Purchasing a new PSU

Michael Clough · 6 Jan 2018 at 01:03

So as you are all probably aware, the PSU market is completely saturated at every wattage level and discerning what is the best buy at any given time is a nightmare so I was hoping for a little guidance. I have an MSI B350M Gaming Pro motherboard, a Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, an EVGA GTX 1060 6GB SC GPU, a 120GB SSD, a 1TB HDD and 3 120mm fans to power. I have a budget of just £70 or $90 and am in the market for a new PSU. My priorities are reliability/longevity, overclocking stability, economy, cable management, noise - in that order. What's out there at the moment that fits my bill?

Edit: Forgot to mention, 2x 8GB Patriot Viper DDR4 2400 RAM as well. RAM is a given I suppose, but thought I had better mention it anyway.

nzaptx · 6 Jan 2018 at 11:40

Except for the fans I have the same build. A 550W PSU will be very good for this build.

If you can shell out extra, the Seasonic focus plus is one with an exceptional build quality and 10 year warranty.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-05p-ss.html

If you want something within the budget go for the corsair TX550M, it is currently out of stock but you can find it in other shops for a cheaper price (£60-£65) so look around.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...lar-power-supply-cp-9020133-uk-ca-233-cs.html

EsaT · 6 Jan 2018 at 11:43

For budget PSU with fixed cables BitFenix Formula is good.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=Bitfenix+Formula
But you want cable management so we can scratch that.

Next upwards is Seasonic Focus Plus platform using semi modular Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=antec+earthwatts+gold

Then that original Focus Plus Gold with fully modular cabling, semi passive cooling mode and 10 year warranty.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=seasonic+focus+gold

Even 550W would be more than enough for that level CPU and graphics card.
Would estimate absolute max consumption as 300W, with unrealistic simultaneous 100% load for both CPU and GPU.
650W is enough for most single graphics card.

Michael Clough · 6 Jan 2018 at 13:56

nzaptx said:
Except for the fans I have the same build. A 550W PSU will be very good for this build.

If you can shell out extra, the Seasonic focus plus is one with an exceptional build quality and 10 year warranty.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-05p-ss.html

If you want something within the budget go for the corsair TX550M, it is currently out of stock but you can find it in other shops for a cheaper price (£60-£65) so look around.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...lar-power-supply-cp-9020133-uk-ca-233-cs.html

Thanks for the advice nzaptx, I do like the look of that Seasonic and have read good things about the brand as a whole. It might be worth stretching the budget somewhat to purchase it. Will 550W give me capacity to upgrade GPU in the future as well? I'm thinking it probably will be fine what with the ever improving efficiency with each iteration of Nvidia and AMDs architecture. The 10 year warranty gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling too!

Michael Clough · 6 Jan 2018 at 14:02

EsaT said:
For budget PSU with fixed cables BitFenix Formula is good.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=Bitfenix+Formula
But you want cable management so we can scratch that.

Next upwards is Seasonic Focus Plus platform using semi modular Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=antec+earthwatts+gold

Then that original Focus Plus Gold with fully modular cabling, semi passive cooling mode and 10 year warranty.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=seasonic+focus+gold

Even 550W would be more than enough for that level CPU and graphics card.
Would estimate absolute max consumption as 300W, with unrealistic simultaneous 100% load for both CPU and GPU.
650W is enough for most single graphics card.

I know I listed cable management as something desirable but it's not as important as reliability for me so I could sacrifice it for something with better internals. Besides, I have a Fractal Design Define R3, no glass panels there, cable management is more to satisfy my OCD!

So with that in mind, is the BitFenix a wise choice over the Seasonic mentioned in the post above? Or is there a better option closer to that price that maybe sacrifices being modular for performance and reliability?

EsaT · 6 Jan 2018 at 14:42

Unless modular cable connector is bad to start with or you keep plugging in and taking out cables like some socks they aren't reliability problem.
While not needing to wrap up every unnecessary cable is definitely nice and makes working with PC easier.

