Budget build - Okay to buy budget PSU, or do I need to get an expensive one?

[Legatta]

I'm seeing people say that if I get a CX series PSU I absolutely will ruin my components and set my whole village on fire. I get the feeling it's an exaggeration, and my budget for a PC build is sub £400, am I alright with a budget friendly PSU, or should I bite the bit and get a SuperNova or something?

the 7 year warranty does sound nice

 

[Andrei-Florin Gogan]

The CX series will do just fine for an "entry level " PC. They are risky for high end PCs and most of them have terrible coil whine.

 

[Karsten75]

If you are not planning to overclock, and you provide a reasonable margin of PSU wattage over the required wattage for your build, then a mid-tier (say up to tier 3) pSU is fine. Just don't buy really low-quality crap.

If you are asking about the COrsair CSX (Builder) series, they' are fine in budget circumstances, but look around, since often you can find a slightly better PSU at the same or only very little more money.

 

[QuadRings]

Grab an XFX 550W. $52 for a PSU made by SeaSonic.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9

 

[13thmonkey]

you can find better for a similar price.

 

[clarkjd]

The PSU is the heart of your system. Without it NOTHING works! The PSU is the ONLY component that, if it fails, can take out all of your other components. A "Budget friendly" PSU could turn out to be the most expensive component of your build if you have to replace everything else. Do not "cheap out" on the PSU, it is false economy!

A good rule of thumb is to expect to pay about $1.00 for every 10 watts for a good PSU. I.E. you should be able to get a good 500watt PSU for about $50.00

 

[kyzarvs]

Anyone other than me notice OP was quoting £ when everyone else is giving advice in $? 😀

 

[Legatta]

Thanks for the advice all, I'm thinking I might go for the EVGA 650W GQ, it seems to be well rated, and 650W is far more than I'm gonna need for quite a long time (If ever).

And it's okay kyzarvs, I'm used to doing the conversion by now :^) it's just a shame that in the UK our prices are so much higher than in the US.