Cheapest 550w+ PSU that's worth getting?

[Ultima2876]

This is more of a "just wondering" kind of thing as I'm not in the market for a PSU at the moment. I just kinda want to learn which brands are fairly decent at which price brackets... so, what's the cheapest 550 watt PSU that would be worth buying?

There are tons of £20 and £30 brands I'ven ever heard of around, are any of them at least semi-competant?

[ik9000]

i bought an XPower 580 GTX light from maplins for £35. It's not modular, but apart from that does fine running the P4 2.8GHz rig. I got it cos it gave higher outputs on the 3.3V and 5V rails which i needed to run all the PCI stuff (no PCIe on that mobo). It's less than 25dB at 80% load (apparently - though the stock cooler on the p4 makes so much noise I can never tell what the PSU does at high load, it's definitely fine at idle.) It also shines a nice blue LED glow. Last time I was in Maplins these had become a clear-out item, but you might still find them. There's probably better out there, and I've no idea of its efficiency - I didn't have the option of anything else that would give enough power on 3.3 though so I was kinda stuck.

[kingpotnoodle]

Maplins will charge you £35 for something that'd be £20 on any e-tailer!

This Powercool:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...dual-12v-rails

or this Arctic Power:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124926

Might be OK. But I'd not go lower than this 530W Be Quiet:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190751

or this OCZ:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/204353

I'd seen the results of a broken PSU, not pretty - new motherboard, hard drive (all data was toast) and a bad smell. Skimp elsewhere and buy a decent PSU.

[Skulltrail]

The Novatech PowerStations may be worth a look - 80+, modular and from a reputiable OEM (which one escapes me at the moment but it has been discussed here before).

600W for £53 inc. delivery - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...ov-psg600.html
750W for £65 inc. delivery - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...ov-psb750.html

[ik9000]

Maplins will charge you £35 for something that'd be £20 on any e-tailer!

you're not wrong - but I needed a PSU at short notice and it was round the corner and meant I could finish the install on the same day. Impatience is a ***.

[ik9000]

oh and I got it in a sale, the RRP back then was £59.99 in Maplins - which put it at roughly £35 online in the few online stores that actually stocked it, so didn't feel I got too bad a deal.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Novatech PowerStation PSUs are made by either FSP or Sirtec AFAIK like the OCZ units. The Be Quiet L7 is made by FSP IIRC.

However,I would probably look at the Antec HCG 520W for around £56 as this is made by Seasonic:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/245671

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-...ps12v-v291-psu

Scan can also have the Seasonic made Antec TruePower New 650W for around £60 too and this a semi-modular power supply.

[Pob255]

I'd start off by asking what you're planning to power with it?

[Ultima2876]

Assume a reasonably up to date quad core PC with 2 hard drives, and a GTX460 or HD5850 or something, plus 4gb of RAM and the usual trimmings; DVD Drive, some USB devices...

[Max Tractor]

Have been looking at psu' since the beginning of the year, no real bargains about, all much of a muchness in terms of quality/price/power. Nothing like the FSP700 80GLN 700w that scan would do at varying times for great prices, I got mine for £27. I tried the silverpower SP-SS400, alright psu, long term will only tell. I also bought a Corsair TX 950w to upgrade my hx620, and as cat has already mentioned, Antec TruePower New 650W, which I picked up on today only for £59, personally I dont think there is anything in that range that can touch this psu at this price


cheers

[Ultima2876]

Yeah, so really you do have to spend £50+ on a PSU, no two ways about it. Fair enough; now I know to stick to the brands I'm used to!