PSU Recommendation - Size matters

[terrence81]

Looking for the smallest sized PSU that can manage to run PC with i5-6600k + GTX1050Ti 24/7

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

One of the SFX ones should do. What is your budget??

[terrence81]

My budget is around £60

[philehidiot]

For a start, wang your components into this so we can figure out the power requirements. And when you say smallest, do you mean smallest physical size or smallest capacity or both?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

My budget is around £60

If you are not overclocking the CPU I suspect a 300W SFX PSU might be fine. OTH,going for a bit higher wattage might be give you more options if you decided to upgrade the system later on. I would have a look at these PSUs:

https://www.cclonline.com/product/21...upply/PSU1282/
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w...mm-fan-atx-psu
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/400w...mm-fan-atx-psu

The Silverstone doesn't get too bad reviews,and the 350W version of the Kolink is actually reasonable considering its cost:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13639

The Kolink is a 230V only PSU though. However,if you can spend a bit more than £60,then the Corsair SF450 is around £75 and is fully modular and Gold rated for effiency.

[terrence81]

For a start, wang your components into this so we can figure out the power requirements. And when you say smallest, do you mean smallest physical size or smallest capacity or both?

The website shows Recommended PSU Wattage: 370 W
Yes im looking for smallest physical size PSU

[terrence81]

If you are not overclocking the CPU I suspect a 300W SFX PSU might be fine. OTH,going for a bit higher wattage might be give you more options if you decided to upgrade the system later on. I would have a look at these PSUs:

https://www.cclonline.com/product/21...upply/PSU1282/
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w...mm-fan-atx-psu
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/400w...mm-fan-atx-psu

The Silverstone doesn't get too bad reviews,and the 350W version of the Kolink is actually reasonable considering its cost:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13639

The Kolink is a 230V only PSU though. However,if you can spend a bit more than £60,then the Corsair SF450 is around £75 and is fully modular and Gold rated for effiency.

I have checked these PSUs and they all seem to be 80+ Bronze rated. If my PC will be on 24/7 shouldn't I aim for higher rated efficiency? I might consider going for 2nd hand PSU if there isn't any in my budged

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I have checked these PSUs and they all seem to be 80+ Bronze rated. If my PC will be on 24/7 shouldn't I aim for higher rated efficiency? I might consider going for 2nd hand PSU if there isn't any in my budged

Its not really a massive difference,TBH IMHO,and out of interest,is the PSU needing to be small due to the case?? What is the case you have?? The cables for an SFX PSU tend to be quite short.

The only problem with buying a PSU secondhand might be the warranty,unless it can be transferred. I have the Corsair SF450 BTW:

https://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware...-450w-psu.html

[terrence81]

I haven't got the case yet but it is going to be custom built case and I want to keep it as small as possible. That's why I'm looking for small PSU. If there isn't much difference between bronze and gold I will go for bronze but brand new with a warranty

[philehidiot]

Corsair SF450 has been recently upgraded to platinum efficiency and retails around £90. Maybe on preorder still.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13495...sfx-psu-review

The best thing about this is the efficiency graph at operating temperature. It gets very efficient at very low loads so you're looking at >90% efficiency even at ~100W and a straight line from there up to the max output. Combine that with a fully modular design (small case means this is very useful) and a 7 year warranty and you're winning, especially if this is on 24/7. Given it's on all the time the more efficient PSU will repay the additional costs in about 3 years and you'll be getting a far more reliable one at that.

[emilsobo]

I'm Pretty sure EVGA just announced very small sizes PSU's and for your setup, I would recommend at least 500W

If I were you I would just go on their website or scan.co.uk and look at them also their psu are really high quality for a decent price as long as you don't go for modular.

[EndlessWaves]

SFX is the second largest of the four sizes defined in Intel's desktop spec (the standard reference document for motherboard and PSU standards).

TFX and Flex ATX are both smaller (in volume), and both available in 300W capacities - easily enough for a 1050ti and 6600K (at stock speeds, but presumably in a minimum sized case you've got the -K for underclocking/optimising voltage rather than overclocking).

There are also 1U server PSUs which are similar in size to Flex ATX.

[Corky34]

If you want to go smaller than what's already been suggested so far you could consider an external power-brick with a DC-DC converter, if you didn't want the hassle of matching a power-brick with a converter you could use something like the HDPLEX 400W AC-DC, although your 370W odd requirement would be pushing things a little.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I have had FlexATX PSUs and they tend to use small diameter fans in a push-pull scenario,which can be noisy under load and I have an FSP Gold rated 500W one still lying around somewhere. TFX is somewhat better as they tend to have larger diameter fans,and are cheaper than SFX units:

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/350w...noise-40mm-fan
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/300w...mm-fan-tfx-psu

In terms of size:

Corsair SF450 - 100 x 125 x 63.5(793750 MM3)
SilverStone FX350-G -81.5 x 40.5 x 150(495112.5 MM3)
be quiet! TFX Power 2 300W -85 x 65 x 175(966875 MM3)

If you want to go smaller than what's already been suggested so far you could consider an external power-brick with a DC-DC converter, if you didn't want the hassle of matching a power-brick with a converter you could use something like the HDPLEX 400W AC-DC, although your 370W odd requirement would be pushing things a little.

I did a project a few years back where I modded an old aluminium Motorola phone box with a DC-DC PSU,and ideally you want some cooling over the actually DC-DC part as it gets hot(this was a 120W ot 150W version IIRC).