New PSU time, very out of the loop!

[Rob_B]

I'll be running an RX7600 with a Ryzen mid range chip so nothing super powerful needed. Looks like prices have rocketed (as they have for everything) modular is a nice to have but I don't think I can be picky!

There's a Seasonic 550w for £70 on OCUK, a few' barely used' NZXT 650/750w on ebay, otherwise I'm stumped

Looking at about £70 max does anyone have any suggestions?

[Saracen999]

I'll be running an RX7600 with a Ryzen mid range chip so nothing super powerful needed. Looks like prices have rocketed (as they have for everything) modular is a nice to have but I don't think I can be picky!

There's a Seasonic 550w for £70 on OCUK, a few' barely used' NZXT 650/750w on ebay, otherwise I'm stumped

Looking at about £70 max does anyone have any suggestions?

Not exactly a suggestion, more of a perspective. I've had what feels like about a gazillion PSUs over the years, some really good, many okay to good and the odd disaster waiting to happen. And one little &^*& that didn't wait, dammit. Grrr.

These days, I just go directly to Seasonic. Why? Because I've yet to be disappointed. PSUs are a tricky thing to buy, IMHO. They can vary a LOT in ways very hard to detect from the outside, and I don't recommend anyone that doesn't know what they're doing opening them up. But I feel that while by no means the cheapest (and I mean among decent brands, not compared to cheap junk), they're generally not ludicrously expensive either, and good, clean stable power, with proper built-in protections can avoid so many hard-to-trace PC issues, not to mention potentially frying a lot of VERY expensive components if one lets go (and yup, had it happen once and among other victims was a £1000 workstation graphics card). And three hard drives. That hurt.

So, these days I don't mess about. Seasonic have never let me down (yet) and until they do, i don't even bother looking elsewhere. if it costs a bit more, even (without getting into ludicrous sums) quite a lot more, to be blunt, I really don't care. i tend to think of the total cost of the PSU as a percentage of the cost of the system, and that immediately make me stop worrying about the PSU price. Admittedly, these days, I can afford to not worry too much (mortgage paid off) and so the difference in cost isn't an issue. Not everybody can be so blase, especially with today's cost of living, but despite even that, a PC is not a cheap thing to spec and I'd rather save on something else, or delay some oher component, than compromise on PSU. It's worth it for my peace of mind, if nothing else.

And I don't feel like I have to worry about Seasonic making post-review component changes to save a bit, and/or PSU's exploding, like a certain brand did a few months back when GN were stress testing that nameless brand.

All I bother to research, therefore, is which Seasonic to get.

As i said, not a recommendation. This approach suits me, but that isn't to say I think it suits everybody. So I'm not suggesting it, just outlining it as my approach to PSU's, and why.

[Rob_B]

I've never owned a Seasonic but had the NZXT 650 something or other which I believe is basically a rebadged version (?)
I KNOW you should get a good PSU, I've told people that, but when it comes to paying for one....

[Jonj1611]

I have always had a good brand of PSU ever since my cheap one went pop back in the day.

Though the price can be a bitter pill to swallow at times!

[cptwhite_uk]

I think there's an element of over-egging as well. As long as it's not £30 for an 800W Gold rated unit. As a rule of thumb it should be around £12-13 per 100W. So for a typical modern gaming PC - 13600K / RTX 4070 / 32Gb RAM for exmaple, I'd be looking for a 600W - 700W 80+ Gold unit, and be looking to pay around £70-80 max.

Super Flower
Seasonic
Corsair RM/AX/HX range
Enermax used to be good
Silverstone I believe are decent

BeQuiet / NZXT / Fractal Design / FSP and many others also have good units. All have a range of units (Corsair VS/VX should be avoided for example), so check the PSU Tier List, and if it's Tier C or above you'll be fine.

[MrJim]

I have always had a good brand of PSU ever since my cheap one went pop back in the day.

Though the price can be a bitter pill to swallow at times!

I made the mistake of going for a cheap PSU in my early days of system building, & lost a CPU & motherboard when it inevitably went 'pop'. You learn from your mistakes!

I'm much like Saracen these days - I just go for whichever Seasonic suits my needs. The fact that my current Seasonic PSU has a 12 year warranty definitely gives some peace of mind, too, & means it will be used in two or three system upgrades.

[Rob_B]

I've gone with a new NZXT C650 Gold ('A tier' I believe, it's basically built by Seasonic) Had a good experience with my last one, quiet & good build quality.

[Jonj1611]

I have a NZXT power supply. Excellent supplies, hasn't let me down

[Rob_B]

I know

I've had to pay more than I sold you that one for!

https://forums.hexus.net/classifieds...onic-made.html

[Jonj1611]

I was looking for that thread lol. Anyway its still going strong

[Apex]

I'll be honest your not the only one out of the loop....

sorry for the slight thread derailment

not sure if i got a duffer but a brand new atx3/pci-e gen 5 ready psu from corsiar and my system would not post; swap back to the old psu and everything is ok; have we moved that far that new psus won't work on older systems ?

anyway my own tier list would be

seasonic
silverstone (thats what i currently have and was only swaping because after 10yrs the fan is now rattling like mad)
corsair..yeah i know
fsp

after that
evga
nzxt
bequiet
msi

ps

have a play with

https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=gehps&v...0#gh_filterbox

that should let you narrow down certain models if needs be

[Jonj1611]

Some of the better models from brands like NZXT and EVGA are made by Superflower who would be my top choice but they are pricey.

[Saracen999]

From what I can make of it, Corsair have a very good reputation. It's always been decent though IIRC they used to be rebadged, but are now in-house. i've also had Enermax in the past and they've been good too, though I've not had (a new) one recently. Also, Delta, but that's been on workstations, and I'm not even aware of whether they still do PC PSUs or not.

As for paying for it, yeah I hear you, Rob. I just look at it from the perspective of there being some things where it's worth paying or top quality, or at least good quality .... provided you feel confident you're actually getting it. The most obvious is car (and even more so, motorbike) tyres - never a good idea to cheap out there, IMHO. Brakes come a close second. To be honest, if you spend lots of time on Your feet, next I'd probably put shoes. And, in many respects, food, because the difference in taste can be night and day. An example would be a good quality smoked (and I don't mean by injecting smoked-flavoured gunk) bacon. With good stuff from my local butcher, a rasher shrinks maybe 5% when fried, if that. Use that cheap injected stuff and an apparently juicy looking rasher goes in, but what comes out is a shrivelled little shred and about a pint of milky liquid. The good stuff's a bit more expensive but if you compare weight for weight, after boiling out the plumping-up gunge, it's usually actually cheaper. Another foodstuff example is vanilla (pods v extract v 'essence').

Also, insurance policies. It's more complex here, of course, but personally, if insurance is worth having at all (assuming there's a legal option not to), there's often a reason why cheaper policies are cheaper. It'll either be in what cover you get (and don't get), or in the quality of the service should you ever need to rely on it.

And then there's PC PSU's.

[MrJim]

There used to be a PSU review website which was very useful in comparing PSUs, but it doesn't seem to be active any more. There are relatively few ODMs for PSUs (Seasonic, FSP, Superflower, & HEC spring to mind, amongst others), which brands tend to use for their particular products.

[Jonj1611]

Jonnyguru was the site. Has been shut down a little while now which is a shame as it was my go-to website

[Saracen999]

Jonnyguru was the site. Has been shut down a little while now which is a shame as it was my go-to website

Indeed it is. IIRC, he now runs the PSU operation at Corsair. I'm sure he works for them. I think he was on a GN video recently when Steve did a 2 or 3-part seris on power supply principles and issues.