What about Thermaltake, Seasonic, Corsair, and Antec power supply?

How do you rate them respectively?

I'm going to buy a custom-built desktop computer today or tomorrow, and I can choose from those four at various wattages.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-CORE-...0950424191?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item565e5e467f

I'm leaning toward playing it safe by going for 600 watts.

 

I've got the Thermaltake RX-1 Overseer and I love it.

Roomy, and great to work inside of.

I would get a little larger power supply - 750. Corsair is good.

Just my opinion.

 

This is the one that I have - great for gaming.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...kwCjCs81CjCE&gclid=CLrLirDslbsCFe5j7AodvGsAAQ

A good power supply is essential.

Here's a quality Corsair-

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Enthusiast-Certified-Compatible-platforms/dp/B004LB5AZY

 

Seasonic/XFX are consistently very good or better throughout their ranges, other 'makers' have more variability. Actual makers can vary even across versions of the 'same' PSU, Seasonic are makers, they also build all the XFX range and some for other brands, too.

EDIT: The Corsair TX650 linked by PSCO2007 has has some history, here are the real makers of the different versions:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showpost.php?p=101554&postcount=16

Unless you're planning on running 2x high end graphics cards, 600W will be fine (that base build probably needs 200W).

 

You need to review the specific models and not just the brand. Rosewill, for example, has a long history of undesirable and unreliable PSUs. But some of their 80 PLUS certified PSUs recently have garnered top reviews and are worthy of serious consideration. For example, note the reviewer comments for their Editor's Choice Rosewill Silent Night 500,

95% :drool Amazing!!! There are similar accolades from Anandtech and other respected review sites.

I am certainly not promoting Rosewill, I am just illustrating that no brand can be ruled out. I personally prefer Corsair and Antec PSUs, but again, not all Corsair or Antec PSUs are created equal. So do your homework by specific model number and not by brand name. That said, regardless, get one that is 80-PLUS certified. That ensures the PSU is efficient across a wide range of expected loads - an UNNATURAL characteristic of all PSUs. To make a PSU efficient across the full range requires a quality design and the use of quality parts.

And use the professional review sites. Don't put too much faith in "user reviews" unless many report the exact same problem. Happy users don't post reviews like unhappy users do. And many bad reviews are due to late delivery, damage packaging, or something not related to the quality of the product. Plus, users typically don't have the technical knowledge, test equipment, or comparable products to make a qualified review.

 

While I agree to a point (people are more likely to post bad reviews), reviews on reputable sites such as Newegg or Amazon can flag products with poor reliability and/or compatibility issues. Whether they're useful or not depends on a few factors including:

* Actually reading the reviews for details. If there are five bad reviews and four involve delivery issues, it's a sign you should consider buying the product from another retailer.

* If a bad review involves the product itself, is the sample large enough to be statistically accurate? One bad review is iffy. 40 total reviews with 10 (25%) listing the same problem raises a red flag.

* Putting more faith in reviews from verified purchasers. This reduces the chance of fake positive "shill" reviews posted by someone associated with the manufacturer skewing the overall percentages.

* Perhaps most importantly, looking at the specific problems listed. Besides DOA products, you may find out critical information such as "Does not work with Windows 8" or (mainly for memory) compatibility problems with certain boards or processors.

 

Huh??? I don't see where you said anything different than me. In fact, it seems all you did was rephrase and repeat what I said so I don't understand your "to a point" comment.

One bad review (DOA for example) does not indicate anything. Until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, even the highest quality, most reliable manufacturers will have samples that fail prematurely or don't perform as advertised.

That is why I said (and you seemed to rephrase and repeat), if "many" report the same problem (not involving delivery problems), that's a problem (red flag in your terminology). I did not say "all" nor did I say 1.

I did not say, "don't pay attention to user reviews", I said, "don't put too much faith in "user reviews unless many report" the "same problems" with the product (not the vendor or delivery).

To be sure, I am not opposed to user reviews - IF there is large sample rate and the data is compiled, analyzed and compared by experts in the field and presented properly. For example, Consumer Reports polls it subscribers annually. They get many 100s and often 10s of 1000s of reviews for this refrigerator or that cell phone. Those reviews I pay attention to.

:confused