X-bit labs

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Nineteen Power Supply Units Compared. Picking the Right PSU for a PC

Contemporary microprocessors and graphics cards consume significant amount of power and pin a lot of load on the power supply units and getting a high-quality PSU is tremendously important these days. TrustedReviews has attempted to assist anyone choosing power suppliers by taking a look at 19 different power supply units

“Many cases these days cost less than £25 and the PSUs within them are rated at 300W. This would work fine with an entry-level computer, but a cheap power supply is rarely a good option for delivering enough power for a gaming system. However, the old adage that you get what you pay for has also been disproved as we’ve found examples of expensive units not doing what they claim they can do. This makes a thorough test such as this all the more important, as we’ve shown that you never really know what you going to get from a power supply,” explains the article.

“There are many myths surrounding PSUs and hopefully after reading this group test you’ll have a clearer idea of what to look for when purchasing a power supply. It might not be the most exciting product in your PC but without a decent PSU you’ll never get the most out of your PC,” concludes the author.

• TrustedReviews: ATX Power Supply Group Test.

ASUS, BenQ, LiteOn, Plextor and Sony Compete for Best DVD Burner. Dual-Layer DVD Burners Roundup

The market if filled with loads of optical drives from different makers today. In order to help customers to navigate in the plethora of such products, web-sites conduct roundups of such devices, which are quite useful. HotHardware has posted a review of dual-layer DVD burners that may help to see the difference between products from ASUS, BenQ, LiteOn, Plextor and Sony.

“It’s a good time to be in the market for an advanced dual-layer DVD burner, an all-in-one drive capable of burning CDs and DVDs, in addition to playing back your favorite movies. When you take into account the online prices and rebates, each and every one of our contenders can be had for less than $100 and they all offer a boatload of functionality for the money. However, the drive that you choose as a favorite will depend on several different factors, including performance, price, features, software, and bundles,” Hot Hardware web-site believes.

• HotHardware: Dual-Layer DVD Burner Roundup.