Which PSU should I buy?

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Hey everyone, I could really use some advice on picking out a decent power supply. I'm looking for something reliable and solid, but let's be real—I don't have money to burn, so I need to keep it under $100. I just can't afford one of those cheap, bottom-of-the-barrel units that might blow up my rig. It’s just for some light gaming and browsing the web, nothing crazy, but I want peace of mind, you know? Also, I'm not really feeling the whole online shopping thing—I'd much rather just drive down to a local Best Buy or Micro Center, see the box in person, and grab it myself 🙂
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Here’s what I’m running currently: Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2HP
GPU - Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti
CPU - AMD A8-3850
RAM - 8GB
HDD - WD 500GB, SATA
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64

Silverstone 400w Chicony 400 w
Chicony 400W

brightcrane28 said:I'm looking for some power supply recommendations. Nothing crazy expensive—keep it under $100 since money is a bit tight right now—but I don't want some cheap junk either. It’s just for gaming and browsing, so nothing fancy is needed. Also, I'd rather skip the online stores; I prefer walking into a local shop and picking one up myself. 🙂

Here's the build: Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2HP
GPU - Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti
CPU - AMD A8-3850
RAM - 8GB
HDD - WD 500GB, SATA
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Corsair CX430

http://www.google.com/search?q=80%2B+bronze+power+supply

swiftfalcon89 said:Corsair CX430

http://www.amazon.com/s?k=80+plus+bronze

I thought someone on the forum specifically mentioned looking for power supplies up to a certain limit, $100 so I'm a bit confused about how we ended up $117 here. Either there's some confusion regarding the numbers being discussed or I've missed something, but honestly, he could just pick up that Fortron unit listed below and be perfectly fine. That Corsair is definitely overpriced, especially since, in any real-world scenario, it isn't offering anything superior to the Fortron.☕

http://www.newegg.com/p/products/fortron-power-supply

http://www.bestbuy.com/p/fortron-power-supply

Andrew Miller102 said:Didn't one of the guys on this forum say he was looking for a power supply rated up to $100? So what's the deal with $117 now? Either you're having some trouble with the math or I'm missing something here. Honestly, he can just grab that Fortron unit listed below and call it a day. That Corsair is definitely overpriced for what it is—in the real world, it isn't any better than the Fortron option.☕

http://www.newegg.com/products/detail...ive12-cm/58764

http://www.amazon.com/product_info.php?c...oducts_id=3798

It's not like 350 is the only option out there; there are cheaper ones too. Besides, I don't think it's a huge stretch to chip in an extra $17 to get a decent unit. Plus, you were running a CX430 before, so you already know firsthand that those units aren't all that much better than what you've got on your list.

What’s the cheapest PSU that won't crap out on me with this setup?
-Gigabyte ga-m68mt-s2
-2x 2gb ddr3 800
-2x 250gb HDD
-VTX3D Radeon hd7870
-AMD x2 560

And let me know if they don't have any more or can't get their hands on them.
Just a heads up, the processor will be unlocked to 4 cores and the GPU is going to be overclocked..

Christian Mendoza60 said:Then what else can you tell me if they don't have it or can't get it?
Just a heads up, you'll be unlocking the CPU to 4 cores while overclocking the GPU..

I really hope you aren't planning on overclocking the CPU on that board.

I’m putting my money on XFX. Don't skimp on this one.

This board doesn't even have overclocking settings in the BIOS; all it does is unlock the CPU...
So, yeah, I'm definitely looking at buying a new motherboard.

Christian Mendoza60 said:This board doesn't even have overclocking options in the BIOS... it just lets you unlock the processor.
So, I'm already planning on picking up a new motherboard.

Are you absolutely sure about that? Gigabyte sometimes hides those overclocking settings on certain boards. Try hitting Ctrl+F1 once you're in the BIOS—see if anything pops up then.

There you go... that option was hidden from me. So, what you're saying is this motherboard isn't great for overclocking?
I just bumped my CPU from 3.3 to 3.5, but I'm going to push it even further tomorrow once I pick up a new power supply.

I just assumed that was the case since I've been using a Gigabyte board since my very first build. I honestly don't know what kind of motherboard you're running—I haven't really looked into it—but seriously, just do a quick Google search. You'll probably find some discussion on a tech forum somewhere. Just please, do that before you end up with smoke coming out of it 😁

So, I was reading up on this and apparently this motherboard isn't really built for overclocking a CPU that pulls more than 95W, if I've got that right.
My chip sits at 80W, so unless I'm totally off base, there should be just enough headroom left to push the clock speeds a bit.

Christian Mendoza60 said:So I read somewhere that this motherboard isn't meant for overclocking any CPU pulling more than 95W, if I got that right.
My chip sits at 80W, so unless I'm tripping, there’s still some headroom to push the clocks.

Overclocking pushes that 80W even higher, so: :O

Christian Mendoza60 said:Just a heads-up—unlocking the cores will happen on all 4 cores...

Don't even think about doing that. This motherboard wasn't built to handle 125W processors—you'll end up with a paperweight and zero friends left to sell it to.

That’s exactly what I was asking him... I already told him he could unlock it, so now he's obsessing over everything and hunting for a new power supply because he thinks mine is too weak.
Basically, if he wants to go down the unlocking route, he's going to need a new motherboard.
Any recommendations for a board that actually holds up?

Look, my advice? Try downclocking that Intel Core i3 first—just set it to the lowest possible multiplier you can find—and then see if you can actually unlock it on this specific motherboard. It’s worth doing just to see if overclocking is even an option here; there's no point in wasting your cash on a board that won't let you push things if it's locked tight.

Alright, I did what you suggested..
Now my system info says the CPU is an Intel Core i3 1GHz
I have no idea how long I need to leave it like this to verify if it actually works. I let it run for 5 minutes before switching everything back to the old settings..

Did a little digging and research..
My current setup pulls about 371W at full load
And this EVGA power supply you recommended is rated at 450W with a max efficiency of 82%, which brings it down to 369W.. Isn't that cutting it too close?
Some tests show it hitting 408W, so if I overclock the GPU and CPU just a bit or add another hard drive, we're talking way too little headroom.

Or am I just completely wrong about all this? 🤷