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Hello. I am getting a new PSU. The PSU I was thinking of getting is the EVGA G1 80+ Gold 650 watt. I have an antec 650 watt right now, but it is very long in the tooth as I got it used. I am curious if the model PSU would be a good one to get. MY specs on the machine are a Nvidia 750ti, an ssd, 2 7200rpm hard drives, intel 3450s cpu with stock heatsink, I add external drives every now and then, I plug up an xbox 360 controller to play games plus add usb for various other things at times, I also have two case fans connected, and a dvd burner for the optical drive. I do video converting, music converts, play games, watch tv off of the computer (films and tv), listen to music and all that stuff. I would like to know your opinions on this. Would it be the correct size PSU, would it be a good brand to get? Just your opinions in general will help me to decide.

650W is massive overkill for your current system. Try plugging your system into a power supply calculator. You'd be fine with a 450W unit given your current caliber of machine all the way up to about a GTX 1070 graphics card. I can't find any great deals on 80 plus gold PSUs in that wattage range, but maybe the 450W Corsair CX-M 450 for $30 after MIR?

If you were stepping up to a $450 graphics card in the future I'd personally go with a 550W unit. I currently have the EVGA 550 G2 (has gone as low as $50 after MIR, but more typically $60 after MIR is a good sale price). That lineup is one of the better ones out there currently from my research.

thanks for the reply. I may wait until I can find one with some sort of rebate offer. I am getting itchy for it though and I need one as I am getting a little worried about the one I have. It works fine now and I don't hear or see any problems with it (knock on wood), but it is almost a decade old if not more by now.

EVGA 500 W1 80+, 500W Continuous Power, 3 Year Warranty Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR how does this power supply seem? Do you think it would last over 3 years?

toki wrote:

Just your opinions in general will help me to decide.

It depends on how long you expect to use it, if you plan on upgrading components, and what sort of features you will want. My guess is that a 450/460 watt unit would be enough for your current system (with some to spare).

I generally look to more eff. designs: at least bronze but preferably gold + if it's modular or at least semi-modular. Next I sort by price. Then I look at brands, warranty, and customer responses for those units that look interesting. Finally I look to pci-e power connectors and potential future need of video card(s) along with size and the case and configuration it's going in. Rebates are usually critical for getting a good (final) price.

Note that a more powerful power supply does NOT mean that it will use more power, so even if your power requirements are small - it's just as fine to get a 650 watt unit as a 450 watt unit even if you only need 400 watts.

Gold Ex. (full modular):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817438053

-7 year warranty.

Bonze Ex. (semi-modular):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139146

-5 year warranty.

CScottG wrote:

Note that a more powerful power supply does NOT mean that it will use more power, so even if your power requirements are small - it's just as fine to get a 650 watt unit as a 450 watt unit even if you only need 400 watts.

One small side note. Recommended power supply wattage as what you'd get from a power supply calculator like the one I linked gives you headroom. aka the recommended wattage is NOT the power draw of the system you spec'd (the OP's system is around 180W power draw while gaming). It is NOT advisable to buy a 450W PSU if your system draws 400W under load. Recommended wattage is higher than actual power draw to account for PSU capacitor ageing, unexpected loads (OCing or new components) and the fact that the majority of power supplies' efficiency peaks at about 50% load and tapers off above and below that. Depending on the quality of the PSU, that drop could be small or it could be significant. I'd typically only recommend jumping up a single class (~100W) over recommended if you must.

Also, thank you for linking the exact same two PSU's I did (except the Corsiar is $25 cheaper at newegg). The OP can take that as two votes for those units!

DPete27 wrote:

Also, thank you for linking the exact same two PSU's I did (except the Corsiar is $25 cheaper at newegg). The OP can take that as two votes for those units!

LOL! Yup.

Very nice price for the Corsair, I'll go change my link. (..damn that partpicker for not coming through for me.. phff, micro-center "deal".)

So you guys think a 450 watt bronze would be more than enough for my needs?

Yes, that Corsiar 450W modular unit is a decent price after MIR and has plenty of extra wattage for future upgrades.

would a 80+ bronze be ok on a 500 or 550 watt?

Sure. Your system could run on a 350W supply without any problems. OEM's like HP and Dell would build a PC with the same specs as yours and use a 250W PSU.

What region are you in? If you're in a region with 220-240V mains power, even bronze PSUs are likely to be close to 90% efficient, which means low, low noise for any PSU with a temperature-sensing fan.

I am in america.

I really dont understand the aim for 50% remarks.

