Budget PSU £60 - £80 what should I buy

daz87uk

daz87uk

daz87uk

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Gf needs a new PSU for her pc and Im wandering what Psu 2 get her, I need around 600Watts and as much as I like the look of a corsair I would much prefere a modular psu for that price range.

Corsair, Coolermaster or OCZ.

Im liking the Ocz because its a lot cheaper and modular, they all seem to be Japanese Capacitors as well so kinda bit stuck on what to get. I need at least 2x6pin PCIE and not a lot else is needed 1 harddrive and 1 dvd drive. i prob wouldnt need more than 500 but i want a little over head for future upgrades. got a 460watt Coolermaster atm and the thing sounds like its about to explode its going at full wack while playing games and kicking out a ton of heat.

any help much appreciated, If i get a good psu lined up Im hoping to buy it 2night. :D
 
All the ones you mention are top quality. The corsair one has a 7 year warranty but costs £100, The OCZ is nice and cheap, personally Ive got an antec, which is cool and very silent. So just do eni mini myne mo...lol
 
eni mini myne mo was kinda what I was thinking lol :D, Not having much experience with PSU's got an enermax thats been RMA'd once just before its warrenty was up so thats still going in my pc atm and the coolermaster psu in my GF's pc was silent and good until I upgraded the Graphics to something hidiously power hungry and ever since then its been 100% Fan and melting temperatures. If it was me it would prob be Corsair, but as its not my cash im burning lol i think the coolermaster is a good psu still. current psu as much as I have calculated it I reckon it has less than 50 watts left in it possibly as low as 20 to 30watts,It really is a survivor with the demand needed. :D I think coolermaster will seal the deal but then OCZ oooooo I hate these decisions lol who's got a straw :D
 
Yeah the pc is used for gaming, current PSU is running at max and im asuming a efficency of about 80% so a 500Watt is actually 400watts after the psu has wasted that 20%. currently there is a 460watt psu in the computer and that is clearly under strain, by the heat and noise its making since adding the graphics card. before I could hear a slight hum from the tv over the pc thats how quiet it used to be. now it sounds like a rocket and thats the psu making the sound. :D
 
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I think for budget reasons although I like the antec, I'll stick with the coolermaster 600watts I know how quiet they are when there not being stressed so its a safe bet, there was nothing wrong with the current psu it just hasn't got the guts for this card. thanks all. :D
 
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Might be best posting the spec of the computer it's going in, that way you will get a better answer.

Plus i wanna know what this "hidiously power hungry" graphics card is. lol :p
 
daz87uk said:
Yeah the pc is used for gaming, current PSU is running at max and im asuming a efficency of about 80% so a 500Watt is actually 400watts after the psu has wasted that 20%. currently there is a 460watt psu in the computer and that is clearly under strain, by the heat and noise its making since adding the graphics card. before I could hear a slight hum from the tv over the pc thats how quiet it used to be. now it sounds like a rocket and thats the psu making the sound. :D
Click to expand...

Huh? That doesn't make any sense! A 500watt PSU outputs a max of 500Watts. If it's 80% efficient it'll pull 600watts from the wall to output those 500watts. It's efficiency level doesn't reduce it's rated output!
 
Lol Sorry it's me being a nub, trying to read what the power ussage of graphics cards are, I cant seem to get a solid result. Every page I read says something completly different? She has a 4870 Which uses 2x6pins for power and when I read reviews and people talking about it I get something like; Idle 150watts 280Watt max? and stuff like that lol, and then going on about u cant calculate the exact power without using the efficency of the power supply, it doesnt help when half the threads I read are wrong lol. Im trying to piece it all together, Plz enlighten me on my mistakes here lol
 
Most PCs don't draw anywhere near 600W. It's the most over-rated stat there is, and most people just assume bigger is better.

A quality (built by Seasonic) 450W PSU is enough for just about anybody...

[edit: that stuff about 150w idle 280w load ought to be the total system power draw. If any graphics card is drawing 150w at idle, I'd be very suprised :p]
 
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I think its most likely something to do with its a £30 PSU Coolermaster 460Watt Extreme power and its not up to the job. AMD did recommend I use a 500Watt psu so I duno, Was gonna get something around that. 500 or 550 so the pc can be upgraded later at some point. the spec is;

2.1Ghz Triple Core 8450
Gigabyte MATX --- GA-MA78GM-S2H
4GB of 2x Ocz
1x Blue 640GB HDD
1x Pioneer DVD Drive

Thats it. Im guessing now then its prob becuase it was a cheap £30 PSU that came with the case then and not because it needs more power? ;D
 
I ordered an OCZ Fatal1ty 550w modular psu for £59.99 off the big p site yesterday so maybe something like that will do the trick? I've used a couple of OCZ psus in the past and had absolutely no problems- great value for money.
 
Im running a system similar to that but with a Q6600 and a heavily oced 4870 and im only using a seasonic 400watt psu and it has never been a problem,i even ran my power hungry gtx285 on it with no problems lol
 
That's because Seasonic are class ;) They have an enviable reputation for making great PSUs.

Yeah, I like to pimp Seasonic :p
 
As much as most PCs hardly ever use over 350-400W it's good to have something near 600W margin because the closer to the maximum output you get the hotter the PSU get's and the more noisy and less efficent it will be so it's better to run PSUs at around 60% their load hence it's good to buy a 600-700 if you're at it so it will last you for a couple for years and will do fine in case you decide to CF, it will also run cooler and more silent.

The coolermaster series are excellent value for money.

As much as corsairs are good I found them somewhat overpriced nowadays, I guess they got quite greedy after stealing their first year fame and prices went up a lot and somehow I can't justify the extra premium on them as their quality isn't all that great, my tagans/thermaltakes and seasonics were always more silent and looked more solid.

And yes, get a modular for sure.
I'd go with the 600 or 700 coolermaster if you can't afford a tagan/seasonic/zalman etc.
I guess OCZs are good too but I haven't tried them personally so can't give you my word on it.


One good tip tho: never be greedy on a PSU, better wait week or two, whatever even a month if you have to and pay the extra 20-30quid for a proper one as it will last you ages.
Some tagans and seasonics I've had worked fine for 6-8yrs through several builds and they still do in some old spare office rigs now so it's definitely worth it.
 
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Thanks for the advise guy's I know a 600W is a little over cooked for what I need, but like above ^^ I dont want to be running it hot or excessive fan speeds, and for future builds it should last running at lower output :D I got the Coolermaster 600W and hopefully it should be as good as the last one but a bit more up for the job :D
 
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