~£50 PSU for i3 & Radeon 6850 build

Just bought the XFX Pro 550W to replace my OCZ SilentXStream 600W and I must say it seems very good. The noise levels are just so much better and there haven't been any problems with the rig in my sig.
 
sharingan_sasuk said:
Definitely no Crossfire involved in this mini-ITX build! :) Going to be ordering in the next hour or so as it's my day off work again tomorrow and I would like it delivered then.

So atm, XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99 inc VAT it seems.

PSU
I am also looking at these but I'm not sure if they are any better?
Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) [CMPSU-500CXV2UK][OCZ-ZS550W-UK] £44.99 inc VAT
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply [OCZ-ZS550W-UK] £46.98 inc VAT
Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2) [CMPSU-600CXV2UK] £52.99 inc VAT
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 400W High Performance Modular Power Supply - White [PPCMK3S400-UK] £54.98 inc VAT although the pic shows a non-modular connection?

120mm fan
I also need a quieter 120mm fan as that seems like the loudest part of my PC atm, and I was looking at these 3:
Antec Tri-Cool 3-Speed 120mm Fan - Black £3.98 inc VAT
Akasa AK-191-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin [AK-191-SM] £5.99
Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin [ZM-F3] £4.69

140mm fan
Finally I need a 140mm fan to replace the front LED one I got. Needs to have no LEDs as I don't like the flashy lights:
NZXT FN-140 Enthusiast Performance Case Fan - 140mm [FN-140RB] £9.98 inc VAT
BitFenix Spectre 140mm Fan - Black £9.98 inc VAT
Phobya Nano-G 14 PWM Black Silent Edition case Fan ( 140x140x25mm ) £10.99 inc VAT

Any idea which I should get? I just need enough to keep the airflow going but more important is the quietness.
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The XFX is still the best, the PC Power+Cooling is good (Seasonic also), and semi-modular (you need to use the attached cables anyway) but just a single 6/8pin PCI-E (your 6850 needs two I assume?)

The Antec 120mm fan ahas a three speed fan controlling switch to adjust the RPM, so you can pick whats best for you.
 
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The Halk said:
Those OCZ are built by Sirfa/High Power. As I said though the Powerswap warranty is the attractive part. Seasonic doesn't guarantee it's a high end PSU, they do make to customer's specifications, but equally they won't make a low end PSU. There's lots of reviews of the OCZ ones and they all come out well.
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Although to take advantage of that you would need to send your power supply to the Netherlands which costs around £19 on parcel2go
 
If you have control over the fans through the motherboard header then that's a worthwhile option, I always prefer to have a fast fan running slow, than a slow fan running 'full on'. It also means you can go cheap on the fans rather than buying expensive. The Antec fan with the speed controls are a great price, but watch as some of them have LEDs and some don't. At least when I ordered mine that was the case, I think OcUK bought a 'job lot' of them.

However cheaper motherboards, sadly, seem to lack fan controls.

None of the PSUs you've listed are bad, OcUK forums is probably guilty of a bit of PSU snobbery, however of them the Corsair stands out a little as being not quite as good as the rest. The XFX is the best of the lot, but it's up to you if you want to spend the little extra on it. A 6850 I thought only had a single 6 pin? I'm not sure though!
 
TeRmIn8r said:
Although to take advantage of that you would need to send your power supply to the Netherlands which costs around £19 on parcel2go
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Yep... I wish I could be confident and say who does it from the UK. My poor experience with XFX I'm nearly certain I'd to send it to Europe somewhere as well. 19 quid for a brand new replacement is better than 19 quid and 4 weeks while you wait on them sending the same broken one back though!
 
This is why I would prefer to pick the more reliable and quiet PSU than one with the best warranty as for a £40-50 PSU, I rather just buy a new one when it goes kaput than pay half the price to send it back. Not to mention I'm without a PSU for 2-4 weeks as well!

Going to have to go for a different 120mm fan to the Antec as I don't want to risk receivng a LED one!

And yep, my ASUS 6850 uses two 6-pin connectors for power.
 
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Yep, it's the same with motherboards etc too. You end up buying a new one because you don't know how long the RMA will take, and you're always fearing getting the same part back with them saying they can't find a fault.
 
Right I've ordered the XFX PSU, an Akasa 120mm fan as I didn't want to risk getting an LED one and I read it comes with weird screw holes but no supplied screws, some Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste and a Fractal Design 140mm fan. As usual I can't wait :)

Thanks all for helping me make up my mind. I love OcUK and you guys. That's why I continue to spend money here!
 
I've got the fractal design 140mm fans and they do the job for me. They're barely audible at full pelt, and I have a quiet system. Normally they run at 60%. They don't shift much air relative to other 140mms... but they're 140mm case fans so they don't need to move fast to get the job done.
 
Simply WOW. This XFX PSU is so quiet! So is the Fractal 140mm fan. The loudest thing in my rig now has to be the 120mm fan lol. Can't imagine how I used to run 80mm fans now.

Gotta say the first time I switched it on, I was bricking it because it wouldn't switch on. Turns out I didn't stick the 24 pin ATX connector in properly lol. The PSU is definitely heavier than my OCZ and has WAY more cables but it still fits in fine. It just means I got less free space in the hard drive cage between the front fan and the back.
 
Hefting a PSU is a good indicator of the quality :)

You can probably kill the noise of the 120mm fan too. There's a couple of options. The simplest is to see if there's a BIOS option, if it's connected on a 3 pin. The second best option is to 7v it (you can also 5v it but 7v should be fine), by swapping the wires on the molex it's connected around.
 
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The amount of cables!

If the airflow is seriously impeded come summer, then I suppose I could swap it for the BeQuiet Pure Power 530W modular PSU in my brother's i5 & Radeon 6950 build.
 
They are pretty thick and won't bend so easily to cable tie together. Atm, I've just tucked it all into the hard drive cage, which is pretty much what I've left it in there for lol. And maybe to help strengthen the case with that heavy PSU as it sits on top of another adapter just behind the GFX card. I'll upload some pics later.
 
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