New 650ish watt PSU

D

djsb

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
396
I'm shopping for a new 650W PSU to replace my aging PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610, whose fan sounds like it's on its last legs. The reason I decided to buy a new one rather than replace the fan is because I'd like to have more than one PSU in the house as a backup, and because I'm hesitant to open up a used power supply on my own and potentially zap myself.

The units that caught my attention were:
Seasonic X650 - $140 Newegg
Corsair HX650 - $120 Newegg
and seen mentioned in passing while researching the above two:
XFX P1-650X-CAH9 - $89 Newegg

Is the $140 for the Seasonic worth it, or is that just a price premium on a well respected brand name? I know from reviews that it's fanless at low loads, and that it has great efficiency and provides great power, so it's got that going for it. How does the Corsair or XFX compare in those regards? I'm pretty good about gauging CPU and motherboard prices, but I have no idea where the "diminishing returns" price is for PSUs.

I want my power supply to be useful for all 5 (or 7) years its warranty, which is why I'm overestimating my power needs. Extrapolating the power requirements of current AMD GPUs, I'm hopeful that this will give me breathing room for a single high end card 1 or 2 generations down the line. (I don't do dual GPU, but may get a second lower power one to drive a Wacom Cintiq or television, or maybe hack PhysX if I get an Nvidia model).

Are there any other brands or models I should be considering? Less than 5 years of warranty is out of the question (my current unit is 3 years, meaning it's out of warranty already) as is non-modular. Quiet is a key concern as well.
 
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Seasonic S12II 620 watt for $65 at Newegg, not sure if it's still going on though.

Otherwise, I would go for the XFX. It's similar in quality to the HX650, actually based off the Seasonic M12D line. Although I have heard many horror stories about XFX customer service.

Between the X650 and HX650, I would go for the X650 because it is more efficient, has better ripple and voltage control, and is just generally better all around, and just $20 more.
 
i'd get the x650 for the low noise and high quality


i looked at that xfx one but there a bunch of user reviews complaining about fan noise and clicking

i HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE (no really i don't care for it) noise so i'd not take the chance.


the HX650 is nice but for the little bit more the x650 is pretty sexy so i'd get that.
 
If you check the classifieds you may even find an X650.
bleh2.gif
 
djsb said:
I'm shopping for a new 650W PSU to replace my aging PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610, whose fan sounds like it's on its last legs. The reason I decided to buy a new one rather than replace the fan is because I'd like to have more than one PSU in the house as a backup, and because I'm hesitant to open up a used power supply on my own and potentially zap myself.

The units that caught my attention were:
Seasonic X650 - $140 Newegg
Corsair HX650 - $120 Newegg
and seen mentioned in passing while researching the above two:
XFX P1-650X-CAH9 - $89 Newegg

Is the $140 for the Seasonic worth it, or is that just a price premium on a well respected brand name? I know from reviews that it's fanless at low loads, and that it has great efficiency and provides great power, so it's got that going for it. How does the Corsair or XFX compare in those regards? I'm pretty good about gauging CPU and motherboard prices, but I have no idea where the "diminishing returns" price is for PSUs.

I want my power supply to be useful for all 5 (or 7) years its warranty, which is why I'm overestimating my power needs. Extrapolating the power requirements of current AMD GPUs, I'm hopeful that this will give me breathing room for a single high end card 1 or 2 generations down the line. (I don't do dual GPU, but may get a second lower power one to drive a Wacom Cintiq or television, or maybe hack PhysX if I get an Nvidia model).

Are there any other brands or models I should be considering? Less than 5 years of warranty is out of the question (my current unit is 3 years, meaning it's out of warranty already) as is non-modular. Quiet is a key concern as well.
Click to expand...

you lookin for modular or non modular?

the corsair and seasonic you listed are both very good, but somewhat pricey, imo. not too sure about the xfx. here are some cheaper (also quiet according to reviews) alternatives if you like (seasonic, silverstone, pc power and cooling, corsair), all with 5-7 year warranty:

modular-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095

non modular-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703026

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256072

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020 (v2)
 
$140 seems pretty high for a quality 650w PS (seasonic). I've seen the Corsair ax750 for sale here in the Great White North for not much more than that.
 
I agree with DarthV, $140 seems to high. The Seasonic X650 was on sale over and over for the last few months. I'd wait until I saw one on sale again and nab it. I paid 99 to 109 for mine. Well worth it...best psu's I've ever owned. Period. With the rigs I have them in, they're dead silent with no fan movement. No electric buzzing or hum. Again, dead silent.

I've played around with a few of those HX650's, they're not bad at all either. At 109, it's a fairly decent deal. Although, they have been as low as 79.99. I wouldn't purchase any of their new line, but that's me.

Best,

Liquid Cool
 
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