Is a high priced psu really necessary?

This thread contains PSU hysteria. :)

I disagree with the some of the overall sentiment of what has been said here.

A little history first of all

Right now almost everything in your PC uses the 12V supply from your PSU. And in terms of wattage, an even higher amount of 12V is used compared to everything else. Your CPU and your graphics card, by far the highest drain, use the 12V line.

Years ago this wasn't the case. CPU and other parts of the computer did not run on the 12V line. When that changed reputable PSU manufacturers changed their designs so that they were able to supply the new modern demands of motherboards.

But not all PSUs changed. Some manufacturers kept churning out the old designs. For years you had to watch not just the quoted wattage output, but also the rated output in amps on the 12V line. Many PSUs said they were 480W but could only manage 200W on the 12V line making them unsuitable for a PC which would draw 400W.

That's changed now. You would have to go very much into the bargain basement to find one of the old designs, they've been obsolete so long that the new designs have taken over, even in the bad factories.

All of the time though, on motherboards, graphics cards and power supplies manufacturers have tried to cut corners by fitting cheap components. Chemical capacitors in particular all are doomed to fail eventually, the better the capacitor the longer it will last - they also last shorter the hotter they get. Cheap PSUs have cheap capacitors.

These days things are much improved on the PSU front. There are fewer companies making PSUs in general. There are still howlers out there to watch for, but as far as I'm aware OcUK do not sell these howlers.

What hasn't changed though is the hysteria surrounding PSUs. If you took advice from this forum only then everybody would have a highly efficient 600W+ beast of a PSU that cost as much as the processor and is a great big waste of money.

What compounds it is people's idea of how big a PSU they actually need. Not going SLi? A _good_ brand at 500W will do you no matter what, or if you want to be future proof a decent brand at 600W. Unless you have a power hungry graphics card then you'd be fine with a decent brand at 500W, or even lower.

If you're going SLi then you need a good brand at 600W, or a decent brand at 700W. And that's assuming you're going for a space heater type graphics card like the latest nVidia or ATi ones.

The very expensive PSUs are either ridiculous wattage you will never need, or very quiet, very attractive modular cabling etc, and very efficient.

My advice is not to overspend on the PSU. If you are spending £500 on the rest of the PC then it just simply does not warrant a £100 PSU.

If you paid £20 for a 600W PSU then the chances are it will be fine for what a good PSU would do 400W at, but it will be inefficient, generate more heat and be noisier.

The very first post in the thread has probably the best three PSUs for you to consider from OcUK. All I'd disagree with there is the word minimum. Any of those three PSUs would be just fine for you, and you should only spend more money if you feel it's warranted, you do not need to.
 
A good post, but you forgot something.

Hiper psu's ruined the reputation of cheap psu's forever! lol. I still crack up when I see photoshoped nuculear explosions onto hiper psu pics haha.
 
Well, to be exact!

Hiper PSUs weren't cheap. They were mid range, they were priced the same as PSUs you would put in a normal, inexpensive build.

People bought Hipers based on price and that's why it was remarkable when they exploded - at that price they shouldn't.
 
True, i remeber them being about 60-70 quid. I still miss the days of laughing when someone said they bought a hiper. Even though I think it was blown outa proportion a lot.
 
just not worth skimping on probably the most important components.
PSU blows then could easily take other things with it as others have said.
Would you buy a high performance sports car and run it on the cheapest fuel you can buy just because "it does the same as the expensive stuff"?

Same in theory applys here, spending out a lot of money on high end components only to let it run with the cheapest power supply
 
milkinc13 said:
just not worth skimping on probably the most important components.
PSU blows then could easily take other things with it as others have said.
Would you buy a high performance sports car and run it on the cheapest fuel you can buy just because "it does the same as the expensive stuff"?

Same in theory applys here, spending out a lot of money on high end components only to let it run with the cheapest power supply
Click to expand...

I'd comapre it more to buying a Ferrari and putting remoulds on it :eek:
 
milkinc13 said:
just not worth skimping on probably the most important components.
PSU blows then could easily take other things with it as others have said.
Would you buy a high performance sports car and run it on the cheapest fuel you can buy just because "it does the same as the expensive stuff"?

Same in theory applys here, spending out a lot of money on high end components only to let it run with the cheapest power supply
Click to expand...

But we're not buying high performance sports cars. I don't remember seeing a "Will this PSU do?" thread where someone was looking at dual Xeons and tri-SLI.
 
i7 950 £200
1366 mobo £150
GTX 570 £300

5.75 megawatt gold plated PSU £14

Watching the lot become toilet with the smell of burnt TCP

Priceless
 
Over the last 10 years of PC building I have built using cheap components / Cheap PSUs / expensive components expensive PSUs. I have had PSUs blowing up taking components with them from both expensive PSUs and cheap PSUs. I don't think it matters in the real world. Just because they are expensive it doesn't mean they are good. Cough "Hyper" Cough.

I still would purchase a high end PSUs for a high end rig and vice versa.
 
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You don't have to buy an expensive one. Just don't buy a really cheap one. A lot of people see "700W" and assume that's an indication of what they need - so find the cheapest PSU that claims sufficient wattage, and they buy that.

We know better... :)

Keep it sensible though, I'd say get an Antec TruePower 650W minimum - then scale it up according to the overall spend.
I do tend to assume there are two kinds of builds - ~£800 and ~£1300
Most of the PSU skimping occurs with people who think they can get a dogs danglies gaming machine for under £600

Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply [76134] £71.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-117-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

Antec TruePower New Modular 750W Power Supply £104.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-116-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

Bear in mind that PSUs aren't 100% efficient and degrade over time - this is why you need headroom with the wattage.
 
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My expensive corsair psu blew out within a few weeks of installation. This was obviously a bit of a nuisance but fortunately the rest of my system suffered no damage - I would like to think that was due to paying a bit more for the psu.
 
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