ATX 600W Power Supply @ Tiger Direct - $14.99 after Rebate

Ultra Limited Edition 600W Power Supply U12-41530 or
Ultra LSP 600-Watt ATX Power Supply or
ULTRA 600W LIMITED EDITION PSU - BLK (UPC: 022769415307) (PART: u12-41530) (Model: AD-5520N2-36)

Rebate covers 11/11/2012 through 1/5/2013

Be careful if you purchased this back in November, you cannot get a second rebate.

Sounds like a great price for a 600w power supply--but then I noticed that it's Tiger Direct and that the price factors in a $25 Rebate. I have PAINFULLY LEARNED from Several Years of putting up with Tiger Direct's FAKE REBATE OFFERS THAT THE BUYER NEVER RECEIVES THE REBATE FROM TIGER DIRECT. Apparently Tiger Direct determined that the road to more profits was to RIP OFF THE BUYER EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!!! (E.g., Fake Rebates, Not Accepting Returns, Re-Selling RMAed Items, You Name It! So Now whenever I see that the Seller = Tiger Direct it's an Automatic NO BUY . . . For The Rest Of My Life Tiger Direct AND I WILL WARN OTHERS ABOUT THE WAY YOU MISTREATED YOUR FORMER CUSTOMERS FOR YEARS EVERY TIME I DO!!!

It is a great price, but this isn't an efficient power supply. An 80+ efficient PSU will pay for itself if you have the computer on much, by saving you power. And for a lot of builds, 600 watts is way more than you need (if not building a gaming machine, at least). My most recent Sandy Bridge build (a media center not a gaming machine - has no video cards) idles at 20 watts. The 430 watt efficient power supply I am using is way more than I need, though I'd probably want 250 watts minimum to handle peak loads. I saw that same Corsair 430W 80+ power supply on sale again for $20 after rebate again in the last week.

This is the same one that I got on Black Friday, and it works great for me. I'm using it with the Biostar mobo that was on sale with memory from Neweeg. I just checked the status of my rebate and I has already shipped. Cross my fingers so that it arrives.
It is a very silent PSU.

cpabster said:   ahallfatwallett said:   It is a great price, but this isn't an efficient power supply. An 80+ efficient PSU will pay for itself if you have the computer on much, by saving you power..

Actually, no. You'd have to be running the rig at 100% 24/7/365 and even then it would take years to recoup the price difference of the supply alone.

Here, let me do the math for you:

I have seen some of these efficient power supplies draw 20 watts less than the inefficient power supply they replaced. (Yes, with a Kill-a-Watt meter, yes, comparing apples-to-apples, at idle.)

Let's say you pay 10 cents per kWh, which is a lot cheaper than some people reading this are paying. If your computer is on all day, in 24 hours it would cost $0.10/kWh * 0.02 kW * 24h = 4.8 cents per day for 20 watts. Or $17.52 per year if it were on 24/7. That's more than the cost of this 600W PSU all by itself. The 430W 80+ PSU I saw for $20 (if you don't need 600W but just need a cheap power supply) would pay for itself in a year (meaning, the extra $5 you spent on it) even if you only use it 8 hours a day.

I've also observed that many inefficient PSUs have high leakage current even when the computer is powered off - sometimes 6 watts or more. The 80+ PSUs are much better in this regard, too - they leak 2 watts or less in my experience with a couple of them. So it's likely you're saving power even when powered off (most poeple just turn the computer off and don't hit the power on the back of the PSU, which would kill all the power).