Is that power supply was latest ATX? I don't think if newer PSU can running pre-P4/XP well.

so a high output is not needed on the +12V rail (correct me if i'm wrong?).

Right. There is a 12V feed to the motherboard on such a system, but it's not heavily used. The drives are mainly what use 12V, and you're only looking at a few amps at most, depending how many drives you have installed.

Those Suntek units are about as crappy as they come, though... it may have better specs on the label than the Seasonic, but in reality it's probably not capable of putting out any more power than the Seasonic. It should work OK for now, but don't expect it to last more than a year or two before the caps go out.

eGad is your friend. I've generally been able to score nice 20-pin ATX 400+ watt units, like Chieftec, for around $15 shipped to me.

If Suntek not so good, why you not buy on eBay? AFAIK old Enermax PSU was here, and it has capable to running pre-P4 system because it has more +3.3V and +5V power than newer PSU which it has fewer +3.3V and +5V power.

northernosprey02 wrote:

If Suntek not so good, why you not buy on eBay? AFAIK old Enermax PSU was here, and it has capable to running pre-P4 system because it has more +3.3V and +5V power than newer PSU which it has fewer +3.3V and +5V power.

The problem with buying an old PSU on ebay, even if it's still new in the box, is that they still deteriorate with age. If you buy it and then 3 or 4 months later it dies you're screwed because it's already beyond the refund period that ebay/Paypal offers and you've probably already given positive feedback to the seller, which weighs against you when making a complaint.

I might not use the Suntek PSU then (i know it's a crap brand)... It just comes free with the case i bought. I'm thinking it should still be a bit more reliable than my 10+ year old Seasonic unit as it's new?.

The only other spare old PSU i have is from another crap brand (Mercury) and the output values are slightly less than the Suntek PSU... Plus it was previously used in A P4 system for a few years (so it's probably fit for the bin anyway 🤣). I'll have another look on ebay and see if i can find any quality PSU's with good +3.3V and +5V outputs (and not cost too much!).

Some people think a yellowed case adds character or makes an old computer look truly vintage/retro... I just think it looks like a block of dirty old cheese and that's why i bought a new case 🤣.

7cjbill2 wrote:

eGad is your friend. I've generally been able to score nice 20-pin ATX 400+ watt units, like Chieftec, for around $15 shipped to me.

I've never heard of eGad and can't seem to find it either. I bet shipping to the UK will cost a fair bit too 😒.

Had a look on ebay and all PSU's with high +3.3V and +5V outputs appear to be cheapo units manufactured by the following companies:

Suntek
Allied
Dragon
EZCool
Win Power
In Win (might be ok?)
Codegen
ACE
Octigen
Mercury
EVO Labs
2 The Max
Seventeam
Colorsit
CTK
CiT
Sumvision
iCute
FSP

... There are others that sound equally trashy. Are any of the above any good? I can't find any decent (and new) branded PSU's that are suitable. Does my system need the -5V white wire? Most newer PSU's don't have it.

PowerPie5000 wrote:

My 200W Seasonic PSU is now showing it's age and the fan is getting louder under load... I just looked at the specs and they are […]
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My 200W Seasonic PSU is now showing it's age and the fan is getting louder under load... I just looked at the specs and they are laughable! It's done a good job so far, but i feel it's getting too stressed now.

+3.3V = 14A
+5V = 20A
+12V = 8A ...

That's the correct balance (heavier +3.3V & +5V) and plenty enough juice for a PIII system, that tipically will not even draw 100W from the wall. I'd stick to that Seasonic unit that most probably has good jap caps inside (as opposed to other asian junk).

If the fan is FUBAR just replace it with some good new fan, easy job. V.g.:

TELVM wrote:

That's the correct balance (heavier +3.3V & +5V) and plenty enough juice for a PIII system, that tipically will not even draw 10 […]
Show full quote

PowerPie5000 wrote:

My 200W Seasonic PSU is now showing it's age and the fan is getting louder under load... I just looked at the specs and they are […]
Show full quote

My 200W Seasonic PSU is now showing it's age and the fan is getting louder under load... I just looked at the specs and they are laughable! It's done a good job so far, but i feel it's getting too stressed now.

+3.3V = 14A
+5V = 20A
+12V = 8A ...

That's the correct balance (heavier +3.3V & +5V) and plenty enough juice for a PIII system, that tipically will not even draw 100W from the wall. I'd stick to that Seasonic unit that most probably has good jap caps inside (as opposed to other asian junk).

If the fan is FUBAR just replace it with some good new fan, easy job. V.g.:

The fan is spinning like mad because the PSU seems to be getting quite hot under load... It's also getting very old now. It's been getting hot since i added a Geforce 4 MX440 which is probably more power hungry than my previous cards. The PC is still running fine though.

I personally think my Seasonic specs are looking a bit anemic 😒.... I would prefer more than 20A on both the 3.3V and 5V rails to be safe.

Someone on ebay is selling a new & unused 380W Tagan PSU:

+3.3V = 28A
+5V = 37A
+12V = 22A

I'm thinking this PSU will be perfect, or is it overkill? Any opinions? 😀.

I have no opinion on the Tagan. But I've had good experiences with Fortron 300W units, searchable as "FSP300" (I'm annoyed that eBay abolished wildcard searches...). Some of those came up for around $15 when I tried searching it just now. Many of those PSUs are branded by somebody else, but an FSP is a Fortron regardless.
I assume there's probably higher wattage versions also, the 300 is just what I have experience with.

I bought 4x FSP300-60PFN's on ebay a few years ago. I mostly used them on P3 machines, but I even used one of them in an nForce2 AMD system with Radeon 9800 Pro video card. Surprisingly, I found it powers every rail on that machine perfectly, unlike any other PSU I've tried. It's still doing fine to this day.
Maybe it's just luck that it aligns so well with the load on that particular system.

