PSUs which one?

[TheWizard]

I need some advice on what PSU to go for in my new build. I want my PSU to power an AMD 955 BE, XFX 6850, 2 HDD, optical drive all housed in a CM Stormscout case. Now since I have no plans for crossfire I am thinking 550-650 watts.

My shortlist is as follows:

Coolermaster GX 550 W Power Supply (PSU) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/550w-...-year-warranty

Colours IT Silent 650 W Power Supply (PSU) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650w-...nd-pci-e-ready

Silverstone Tech. Strider 500 W Power Supply (PSU) http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...-pin-120mm-fan

I would really love a sub-£40 PSU so I can fit the other components within my budget. I am inclined to go for the CiT 650 which has 21A r1, 19Ar2. My preference would have been coolermaster but its a lot over £40. The Silverstone fits nicely at 500W with a 34A rail.

If anyone has CiT and can vouch their reliability I would definitely go for the CiT PSU otherwise should I go for Silverstone - can it handle my system spec?

[Terbinator]

None of them personally.

Minimum you should be looking at is the Corsair CX430.

[TheWizard]

None of them personally.

Minimum you should be looking at is the Corsair CX430.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/430w-...plus-efficient - you reckon that will be able to breeze through all those components?

[Sputnik]

It should do under normal use. If you intend to overclock you might need something with a bit more power.

[nibbler]

Coolermaster and Siverstone should be safe no? Avoid ColoursIT like the plague.

[c.ruel]

Out of the three you picked the silverstone one ... silverstone make good power supplies, not the best, but solid ones. Steer clear of the colours IT one. But as Terbinator pointed out the CX430 is the best bet if you want to spend below 40 quid and don't need more than 400 odd watts.

or alternatively this 500w psu is a bit of a steal at £31

It's made by FSP who make some ok power supplies, and internally it is suppose to be identical to a zalman 460w and a silverstone 500w unit neither of whom make any truely awful psus. So I doubt it's amazing but at 30 odd quid looks a steal.

[Terbinator]

I did mean to say the Silverstone is probably the pick of the original bunch. It's a real shame that Corsair ditched the CX400 - not only because it was seemingly cheaper but it was sub £30 most of the time.

If the OP can extend his price range somewhat i would look towards the Corsair VX450 or thereabouts, maybe wait until some PSU's come up on Today Only next week and see if you can scoop a bargain or save a few £££'s.

Edit: The OCZ linked by c.ruel is decent for the price. Depends if you have any qualms about buying from OCuK however.

[TheWizard]

I did mean to say the Silverstone is probably the pick of the original bunch. It's a real shame that Corsair ditched the CX400 - not only because it was seemingly cheaper but it was sub £30 most of the time.

If the OP can extend his price range somewhat i would look towards the Corsair VX450 or thereabouts, maybe wait until some PSU's come up on Today Only next week and see if you can scoop a bargain or save a few £££'s.

Edit: The OCZ linked by c.ruel is decent for the price. Depends if you have any qualms about buying from OCuK however.

Yeh I am not in a particular rush to buy the new PSU as yet. I thought that higher amperage on the 12v rail is always the best thing to identify when getting a quality PSU which is why though at the £40 range the Silverstone looked promising.

I read the review for the VX450 over at legitreviews but I think it might be nearer the £50 mark. As I've said, I want to couple it with a CM Stormscout which is (62 on Scan at the moment) so I want to get the PSU and the case for a total near the £100 region.

[watercooled]

Just to reassure you, my system (before I upgraded it) consisting of an E7200 CPU, 4GB DDR2, 2xHDDs and a 4850 used 188w max with Furmark and Intel Burn Test running, measured with a Maplin power meter. The ATI driver limits how much Furmark stresses the graphics card to prevent damaging it but even if I worked around that I can't see it pulling an extra 200w and your card's TDP is only slightly higher; you should be fine with a good 400w PSU provided you don't plan on overclocking.

[Terbinator]

Snip...

Part of the problem is that you still have to go into the £40's to get a decent 400W one

[watercooled]

The Corsair one was £30-something last time I checked. I wouldn't really expect to pay much less than that for a functional PSU though. Think of it this way, you've probably spent several hundred quid on computer components - would you rather pay an extra 10-20 quid now for a reliable PSU or pay a few hundred again when a crappy one fails? Skimping on your power supply is a false economy, it will come back and bite you - hard.

[kalniel]

I need some advice on what PSU to go for in my new build. I want my PSU to power an AMD 955 BE, XFX 6850, 2 HDD, optical drive all housed in a CM Stormscout case. Now since I have no plans for crossfire I am thinking 550-650 watts.

Without crossfire you'd be fine even with a 380W PSU.

My shortlist is as follows:

Coolermaster GX 550 W Power Supply (PSU) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/550w-...-year-warranty

The reviews state very bad regulation on GX supplies, I'd avoid.

Colours IT Silent 650 W Power Supply (PSU) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650w-...nd-pci-e-ready

Colours IT are who? Unless you know they happen to have a good OEM behind them I'd avoid.

Silverstone Tech. Strider 500 W Power Supply (PSU) http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...-pin-120mm-fan

Silverstone have some good supplies, definitely the pick of the bunch, but check that there aren't any problems with any particular model.

The cheapy corsair 400W unit is probably a better choice. But do spend the money. Think how long you'd like your computer to last, then work out the how much the additional cost would be per week for that duration. Chances are it's tiny.

[TheWizard]

I might just wait a couple more days to see what else comes up. Now I think I might indeed decide upon the Corsair 430 or the Silverstone as I have no plans for SLI or overclocking. My computer upgrade/replacement life cycle is usually around the two-two&half year mark. My current system itself is over 2 years. So I suppose investing in a quality PSU is important.

[Terbinator]

I might just wait a couple more days to see what else comes up. Now I think I might indeed decide upon the Corsair 430 or the Silverstone as I have no plans for SLI or overclocking. My computer upgrade/replacement life cycle is usually around the two-two&half year mark. My current system itself is over 2 years. So I suppose investing in a quality PSU is important.

There are a few different PSU's on Scan's Today Only page today.

[TheWizard]

So having narrowed down to the Corsair 430 and the Silverstone 500, I think I am going for the Silverstone 500. It has a higher amperage on the 12v rail and gives me room to expand with other HDDs or DVD/Blueray drives as well as perhaps case mods. Anything above 500watt will probably a waste as I a don't delve into overclocking.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Corsair CX 430W actually can provide less current on the 12V rail than the earlier Corsair CX 400W.