[SOLVED] Are Workstation/Server PSU's a good cheap alternative?

[hephaistos]

So I was selling a gtx 1070 ftw which consumes 210 watts. I went to the guy so he could try it, and we hooked the gpu to a 550w fujitsu atx psu which had If I remember correctly 2x8 pin+ 1x6+2 pin. I was worried cuz I thought it would blast, but to my surprise, it handled quite well, we could run msi kombustor, and no problems. So I was thinking whether it'd be a good idea to ditch buying fancy expensive branded power supplies (i have cx450), and get one of these fujitsu ones for 10 dollars or under, and run high tdp hardware just as fine? Thanks

 

[siaan312]

Theres more to a power supply than "it runs" or "it doesnt run"

The running or not part is mostly just the amount of voltage.
the reason to buy higher quality, and therefore more expensive power supplies are numerous, so to list a few.

1. Efficiency. how much power from the wall gets into your pc, and how much turns into heat.
2. Longevity, and quality of parts. does it have japanese capacitors? which are much, MUCH less likely to leak or die overtime.
3. Less explody. I have seen bad power supplies exploding. It is not pretty on your motherboard. its a miracle if you save your cpu, and forget your board.
4. warrenty. power supplies die quite often, more so than you think. having a long warranty means that even, 5, 7 or sometimes 10 years down the line, you can get a new psu (a few monthes before warrenty ends, use a screwdriver to break a capacitor through the fan grills and ama it. they will give you a new one)

 

[hephaistos]

Theres more to a power supply than "it runs" or "it doesnt run"

The running or not part is mostly just the amount of voltage.
the reason to buy higher quality, and therefore more expensive power supplies are numerous, so to list a few.

1. Efficiency. how much power from the wall gets into your pc, and how much turns into heat.
2. Longevity, and quality of parts. does it have japanese capacitors? which are much, MUCH less likely to leak or die overtime.
3. Less explody. I have seen bad power supplies exploding. It is not pretty on your motherboard. its a miracle if you save your cpu, and forget your board.
4. warrenty. power supplies die quite often, more so than you think. having a long warranty means that even, 5, 7 or sometimes 10 years down the line, you can get a new psu (a few monthes before warrenty ends, use a screwdriver to break a capacitor through the fan grills and ama it. they will give you a new one)

Thanks. My cx450 has 5 years warranty (i bought this one cuz tomshardware convinced me to), I know it's a good unit, but I can't plug gpu's with more than 1 8pin connector on it. A workstation fujitsu psu has japanese capacitors i guess the brand is japanese?

 

[USAFRet]

A "$10 or under" PSU is a used/second hand item, whether server or otherwise.

 

[kanewolf]

Server power supplies generally don't have cables. They plug into sockets in the server. They are not easily usable standalone.

 

[siaan312]

Thanks. My cx450 has 5 years warranty (i bought this one cuz tomshardware convinced me to), I know it's a good unit, but I can't plug gpu's with more than 1 8pin connector on it. A workstation fujitsu psu has japanese capacitors i guess the brand is japanese?

Japanese brand doesnt mean japanese capacitors.
if its 10 dollars its probably cheap and 2nd hand.

server powersupplies are also usually 1u, and are incredibly loud with a 40mm fan.

can you send the model number of that psu?
but, either way, youre probably better off with a cx650m or such. since a 450watt will probably not power much north of a 1070 and an i5, anyway.