[SOLVED] Best budget PSU for around $50?

[alphacoyle]

It's not going to get heavy use, mainly build will be for general computer use: browsing, streaming etc; some light gaming though, nothing extreme or very often, i3-9100f with something like a rx570 gpu; haven't decided which gpu yet but won't be anything needing more than a 450w psu. Thanks.

 

[richiestang_78]

Corsair CX450 or CX450M would be the best options. Unfortunately there currently is a supply shortage and prices are higher or out of stock.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q7...onze-certified-atx-power-supply-cp-9020120-na

 

[alphacoyle]

Corsair CX450 or CX450M would be the best options. Unfortunately there currently is a supply shortage and prices are higher or out of stock.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q7...onze-certified-atx-power-supply-cp-9020120-na

I've read there's a quality difference between the CX & CX/M (besides modularity.) In that the CX is the better of the two?

 

[geofelt]

You might want more for a RX570
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

Really, a psu is the last place you should try to go cheap on.
Corsair CX units are budget units, and some are better than others.

Why not a cheap psu??
A cheap PSU will be made of substandard components. It will not have safety and overload protections.
The danger is if it fails under load, it can destroy anything it is connected to.
It will deliver advertised power only at room temperatures, not at higher temperatures found when installed in a case.
The wattage will be delivered on the 3 and 5v rails, not on the 12v rails where modern parts
like the CPU and Graphics cards need it. What power is delivered may fluctuate and cause instability
issues that are hard to diagnose.
The fan will need to spin up higher to cool it, making it noisy.
A cheap PSU can become very expensive.

Do not buy one.

 

[alphacoyle]

I ended up getting a CX650 as it was in stock, reasonably priced; it looks like the CX line is tier 3, and I'm not going to be pushing it very hard. I don't have plans to add a graphics card right now as it's just for my young child's games, but in the future what kind of card do you think would be safe with this PSU; the most I'd get would be GTX1060 3gb/1650 or RX570 4GB.

 

[King_V]

If it's one of the newer ones where the CX is in black/grey, then it's the newer 2017 revision with the 5 year warranty.

If you've been looking at the LTT tier list, I wouldn't entirely rely on that.

If you got one with the CX in green, those are not so good, and I would return it.

 

[alphacoyle]

It's the newer black/gray one. Was reading up a bit before, just checked the list responding to post, some things that drove my decision was availability, so when the CX650 came in stock I purchased it; but the EVGA GD was also one I was considering but it wasn't in stock, now that it is, do you think it is better than the CX?

 

[King_V]

That I couldn't say. It's been stated, and it's not much of an exaggeration, that EVGA seems to like coming out with a new PSU model every other week.

I'd avoid it unless you can find it solidly reviewed by one of the reviewers mentioned in that PSU write-up that my first sig link points to.

 

[alphacoyle]

That EVGA is out of stock again now anyways.
I connected the CX650 and nothing happens except the green power light on the case lights up, fans don't spin, nothing; if I put a usb stick in it will light up for a moment. I did the jumpstarting thing connecting the 2 pins and the psu fan slowly spins, but still nothing when I connect it to the motherboard. As this is a new build does it sound like the psu is the problem; how fast do you think the fan should've turned when I jumped it 'cause it was barely turning, right inbetween being able to see the blades turning and not, but not feeling any airflow or hearing anything.

 

[alphacoyle]

Got another PSU: Super Flower Leadex 3 550W (very nice btw) turned out the issue wasn't the CX650 it works fine; was something else, system running fine now. The CX is still within the return window, should I send it back or hold on to it?

 

[Deleted member 14196]

I would keep it as a known good power supply to test with in case there’s problems in the future

 

[alphacoyle]

Yeah, I'm keeping it; just recently while building this pc my working one's psu died so I already know how having a spare would be helpful. While I was able to get a replacement for it--proprietary Dell quickly--finding a half-way decent PSU for my new build was not easy. BTW am really enjoying the Super Flower, probably equal to Corsair's RMX series; the 3 mode choice is nice, using the middle one, pretty much fanless unless it gets hot enough to come on.