The whole point of 80 Plus certification is that even the basic 80 Plus certification means you have 80% efficiency from 20% all the way to 100% load.
Wiki


The OPs system will likely use 50W CPU + 15Wx2 for 3.5" HDD peak + 75W GPU + 7W SSD plus more unnecessary buffer for 200W. Even putting in a GTX 1070 might bring that to 300W.

What to look for? 5V rail is used by disk drives. If you plan to have a lot, make sure it can provide enough power.
You seem to know the 6-pin/8-pin details.

I personally really like my hybrid fan PS because its never on as it doesn't get hot enough.
In retrospect, i would have liked a manual fan switch too.

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Bronze-Warr ... 6906983011 this is what I ordered. I hope I made the right decision.

toki wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Bronze-Warranty-Supply-100-B1-0450-K1/dp/B01F5LX55K/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467416308&sr=1-2&keywords=psu&refinements=p_89%3AEVGA%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6906983011 this is what I ordered. I hope I made the right decision.

I probably would have gotten that or similar from Corsair. No regrets.

CORSAIR CX-M series CX450 450W 80 PLUS BRONZE is semi-modular and 5 year warranty. And has 2x6+2 GPU power for no adapter future in case something wants 2x6-pin. $29.99 after $20.00 rebate card.

But i wouldnt lose sleep over it.

thanks for the recommendations everyone. I hope I made the right decision. I always get nervous when trying to put in new parts.

Fine choice, except it was $20 cheaper and no sales tax at newegg.com Oh well. The unit gets averaging review scores. (likely the 450b and 500b are almost identical)

The semi-modular cabling on the Corsair for the same price/efficiency/wattage must not have been important to you?

DPete27 wrote:

Fine choice, except it was $20 cheaper and no sales tax at newegg.com

Not if the OP lives in California.

blahsaysblah wrote:

toki wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Bronze-Warranty-Supply-100-B1-0450-K1/dp/B01F5LX55K/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467416308&sr=1-2&keywords=psu&refinements=p_89%3AEVGA%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6906983011 this is what I ordered. I hope I made the right decision.

I probably would have gotten that or similar from Corsair. No regrets.

CORSAIR CX-M series CX450 450W 80 PLUS BRONZE is semi-modular and 5 year warranty. And has 2x6+2 GPU power for no adapter future in case something wants 2x6-pin. $29.99 after $20.00 rebate card.

But i wouldnt lose sleep over it.

I don't get you guys at all.

PSU is the most important part of any build.
When you look at a $30 PSU--Take away profits for retailer and manufacturer-cost of packaging,transport from China.
Lucky if your left with $10 worth of components (cheap ones).
We all like a bargain-but PSU is not a place to "cheap out"

My recommendations would have been-
Seasonic G series.
EVGA g series

HERETIC wrote:

blahsaysblah wrote:

toki wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Bronze-Warranty-Supply-100-B1-0450-K1/dp/B01F5LX55K/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467416308&sr=1-2&keywords=psu&refinements=p_89%3AEVGA%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6906983011 this is what I ordered. I hope I made the right decision.

I probably would have gotten that or similar from Corsair. No regrets.

CORSAIR CX-M series CX450 450W 80 PLUS BRONZE is semi-modular and 5 year warranty. And has 2x6+2 GPU power for no adapter future in case something wants 2x6-pin. $29.99 after $20.00 rebate card.

But i wouldnt lose sleep over it.

I don't get you guys at all.

PSU is the most important part of any build.
When you look at a $30 PSU--Take away profits for retailer and manufacturer-cost of packaging,transport from China.
Lucky if your left with $10 worth of components (cheap ones).
We all like a bargain-but PSU is not a place to "cheap out"

My recommendations would have been-
Seasonic G series.
EVGA g series

I do not like the sound of that

toki wrote:

I do not like the sound of that

It's a cheaper power supply, at a cheaper price - nothing wrong with that. It's also got a good warranty duration. Because it's less expensive it's likely to have a higher initial failure rate, but if it passes those first few months without problem (as I'm sure the vast majority do) then it should last you a long time provided you don't have it "on" all the time and provided you don't suffer from a power-line condition (..yet another reason to have a decent UPS connected to it).

Better power supplies cost more, but even those can have the problems listed above (..though it's often an even smaller minority of total units sold).

Seasonic are often excellent, but the more consumer-oriented units (that don't have loud fans and are generally high power) with the nicer features are a lot more money. I've got one, but I use it 24/7 (on a decent UPS) and it cost more than twice what yours did while being very similar in wattage.

lol, that's great. I leave my computer on 24/7

toki wrote:

lol, that's great. I leave my computer on 24/7

Yes, well that's probably something you should have told us in your first post.


