Which PSU should I buy?

Timothy Kim60 said:Obviously, they aren't the same.
Check out this link regarding professional power supply units and their 80 PLUS certifications: http://www.fsp-europe.com/profession...ghs_85plus.php

As for this cheap Fortron unit, there isn't even any info on what it actually is. It’s definitely not 80+ Bronze—probably just some low-end, budget junk...

Of course they aren't the same. They just slapped the same photo on both listings, but on the cheaper one, the picture actually shows a power supply with an 80+ sticker on it. $53 For an 80+ power supply? 😲 It just didn't make any sense to me... 🙂

crimsonstag84 said:The Fortron 300 w is basically just an MS FSP 300 w, which honestly makes it the best power supply you can grab for a budget build. That second one is an SFX unit, and it’s actually pretty solid quality.

Yeah, that actually makes sense to me.

I could use some advice here.

Here’s what I’m looking at putting together:

Intel Core I5 4690 k, Haswell Refresh, 3500 MHz, socket 1150

ASROCK Z97 PRO4, socket 1150

KINGSTON 4 GB DDR3, 1866MHz HyperX Fury White, DIMM

ASUS HD 7870

Two power supplies on hand: XFX 450 w and ENERMAX NAXN Basic
Series, 500W

The XFX has been running for nearly two years, but it’s solid—no complaints there. The Enermax is brand new, though I have no idea how it performs.

Which one should I go with for this build? The GPU is about a year old but I'll make it work. The CPU, motherboard, and RAM are all new.

I’d still put my money on XFX 🙂

The NAXN Basic is just Enermax's budget option. It's mostly filled with cheap Chinese components inside, so I guess it's basically an XFX.

Hey everyone, I’m in a bit of a bind here and could really use some advice. I'm looking for a power supply that can reliably handle my current setup—I've got an AMD Athlon II X4 630 paired with a Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X OC, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, and two 500GB hard drives. Now, if you look at the official specs on their website, they claim the graphics card alone needs a 750W unit, but after digging through some threads on various tech forums, it seems like people are saying a 500W unit might actually cut it just fine. Because of that, I was thinking about either picking up a brand-new 500W model or maybe hunting for a deal on a used one over at Craigslist for about $67!

The Fortron Hyper 600W is just a step up from the $133 or that XFX TS 550W
.
By the way, your CPU is definitely going to bottleneck a card like that.

Hey there,
thinking about upgrading my CPU and GPU

Intel Core i5 MSI Radeon R9 270 X
MSI Radeon R9 270 X

Right now I'm running a Xilence Redwing 450W, so I'm kinda wondering if that thing can actually handle the jump or if I should just bite the bullet and swap out the PSU too.

thx

The power supply should be fine.

I’d probably suggest going with the Radeon R9 270 instead. It’s a bit cheaper, draws less power, and is basically just a downclocked Radeon R9 270x anyway. Plus, it only uses a single 6-pin connector rather than the 270x setup, so you shouldn't need any adapters.

Jerry Watson2 said:Hey there,
I'm thinking about upgrading my CPU and GPU.

Intel Core i5
MSI Radeon R9 270x

Right now, I'm running an EVGA Redwing 450W—do you think that can handle the jump, or should I just swap out the PSU while I'm at it?

thanks

Which specific i5 were you eyeing?

Larry Ortiz5 said:Which specific i5 were you thinking of?

I5-3470

Do you already have a motherboard? If not, go for an LGA 1150 socket—something like THIS PROCESSOR
The price is actually a bit lower too, but since this one uses a newer socket, it just makes more sense to buy something current rather than investing in tech that's two years old... Just something to keep in mind, right? And if you grab a matching motherboard, you could even go with THIS ONE

Thanks, but I'm already rocking an ASUS GA-B75D3H
just swapping out the i3 for an Intel Core i5 and the 7750 for a Radeon R9 270x

Everything 👍

Hello... I am trying to decide which power supply to pick: the EVGA 500W, the XFX 430W TS series, or the Corsair CX430. I haven't been able to find a decent, intelligent review for the XFX 430W TS anywhere online. My main concern is how quiet they are. The EVGA 500W looks tempting because it offers two PCI-E 2.0 6+2 connectors, whereas from what I can gather, the other two options are single rail designs.

I’d probably drop the Corsair CX from that list since it’s getting a bit pricey for what you actually get.

The main thing is what kind of load the PSU needs to handle... and are you planning on any upgrades down the road?

My current rig is a bit of a lightweight, pulling less than 200W. It’s running an AMD Athlon II X2 250 with 4 GB of DDR3, an HD 4650 1GB, and three SATA hard drives. As for upgrades, I'm planning to drop in an AMD Phenom II X4 960 BE, which I’ll likely have unlocked to an x6. For the GPU, I currently have an 8800 Ultra with 768MB on hand that I'll use as a stopgap until I can pick up an MSI Radeon R7 265 OC. Because of that, I really need a power supply with a PCI-E 2.0 6+2 connector if I intend to run the Ultra for a few more months. I also plan on adding another 2x4 GB of either HyperX Fury or Ripjaws memory.

I suppose an EVGA 500W would work just fine, though if you're planning on any potential overclocking—or who knows—I’d probably lean toward the EVGA 500W anyway. There isn't a massive difference, maybe just a few extra connectors and perhaps a bit more amperage on the 12V rail, but it seems worth it for an extra $17.

http://www.amazon.com/details/product-link-placeholder

It's pretty cheap here, only about $13 more than the 400W version.

What’s the deal with those 80 Plus Bronze, Silver, and Gold ratings?
The 80 Plus part refers to the efficiency percentage. As for the different tiers?

It’s not really about how much power it pumps out; if it's a decent unit (and we can assume it has an 80 Plus rating), then the wattage listed on the label is what it actually delivers. So, if it says 400W, it's 400W. But since no power supply is perfect—just like any AC to DC converter—you're always going to have some losses (like energy turning into heat, etc.).

Basically, if it's 80% efficient and your PC pulls 100W, it'll pull an extra 20W from the wall (120W total) because those 20W just vanish into nothing. I guess the better the certification, the better, though the difference isn't huge enough to obsess over. Maybe just Google the 80 Plus certifications to see the specific requirements for each level (Gold is top tier, Bronze is middle ground, and Silver sits in between).

You've got:

80+
80 Plus Bronze
80 Plus Silver
80 Plus Gold
80 Plus Platinum
80 Plus Titanium

Each certification basically guarantees a certain efficiency level when the power supply is running at 20%, 50%, or 100% of its rated capacity (though I think Titanium is the outlier there, since it also accounts for a 10% load).
For instance, if a unit earns an 80 Plus Gold rating, it has to hit specific efficiency targets at those loads—meaning it loses
88%, 92%, and 88% respectively, or rather, it wastes no more than 12% (at 20% load), 8% (at 50% load), or 12% (at 100% load) less when converting AC to DC power.

So, if you have a 500W power supply with an 80 Plus Gold rating, at a 50% load (which would be 250W), it would pull roughly 270W or less from the wall—that’s 92% efficiency or better at the 250W mark—resulting in a loss of less than 20W. Lower losses mean a slightly lower electric bill, though I guess you might not really notice the difference for maybe 3 or 4 years.

Of course, high efficiency doesn't always equal a high-quality unit. That rule mostly applies to Platinum and Titanium models, and I believe there are probably only about three Titanium units on the market right now. Personally, I’d say the quality of the internal components matters way more. Nobody is going to care about saving a few cents on their monthly power bill $1.75 compared to whether or not they fry a GPU or an SSD worth $667+ 😬