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cheap PSU vs expensive

alltheapples said:
What makes a good PSU different/better? I'm thinking of going for something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= for a gaming PC rig.
I know wattage is important, and some PSUs will be more or less efficient, but anything else to look out for?
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First of all, capacity is important

There are a few things you want to look at.

Total wattage is less important than what is available on the rails you are going to use, especially for GPU's In the old days this was more difficult, but these days, if it has the appropriate GPU power cabled (6pin/8pin right quantity) they will typically be sufficient.

This probably goes without saying, but DO NOT use a splitter to use one GPU cable to plug into two plugs. That's just asking for trouble, might kill your hardware, and may even start a fire in rare circumstances.

Loading a good low wattage PSU too high, is just as bad as having a terrible cheap PSU and can very well damage your hardware, when the voltage becomes unpredictable.

Other than capacity, it is important that the assembly is done right, with quality components, and that it delivers the right amount of voltage even at load.

This is much more difficult to judge, and why the reviews on the [H] main site are important to read. There are many many PSU's, and only so many that get reviewed - however, so you might not find the exact one you are looking at. That being said we tend to see trends from the same makers and brands, so - for instance - if the 800W PSU of one brand and model reviews well on the [H] I'd feel pretty good about the 550W model of that same make.

Other than that, 80 Plus usually is a good thing to look for. While it is an efficiency rating, it means that the unit has undergone testing. Keep in mind, that manny brands cherry pick their units for 80-plus testing, so just because it has an 80-plus sticker doesn't necessarily mean that is what you are getting.

In PSU's more than anything else, IMHO, it's all about getting a trusted brand. Read the reviews, see which of them review best, and get either the exact model or something similar. You are never 100% certain this way, but its' better than not doing this.

Many people skimp on PSU's but IMHO they are the most important part in the entire build. No other part is likely to burn out your hardware (or at worst, set your house on fire).

EVGA has a mixed history in PSU's. Some have reviewed well, some not so much so.

It is worth noting that the [H] seems to have reviewed the 430W version of the PSU you linked here and it failed pretty badly, so I would be careful with this one.

It's also noteworthy that there are many reports of DOA's in the reviews on Newegg.

I might look at something else.
 
Cheap power supplies are probably the biggest mistake made by PC builders! The unit you are looking at has only an 80% efficiency rating and that's at around 50% load. You should be looking at least a gold rated which gives you at least 87%, while a platinum rated will give you 92%. The other thing that is usually true is the more expensive units will give you much tighter voltage control and longer warranties.
I would recommend that you read some of the PSU tests that the [H]ard perform (link at the top of the main page) and then you will understand.
 
well you can get better suggestions if you list what your hardware is and what your possible upgrade path might be in the near future....i personally like to have the headroom for hardware changes down the road...and i usually tend to see more often than not power supply's are most efficient around 50% peak load but this is not the case for all of them i admit

If all your ever going to use is an nvidia 970 and modern intel cpu you be might be ok i think.....but what if you got a hot deal on a titan x? i would spend a little extra on this 850W EVGA SuperNova http://slickdeals.net/f/7738807-psu...-modular-psu-for-119-99-ar-more-fs-newegg-com just because of the amazing reviews and if somebody gave me (2) r9 290x i could plug them in and go instead of being power constrained. I have not the best supply in mine but at least i can run any card made where a 500 watt supply can not. I would actually have a better supply than i do now but i couldn't take the down time it would take to order one last time i replaced it (since it caught fire) not a good feeling seeing smoke coming from your pc lol
 
jrweis said:
Cheap power supplies are probably the biggest mistake made by PC builders! The unit you are looking at has only an 80% efficiency rating and that's at around 50% load. You should be looking at least a gold rated which gives you at least 87%, while a platinum rated will give you 92%. The other thing that is usually true is the more expensive units will give you much tighter voltage control and longer warranties.
I would recommend that you read some of the PSU tests that the [H]ard perform (link at the top of the main page) and then you will understand.
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While there is a correlation between quality and 80+ rating, it's not something to go by. There are vanilla 80+ and bronze 80+ PSUs that are far better quality than 80+ Gold units.

The only true way to tell is to research each individual model. And honestly, I don't think being under 10% ATX spec vs 5% ATX spec matters much. You're still well within the margins of ATX spec.
 
jrweis said:
Cheap power supplies are probably the biggest mistake made by PC builders! The unit you are looking at has only an 80% efficiency rating and that's at around 50% load. You should be looking at least a gold rated which gives you at least 87%, while a platinum rated will give you 92%. The other thing that is usually true is the more expensive units will give you much tighter voltage control and longer warranties.
I would recommend that you read some of the PSU tests that the [H]ard perform (link at the top of the main page) and then you will understand.
Click to expand...

The only thing that happens when you go for a better 80PLUS rating (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) is the dollar signs get bigger. There are also many power supplies that have fake 80PLUS ratings or use non-standard ratings like "80PLUS compliant".

The testing methodology that Plug Load Solutions uses for the 80PLUS test is flawed and not indicative of real world conditions. You'll never get the same performance out of a PSU that they state unless you replicate their lab testing conditions.

The best thing to do when searching for a new power supply is to pretty much flagrantly ignore 80PLUS ratings or any other gimmicky rating system and instead look for real world reviews of said product. Hardware Secrets does an excellent job of reviewing PSUs down to the component level so you know what to expect, which is something a gold label slapped on the side of the unit will never tell you.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
The only thing that happens when you go for a better 80PLUS rating (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) is the dollar signs get bigger. There are also many power supplies that have fake 80PLUS ratings or use non-standard ratings like "80PLUS compliant".

The testing methodology that Plug Load Solutions uses for the 80PLUS test is flawed and not indicative of real world conditions. You'll never get the same performance out of a PSU that they state unless you replicate their lab testing conditions.

The best thing to do when searching for a new power supply is to pretty much flagrantly ignore 80PLUS ratings or any other gimmicky rating system and instead look for real world reviews of said product. Hardware Secrets does an excellent job of reviewing PSUs down to the component level so you know what to expect, which is something a gold label slapped on the side of the unit will never tell you.
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I believe Hardware Secrets stopped doing reviews a while ago. I basically only use JonnyGuru and [H]OCP now.
 
Tsumi said:
I believe Hardware Secrets stopped doing reviews a while ago. I basically only use JonnyGuru and [H]OCP now.
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Ah darn. I went to look at their review section and indeed it's been around 2 years since their last PSU review.

I've known about JonnyGuru but I'm not really a fan of their review methodology since they don't get as technical as Hardware Secrets did. It's basically "here's what it looks like, moving on now!"
 
GiGaBiTe said:
Ah darn. I went to look at their review section and indeed it's been around 2 years since their last PSU review.

I've known about JonnyGuru but I'm not really a fan of their review methodology since they don't get as technical as Hardware Secrets did. It's basically "here's what it looks like, moving on now!"
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Technical or not, what it really comes down to is the numbers the PSU puts out, and JonnyGuru is among the best when it comes to that.
 
Yeah guru keeps it simple but where it counts, the numbers are there.
 
I've never been able to finish reading a Johnny Guru review because the writing style is too grating. As a read through, I can feel myself losing knowledge.
 
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