-well, just cross your fingers (..and frankly everyone does that anyway; I know I did with my Seasonic, and still do).


PS. Don't forget using a decent UPS from the battery connection. (..bad power from the wall is an excellent way to shorten the life of switching power supplies.) ..so is shoe-horning it into a cabinet where there isn't enough fresh (cooler) air to cool the power supply.

I cancelled the other order and did this one instead. This is the one I had in mind in the first place. https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-C ... 6906984011 It has the 10 year warranty.

FWIW I've had very good results with Corsair's CX series over the past several years. Multiple units in multiple builds (many of which run 24x7 or close to it), with no failures. Sure, the build quality isn't as good as more expensive units, but in my experience they're a cut above other PSUs in their price range.

toki wrote:

I cancelled the other order and did this one instead. This is the one I had in mind in the first place. https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-C ... 6906984011 It has the 10 year warranty.

Um, says 5 YEAR WARRANTY in its title, and elsewhere.

This one has a 10 year warranty:

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-C ... B00K85X2AW

just brew it! wrote:

FWIW I've had very good results with Corsair's CX series over the past several years. Multiple units in multiple builds (many of which run 24x7 or close to it), with no failures. Sure, the build quality isn't as good as more expensive units, but in my experience they're a cut above other PSUs in their price range.

Exactly this.

Everyone doesnt need a GTX 1080. GTX 1060, GTX 1050 and Geforce 1010 all serve their roles.

My last computer was OC from day 1, lasted 8 years and only retired because i needed SLATC feature on CPU for Hyper-V. During 2nd year, the original semi-expensive PS died. It was on a $30 MicroCenter store brand 500W PS from then on. That PS temporarily powered my new rig until i found a good SFX for my new mini-ITX PC. Still here as a spare.

An i3 + GTX 1060 + 2 drives will be around 250W(likely less) during heavy gaming.
An i5k + GTX 1080 + 2 drives will be around 350W w/o crazy OC during heavy gaming.

Only reason im not using a Corsair CX450M is because i needed a SFX form factor PS for my build and also full modular because i wanted to build my own power cables to free up space. (Corsair SF450)

In your new price range, you should also try to look for hybrid fan that stays off at low temperatures/loads. The SF450's fan stays off under 200W in my case.

One thing I don't see being mentioned is upgrade potential. The OP's system may only use 180 Watts today but what about next year or the year after. You need to leave some room for upgrading the system down the road unless you are sure that you will not be upgrading it in the future. I know that I bought a 430W Seasonic a few years back which was more than enough for my system at the time and even when I upgraded to the G3258 overclocked to 4.3GHz it was still more then enough. But when I upgraded to a 4770K and a R9 390 that PSU was going to be at the limits so I had to get a new one. If I had bought something bigger like a 600W it would have been more than enough for my newish system.

nanoflower wrote:

One thing I don't see being mentioned is upgrade potential. The OP's system may only use 180 Watts today but what about next year or the year after. You need to leave some room for upgrading the system down the road unless you are sure that you will not be upgrading it in the future. I know that I bought a 430W Seasonic a few years back which was more than enough for my system at the time and even when I upgraded to the G3258 overclocked to 4.3GHz it was still more then enough. But when I upgraded to a 4770K and a R9 390 that PSU was going to be at the limits so I had to get a new one. If I had bought something bigger like a 600W it would have been more than enough for my newish system.

I would have run a stress for eight hours and checked your PS temps. As Seasonic is good brand, you likely had some reserves and been OK with that PS. Also, temps have big impact on power use at the full load side. A few dollars to change air flow might have been a valid side choice too. Or a GTX 970 with the price difference of that new PS?

nanoflower wrote:

One thing I don't see being mentioned is upgrade potential. The OP's system may only use 180 Watts today but what about next year or the year after. You need to leave some room for upgrading the system down the road unless you are sure that you will not be upgrading it in the future. I know that I bought a 430W Seasonic a few years back which was more than enough for my system at the time and even when I upgraded to the G3258 overclocked to 4.3GHz it was still more then enough. But when I upgraded to a 4770K and a R9 390 that PSU was going to be at the limits so I had to get a new one. If I had bought something bigger like a 600W it would have been more than enough for my newish system.

After a number of years (5+), do you want to keep using the same PSU anyway? You may probably want to to give it even lighter duty in some secondary box anyway.