Spec me a budget psu

Jonny ///M

Jonny ///M

Jonny ///M

Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
Posts
10,648
Hi there,

I've got a really old system which doesn't really get used for proper gaming but my Mrs plays ARK and I get a bit of League of Legends with mates.

The current PSU is ticking which changes under load, it's not fans as I ruled that out. I'm suspecting it's the cause of random shutdowns/crashes.

Current PSU is XFX Pro 550w but that was based on

Athlon x2 250
8GB DDR3
ATI HD 4850
Asus M4A89 GTD PRO
2 x 3.5" HDD

I've since added an AMD 7870 XT and looking to stick an FX 6300 in it so I know these are both pretty power hungry.

I don't think I can overclock that CPU on this BETA BIOS but even at stock it will be the death of this PSU.

I had a notion for a Ryzen 5 2600 systen and had spec'd a EVGA B3 550w but I'm trying to just keep this one going on a budget until I see how Ryzen 3600 and whatever the replacement RX 580/590 turn out. As you can see I don't upgrade much but when I do I like to get my moneys worth. I've got an XBox one which gets used more than the PC which is probably part

My mate has suggested a Thermaltake Smart RGB 700w but I'm not overly fussed on RGB but quite like modular for the tidiness.

Any advice would be appreciated thanks.
 
That by now pretty much medieval design XFX has better efficiency than that bling bling ping pong Thermaltrash.
That should tell about how low aiming it is.
Also capacitors are lower quality ones.

If you want PSU with actually good chances to last long there are lot better choises.
 
I get what you're saying mate.

What about these two? Are they just as bad?

Cooler Master MasterWatt 550 Watt Hybrid Modular - £55

Corsair VS550 550 Watt Fully Wired 80+ PSU/Power Supply Black - £45
 
The Corsair VS is pretty awful. Some Cooler Master units are ok, but not sure on that one without looking at reviews. You should be fine with a 450W for that system, but if you want a bit of headroom for future upgrades etc then the Bitfenix formula 550W is a better option than the two above.


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £77.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
Cheers for that, Tomshardware goes into loads of details about why it is decent.

I do remeber the whole better caps thing from my old DFI lan party board and protection circuits can only be a good thing.

I think it makes more sense to go for the 550w decent psu that can get carried over to another build. £67 with free postage :D

Will wait until I get paid and get it ordered along with a better cooler for this chip.
 
Got the chip through and chucked it in tonight, 50c+ in the bios and fine in windows until it heats up so I've ordered the Coolermaster hyper 212 evo and the Bitfenix Formula 550w.

Will hopefully last as long as this one has as, this was a replacement for my killed the OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W Power Supply I bought from OCUK in 2010 :o
 
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