I had some InWin PowerMan 250W also, I don't remember what part number they are or who really made them. They worked fine, one of them amused me when it outperformed a "400W" cheapo PSU. But I prefer to use the FSP300s.

edit: I just remembered a caveat with these. They tend to have bad caps. Good PSUs worth recapping but if you don't want to mess with the caps they might not be a good idea.

shamino wrote:

I have no opinion on the Tagan. But I've had good experiences with Fortron 300W units, searchable as "FSP300" (I'm annoyed that […]
Show full quote

I have no opinion on the Tagan. But I've had good experiences with Fortron 300W units, searchable as "FSP300" (I'm annoyed that eBay abolished wildcard searches...). Some of those came up for around $15 when I tried searching it just now. Many of those PSUs are branded by somebody else, but an FSP is a Fortron regardless.
I assume there's probably higher wattage versions also, the 300 is just what I have experience with.

I bought 4x FSP300-60PFN's on ebay a few years ago. I mostly used them on P3 machines, but I even used one of them in an nForce2 AMD system with Radeon 9800 Pro video card. Surprisingly, I found it powers every rail on that machine perfectly, unlike any other PSU I've tried. It's still doing fine to this day.
Maybe it's just luck that it aligns so well with the load on that particular system.

I had some InWin PowerMan 250W also, I don't remember what part number they are or who really made them. They worked fine, one of them amused me when it outperformed a "400W" cheapo PSU. But I prefer to use the FSP300s.

edit: I just remembered a caveat with these. They tend to have bad caps. Good PSUs worth recapping but if you don't want to mess with the caps they might not be a good idea.

I never saw FSP 300W PSU's with bad caps, but I did see lots of their 250W units go bad.

I use lots of those FSP units in my rigs *counting all the PSU's in my rigs I have in my living room* out of 7 computers I have in my living room right now, 6 of those use FSP or FSP-based PSU's and I never have had any trouble with them.
A friend of mine bought a 2.4GHz Quad Core Intel computer with a 320MB 8800GTS(?) and to my surprise it was powered by a 350W FSP unit. Even though the PSU never gave him any troubles, I considered the PSU to be quite stressed in such a rig and got him a 600W PSU (also FSP based).

And no, I don't work for FSP 🤣!
FSP isn't as good as the really top brands out there, but they make (or at least used to make) good units for decent prices, usually at the cost of not having a neat paint job and having slightly shorter cables (which is fine if you can live with that).
I'm not so sure about FSP's current units, but their old ones of say 300W's were very well built.

I've also used a Tagan 380W PSU (it's a black painted unit and quite heavy!) and so far it's still in working condition. Does Tagan even exist anymore nowadays?

I second FSP. They don't have any frills but they're stout and tough units. I've used a couple of Tagans in the past too, 450w and 700w... heavy and well made with TONS of cables.

Acbel is another really good budget brand in similar vein to FSP. I used a 550w unit before on one of my Core 2 rigs with a hefty overclock and a 3870x2 without issues. Probably shouldn't have done it as I'm sure the PSU was being worked to within a inch of it's life but it worked fine enough to play The Witcher 1 from end to end.

sgt76 wrote:

Acbel is another really good budget brand in similar vein to FSP. I used a 550w unit before on one of my Core 2 rigs with a hefty overclock and a 3870x2 without issues. Probably shouldn't have done it as I'm sure the PSU was being worked to within a inch of it's life but it worked fine enough to play The Witcher 1 from end to end.

I assume you're talking about the API4FS06? Those are great on modern boards, but I've found them not to be well suited to old boards which rely mainly on 3.3v+5v. But that's where the FSPs come in.
Most of my PSUs consist of FSP 300s and AcBel 550s. Between those most needs are covered. An exception I've run into is an MSI 875P board which overloads one rail or the other on either PSU, but that's a rare case.

Did you have to modify the AcBel 550w to run those video cards? Mine was overloading on a single GTX260 card in some games - it was definitely borderline as some games worked. The problem was that the drive connectors are attached to the weakest of the 3 12V rails. I had to solder in a pair of proper PCIE connectors on the stronger rails to fix it.

Tetrium wrote:

I never saw FSP 300W PSU's with bad caps, but I did see lots of their 250W units go bad.

I haven't looked inside one in quite a while, so I could be mixing them up with some other PSUs.

Does my system need the -5V white wire? Most newer PSU's don't have it.

-5V (white cable) is for ISA crads/slots. If you don't have any ISA cards installed, there would be no problem as far as I know.

Just for your information, -5V became optional first, then prohibited entirely, as the ATX standard progresses over time.

I love my XClio 500w GoodPower. No hiccups yet. +3.3V@30A, +5V@28A, -5V@0.5A, +12V1@16A, +12V2@17A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@2.0A

Bet even the Corsair CX430 would handle that system 3.3v@20A, +5@20A = 120W and these can be bought new with rebates making them around $18-25 US.

P3's don't take alot of juice. The P3 1.4S is only around 35w, then typical mobo is 15-20w. That video card is probably 30w.

Athlons on the other hand will really need the juice.

BTW Hi everyone, long time now see 😀

tayyare wrote:

-5V (white cable) is for ISA crads/slots. If you don't have any ISA cards installed, there would be no problem as far as I know.

One of the few ISA cards that should need -5V is the LAPC-I.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

Athlons on the other hand will really need the juice.

I did some research on this and it looks like the 5v focused Athlons should have at least 20A on 5v. This is usually OK for recent PSUs.

I had a KT333 + 2500+ + 9800PRO + Dell 200W (ca 2001) running 3Dmark2001 a few days ago. 😁 Not that I recommend that but it seemed OK!