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Thread: Need advice on buying PSU

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    Need advice on buying PSU

    Im going to build a system with an AMD APU A8 3870K.
    What power PSUs do you guys think is suitable (wattage). I've been hearing too much wattage can be an overkill, would 380W be preferrable to 500? Btw I do not plan to install a discrete gpu.

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    Re: Need advice on buying PSU

    I would think a good quality 380watt would be perfectly capable. Depends on the whole set up really, How many HDDs, SSD, Case fans, etc.

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    Seriously casual gamer KeyboardDemon's Avatar
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    Re: Need advice on buying PSU

    Is there a bit difference in price?

    I would suggest a good brand would be more important than the power rating.

    I don't know how well the Be Quiet PSUs stack up, but this one seems to be a good price or the premium brand choice might be something like a Seasonic or if you don't want to go modular there are cheaper options like this Be Quiet or this Silverstone.

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    Just the one HDD, that's all... May later add one SDD in the future.

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    • dacads's system
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    Re: Need advice on buying PSU

    No more than 450w for sure, if you can then go with a modular unit to make cable management easier by having less clutter which will reduce temps

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Need advice on buying PSU

    As little as possible

    I'm running a 3670K rig on a 250W PSU and that's overkill, to be honest. Read my review: http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-reader...le-review.html - I didn't manage to get the rig to pull more than 80W continuously. Look for a low wattage power supply with an 80+ rating. Definitely don't get anything over 400W.

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    Seriously casual gamer KeyboardDemon's Avatar
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    Re: Need advice on buying PSU

    Quote Originally Posted by scaryjim View Post
    As little as possible

    I'm running a 3670K rig on a 250W PSU and that's overkill, to be honest. Read my review: http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-reader...le-review.html - I didn't manage to get the rig to pull more than 80W continuously. Look for a low wattage power supply with an 80+ rating. Definitely don't get anything over 400W.
    That's sort of surpised me a bit, I'm about to order some parts to build a PC for my father in law and was thinking about getting a 450watt PSU, he wants a fairly modest PC but seems to think that an i5 is essential, though I talked him down from an i7.

    I'm looking at getting him an i5 3570, Gigabyte D3 mobo, 8gb RAM, Optical drive, HDD and small SSD to use in SRT, he doesn't need a GPU as he won't be playing games though he might do some video or photo editing (eventually, he's been saying that for the last ten years but all he does is crop, rotate and auto correct before uploading to facebook etc...). So would this fit the bill?

    These are my other choices:
    FSP300w
    Be Quiet 350w

    Which would be best in terms of long life and reliability?
    Last edited by KeyboardDemon; 05-09-2012 at 11:44 AM.

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    Re: Need advice on buying PSU

    Wattage is a poor indicator - on a PSU you want efficiency, quality/stability and protection. On the power side look at the ratings for each rail (amps), particularly if you are planning on heaping a power hungry GPU on there. It need not be expensive but equally I would never skimp - there are plenty of cheap "500WATT" psu's around but they are cheap for a good reason (and mysteriously weigh far less ). Other considerations are whether you're likely to need more power in the future. I think my A8 system has a corsair 4x0 watt psu in it if I remember rightly - the previous one I had blew (a zalman) but did no damage - and it doesn't guzzle very much power at the socket (I have a meter if you're interested).
    Crosshair VIII Hero (WIFI), 3900x, 32GB DDR4, Many SSDs, EVGA FTW3 3090, Ethoo 719


  9. #9
    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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      • Memory:
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      • Storage:
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      • PSU:
      • Battery/Dell brick
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      • Operating System:
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    Re: Need advice on buying PSU

    Quote Originally Posted by KeyboardDemon View Post
    Which would be best in terms of long life and reliability?
    If I was you I'd go for the 300W BeQuiet. They're getting an increasingly good reputation, 300W will be ample, and the price is pretty good for a well built PSU. No point spending any more than that really.

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