Cheapest PSU I can get away with?

[new boy]

I know, I know. PSUs are important and its not worth buying cheap.

However I'm putting a system together for a freind who has recently developed a taste for pc gaming, but really doesnt have much money to put into it, so I'm cobbling one together out of old bit lying around / 2nd hand bargins.

He going to be running

q6600
ABIT iP35
hd7850 (hopfully not too bottlenecked by pci1.x and a c2q :S)
2 - 4gb ram depending on whether or not I can persaude some old mismatched ram to work together or not.

7850 will be overclocked because its mine and I know exacly what it will do. q6600 will be overclocked a little on the stock cooler for now (maybe 3Ghz? No idea of the stepping at the moment). Best to presume he later invests in a better cooler and a gets a proper oc at some point.

What would you guys reconmend I get him to power the above?

Thanks

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This one whenever it gets back into stock:

http://www.cclonline.com/product/982...t-OEM/PSU0486/

However,I would be inclined to at least go with an XFX PRO 450W or similar PSU TBH,as an overclocked Q6600 does draw a decent amount of power.

[shaithis]

That 400w FSP does look quite appealing for some systems!

The Q6600 will get bottlenecked in some titles, use mantle where possible.

[scaryjim]

... q6600 will be overclocked a little on the stock cooler for now ...

Please God no! I had a good Q6600 G0 and on a warm day with the stock cooler it used to throttle doing anything taxing (like transcoding a video) - to the point where I had to take the side off my case and rig up a 140mm fan blowing straight at the CPU to keep it to ~ 65C. The Intel stock cooler's just about OK at keeping a Q6600 to reasonable temps for stock use, but I wouldn't dream of overclocking on one. A cheapish tower cooler will only add about a tenner to the cost: http://www.ebuyer.com/544707-spire-9...per-sp985s1-v2 and will be worth every penny, I assure you

As to PSUs, EVGA appear to have entered the market with a 430W model: http://www.ebuyer.com/630122-evga-43...100-w1-0430-kr but I have no idea who the OEM is - being EVGA I'd expect them to be quite discerning in their choice of partner but there's no guarantee it's not just a cheap unit with an EVGA sticker slapped on it. Otherwise something basic from Antec would do the job: http://www.ebuyer.com/278493-antec-v...761345-06431-6 and tbh £30 - £35 is as cheap as I'd be willing to go (excluding the £17 FSP CAT's already linked to, which is a stonkingly good deal ).

[new boy]

lol, I thought it might give a little as long as I didnt give it any volts, but maybe not...

Thanks for the replies. 400w from a decent brand it is. doubt I can wait for the fps one tbh.

[scaryjim]

lol, I thought it might give a little as long as I didnt give it any volts, but maybe not...

Well .... it might. Overclocking generates more heat even without extra voltage though, so I'd be cautious - particularly with the relatively low (x9) multi on the Q6600: you need to go quite a long way with the FSB to hit the speeds you'd ideally want (and I think you're right to look at 3GHz as a minimum target speed). There's no reason not to try it, and you can always run the CPU stock for now if it won't OC on the stock cooler, but personally I'd plan for needing that better cooler at some point

[kompukare]

As to PSUs, EVGA appear to have entered the market with a 430W model: http://www.ebuyer.com/630122-evga-43...100-w1-0430-kr but I have no idea who the OEM is - being EVGA I'd expect them to be quite discerning in their choice of partner but there's no guarantee it's not just a cheap unit with an EVGA sticker slapped on it.

HEC according to the PSU database over at realhardtechx:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_a...s/Page2293.htm

No reviews of the 430W (does anyone ever review cheap PSUs?), but the 500W got okay reviews.

[new boy]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...=1&s=computers

430w corsair cx £31.72.

gotta be a bargin right?

[cheesyboy]

Corsair CX430 for £23.76;
http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair...94963788&src=3
(click on the "buy used stock" tab)

Probably facing a delivery charge with Dabs, though.

[pastymuncher]

The FSP 400w psu that cat linked to above seems to be from the green series going by the part number and there is a review here. It has dual 12v rails of 14A and 15A giving a total of 348w.

The EVGA is indeed a HEC unit and has a single 34A 12v rail giving a total of 408w.

The Corsair CX430 has a single 32A 12v rail giving 384w (providing it's the latest version. Earlier versions had much weaker 12v rails).

The EVGA has the strongest rail so i would go for that one if it was my choice and i had to choose from those three. It would be much wiser to spend a little extra on the XFX 450w which is built by Seasonic though.

[Judge888]

How good is EVGA warranty on psus? i know corsair are very good but had no experience with evga

[pastymuncher]

It's 3 years on this model but the new Supernova G2 psu's are 10 years and nobody can match that. EVGA's warranty support is very good as well.

[D1DM]

It's 3 years on this model but the new Supernova G2 psu's are 10 years and nobody can match that. EVGA's warranty support is very good as well.

Don't know if you know this or not, but think I should tell you anyway: anyone who wants 10 years of support needs to register within 30 days of purchasing the product.

http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/

Long-term warranties are available to the original owner on applicable parts if registered by the original owner within 30 days of purchase. A valid invoice is required from an authorized reseller to verify any long term warranty. If parts with long-term warranty availability are not registered within 30 days of purchase, if they were given away or sold, then they will follow the standard 3 year limited warranty terms.

[Pob255]

AFAIK the return base for EVGA is Holland so postage esp on a psu can be quite high.
Not sure about FSP, they do have an office in the UK in St. Albans no sure if warranty returns would go there, although they probably don't deal directly with the consumer, ie warranty is handled via the retailer only.

More importantly the cheapest EVGA Supernova (which carries the 10year warranty) I know of is the G 650w @ £70 http://www.ebuyer.com/472700-evga-su...120-pg-0650-gr
The cheapest G2 is the 750w model @£82 http://www.dabs.com/products/evga-75...-psu-9BJM.html

So nether are really in the "cheap" price bracket, both are good value, but not minimum cost
I've recently got the modular version of the CX430w and so far I'm impressed, although it's a bit more money, http://www.scan.co.uk/products/430w-...ze-eps-12v-atx
I'd also put forward the seasonic 400w http://www.scan.co.uk/products/400w-...active-pfc-oem

AFAIK the xfx warranty returns on their psu's are handled by seasonic/Nanopoint (Nanopoint handle seasonic uk returns for them) and are UK based

[pastymuncher]

Corsair psu's also have to be sent to Holland and the CX series are very low end with cheap internals.

Not all the Supernova psu's have the 10 year warranty. It's only the G2 and P2 models. The previous ones are not so good and built by HEC and FSP.

When it comes to psu's cheap is to be avoided. It's always best to go with good quality at a good price which is what the Supernova G2's are.

[Matthewb22]

Depends on what ur running. If ur SLI then around 600-750w but I can get away with 500w for most gpu just make sure it's a known brand and not some china sweat shop crap haha