Though considering motherboard and CPU power cables are pretty mandatory in use semi-modular Antec would be good cheaper option for Focus Plus.
Insides are same but Antec just has decided to give it 7 years warranty.

Michael Clough said:
I'm thinking it probably will be fine what with the ever improving efficiency with each iteration of Nvidia and AMDs architecture.

Power consumption per performance will decrease, but power consumption spread of different level graphics cards won't be going away in future.
So lot depend on what level graphics cards you're planning to use.
For your current CPU at stock and that mainstream graphics cards quality 450W PSU would basically handle it well.
550W allows for higher up graphics card and lighter overclocking of CPU.
650W is enough for almost any single graphics card PC.
Of course heavy CPU overclocking or overvolting of already hungry graphics card would exceed it's capability.

Michael Clough · 10 Jan 2018 at 11:30

Well after the advice I received here and research elsewhere I ended up dropping for the Antec EarthWatts EA650G 80+ Gold based on the Seasonic Focus Plus Gold. It's essentially the same except for the garish yellow branding and semi modular design. I'm sure I won't be disappointed and it's going to be leagues ahead of the budget offering I'm nursing my PC along with at the moment!

Michael Clough · 15 Jan 2018 at 15:36

So when I purchased my PSU I shopped around for the best price which ended up being ****** @ ~£73 with free shipping. Well, I learned my lesson! It should have arrived today. I was checking my order excitedly through the week, but when it got to Friday and the status hadn't budged from 'Order Processing' I became concerned so I contacted them. They assured me it would still arrive Monday (today), and I would get an email once it dispatched. That email never came. Contacted them again this morning, they said they had made a stock level mistake and could offer me a different product or a refund. I chose refund. Now I get to wait 3-5 days for my money back too :rolleyes:

Strangely, when I clicked the item in the order details it was no longer listed - they said it was discontinued, not even a placeholder page until more stock arrived, it was like it never existed. Is there a particular reason for this, I thought that this iteration of the EA650G Pro based on the Seasonic Focus Plus platform was pretty new to market?

Anyway, long story short, I bought the same PSU from removed and will never darken ******'s virtual door again. I would have liked to have bought from Overclockers but it was £5 more expensive for the product and the same next day DPD shipping was a further £5 more expensive so I had to go with removed - sorry Overclockers!!!

No competitors

Sparx · 15 Jan 2018 at 20:36

@Michael Clough you can't talk about competitors, let alone promote them over the very company's forum you are posting on...

Michael Clough · 15 Jan 2018 at 22:36

Sparx said:
@Michael Clough you can't talk about competitors, let alone promote them over the very company's forum you are posting on...

As I have just found out, sorry OcUK and mods. I did a cursory check for forum rules or a sticky at the top of categories but it wasn't apparent. I wrongly assumed the forum was a separate entity to the commercial side and that open discussion would have been ok. Fortunately moderators have already moderated so my post above has been sanitised for other forum members.

NirK · 18 Jan 2018 at 15:40

Seasonic prime gold and EVGA P2 are both very good. In one review the prime gold has better efficiency than the prime titanium which is odd, the prime gold is basically a titanium PSU and is very good in all areas, I got a prime gold 850w recently and it is a very nice product!

Michael Clough · 18 Jan 2018 at 16:05

NirK said:
Seasonic prime gold and EVGA P2 are both very good. In one review the prime gold has better efficiency than the prime titanium which is odd, the prime gold is basically a titanium PSU and is very good in all areas, I got a prime gold 850w recently and it is a very nice product!

I'm sure it's an excellent PSU, it is slight over double my budget here on OcUK though :/ It's ok, thanks for the advice but I have actually picked up an Antec EarthWatts EA650G 80+ Gold, it's based on the Seasonic Focus Plus Gold platform but is only semi modular. I can live with this compromise since it's fixed cables are 24 pin ATX power, 4+4 pin CPU power and a dual 6+2 pin PCIe power, all of which I would be using anyway.

Thanks again though.