I'm wanting to get into a new PSU with stronger +5v output. I know one can find things like a 1600w mining PSU with eight freakin 12v rails that also happens to put out 40a on +5v but the thing is enormous, probably wouldn't fit inside my case, and costs ~$300. That seems to leave two options:
-New old stock like this 300w StarTech unit: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?I … =9SIA6ZP3K21782 but that's still only 30a on +5 which should improve my current config but may still not be enough for a Tualatin upgrade. Also no PFC and low MTBF rating, as it's an old-stock unit.
-Something like this: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?I … =9SIAG4Y78V4139 The brand is Kentek which I've never heard of but it does look like a modern unit and it's listed as providing 40a on the +5v rail which is surely enough for anything I'll ever want to throw in there.
Any thoughts or alternative suggestions?