How bad is GameMax RPG 700W Rampage PSU 80 Plus Bronze?

SkyTerran

SkyTerran

SkyTerran

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I'd usually buy something like a Seasonic Gold PSU for any new PC. But today I'm helping my brother's kid upgrade his gaming PC - which is a prebuilt that has a GameMax RPG 700W Rampage PSU 80 Plus Bronze. The PC hasn't been used much at all, so the PSU is practically new. I'm wondering if it's really worth changing it. The PC spec is Radeon RX 6600 XT + i7 12700K @ no overclock.

Also the prebuilt had a Gigabyte H610M S2H V2 DDR4 motherboard, which has no radiators on the VRM. It used to run fine with an i3-12100, but I wonder how it's going to work with an i7-12700K. Is it going to just limit the amount of power the CPU gets when the VRM elements heat up to their limit? The CPU has a Noctua tower cooler, so not much air flow over the VRM.
 
Assuming it's this one:

1727685251153.png

Then yes it's trash and should be changed immediately. The lack of auto ranging (i.e. 100-240V EU + USA support) means it's using a very old/cheap design - I would therefore wonder what other corners have been cut.

In fairness it actually is 80 Plus Bronze certified (unlike many of the cheap ones that just put a fake badge on without actual certification), but just barely

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Could be worth buying some heatsinks for the vrms and getting a fan pointed at them if possible.

I'd definitely change that PSU, if on a tight budget be quiet has some decent bronze rated units that are relatively inexpensive.
 
I though of heatsinks, but I'm afraid over time the glue may give up and they can go flying and short something. Some motherboard without radiators on the VRMs still have holes for attaching radiators, but not this one.

I have a spare sealed EVGA 600 W1, 80+ WHITE 600W PSU, but it's probably no better than the Gamemax (bought it for 23 quid some time ago).
 
The adhesive tape that comes with some small heatsinks is usually spot on tbh, even if one did fall off (unlikely) the chance of something that small/light causing any damage is slim.

This isn't a bad resource for finding a PSU:

cultists.network

PSU Tier List rev. 17.0g - Cultists Network

PSU Tier List will help you to choose the best PSU out of hundreds of models on the market. From budget to the highest end Power Supplies.
cultists.network cultists.network

I'd not use anything lower than C tier personally.
 
SkyTerran said:
Also the prebuilt had a Gigabyte H610M S2H V2 DDR4 motherboard, which has no radiators on the VRM. It used to run fine with an i3-12100, but I wonder how it's going to work with an i7-12700K. Is it going to just limit the amount of power the CPU gets when the VRM elements heat up to their limit? The CPU has a Noctua tower cooler, so not much air flow over the VRM.
Click to expand...
If the BIOS doesn't automatically apply some kind of power limit to the CPU, then yes, it will lose performance due to the CPU throttling as the motherboard heats up.

I'd recommend you set a power limit, in the region of 65 watt PL1 and 95 watt PL2.

SkyTerran said:
I have a spare sealed EVGA 600 W1, 80+ WHITE 600W PSU, but it's probably no better than the Gamemax (bought it for 23 quid some time ago).
Click to expand...
They're one of EVGA's lowest-end PSUs, but very hard to find reputable reviews of these kind of units because they don't/rarely send them out.
 
The problem with many prebuilds, especially from independent pc shops, is that they chuck the cheapest of everything in their pc's to maximise profit. Your brother's is a prime example with a cheap and nasty psu and motherboard and the cheapest 12000 series cpu. Did it have a single stick of slow memory by any chance? If so it's worth either replacing it with a decent dual channel kit in the 3200-3600mhz range or buying a matching stick to get extra performance from running in dual channel. If they fitted a pair of sticks then at least they did something right. You are going to have to do something with that motherboard's vrm's as the 12700k is going to hammer them. Getting some of the little memory chip heatsinks and using a decent thermal tape would be a good start. If Akasa thermal tape can still be bought I always had excellent sucess with that ass long as the bottom surface of the heatsinks and the top of the vrm's were thoroughly cleaned with IPA. I never had one come unstuck using that method. Alternatively you could use thermal glue to stick heatsinks on but once they are on they are not coming off.

The EVGA white label psu's are garbage.
 
Thank you very much for your help chaps :)

I grabbed a Seasonic PSU and an AsRock B660M Pro RS motherboard (later saw the Hardware Unboxed review of budget B600 boards, according to which this one has a very poor VRM, but oh well).

The PC actually has very good cable management, but there are a million very tight zip ties. What instrument do people use to remove those? Scissors do not fit in and using a knife is a little bit dangerous.
 
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