Corsair VS series? Is it good for today's standards of PC gaming?

[Shock34]

Hi, I'd like to start by saying I am trying to save as much money as possible.

So I've heard much about the Corsair VS series, "they're terribly unreliable and low quality" and "they're pretty good and about the same as CX series" and most of these views are biased because of past experiences with Corsair. However, I have not seen any reviews on the VS series recently. In fact, all of the forums on it that I've read are pretty much as old as the Radeon 5xxx series.

Now I was looking at these two power supplies:
VS series: https://goo.gl/dy7DCP
EVGA: https://goo.gl/YH4xkj

I know I should take no exceptions here but this is really all the money I have and my current PSU is making super irritating coil whine, having an extremely loud fan under load + while idle, and even causing my build to shut down because apparently too much power is being drawn. Keep in mind my current power supply is a highly reputable XFX TS 430w that unfortunately powers a superclocked GTX 970 and an overclocked r5 1400.

I personally think EVGA is the way to go because they apparently have much, much better customer service than corsair and XFX put together.

But money is the factor we need to focus on here.

Thanks for reading and I hope some of you have a solution for me!

[EDIT]
Specs:
GALAX EXOC GTX 970 SC
MSI B350 TOMAHAWK
AMD Ryzen R5 1400 @3.7GHz (planning to go higher with new psu)
XFX TS 430W
Samsung ssd 850 EVO 250gb, WD blue 1tb, barracuda 1tb
Cryorig m9a
HyperX 8GB 2133MHz

Location: UK
I'd say my largest budget is £55.

 

[dudmont]

the cx and vs are about the same quality, but they're both very low quality, so best avoid them. Here's the tier chart(http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html), buy the best you can possibly afford. Good PSUs, will last 2 generations of computers, bad ones will not last and could possibly cause catastrophic problems to your other expensive components. I will reiterate, buy the best PSU you can, scrimp, short-change, and save elsewhere.
The EVGA looks to be a tier 3, which is the lowest I would ever consider going. I will recommend that you do whatever you can to get a tier 2 or higher. As I said, a good unit will last 2 computer generations. A good unit will, over those 2 computer generations, save you more than the price difference in electrical costs.

 

[MauveCloud]

As far as recently, I've read that the newer gray-label CX and CXM series are better than the old green-label units. I noticed recently that Corsair came out with a new gray-label lineup of VS series:
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vs-series-vs400-400-watt-80-plus-white-certified-psu-na
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vs-series-vs500-500-watt-80-plus-white-certified-psu-na
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vs-series-vs600-600-watt-80-plus-white-certified-psu-na
However, I haven't found a professional review of any of them, and they're still at the bottom of Corsair's lineup. "not as bad as the old green-label units" isn't much of an accomplishment, and I doubt they're really suitable for a gaming rig.

 

[DSzymborski]

The reason you don't see new reviews of the Corsair VS, it's because it's an old platform that hasn't been updated. There's little point for someone to go to the effort of making a new review for what is the same PSU. When an old platform is improved -- see the latest Corsair CX generation which made some significant improvements -- you see the opinion of that PSU improve.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of that EVGA PSU either, given the manufacturer of that line. It's would be better to give us information about your PC, your budget, and your location, rather than simply throw out a couple of PSUs to audition. Better information leads to better advice; I know nothing about your situation other than you not wanting to spend a lot of money, so I cannot offer an opinion that is anything more than very general.

 

[madmatt30]

^ mmm , not sure that's true.
The wattages & load tables on the new vs are completely different , & you're getting a 3 year warranty rather than the 2 year on the old units.

As said though , no idea what they actually are , although they are still no doubt a budget cwt platform.

 

[Shock34]

The reason you don't see new reviews of the Corsair VS, it's because it's an old platform that hasn't been updated. There's little point for someone to go to the effort of making a new review for what is the same PSU. When an old platform is improved -- see the latest Corsair CX generation which made some significant improvements -- you see the opinion of that PSU improve.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of that EVGA PSU either, given the manufacturer of that line. It's would be better to give us information about your PC, your budget, and your location, rather than simply throw out a couple of PSUs to audition. Better information leads to better advice; I know nothing about your situation other than you not wanting to spend a lot of money, so I cannot offer an opinion that is anything more than very general.

I have updated the thread with the information you 'need'

I also am not sure about EVGA but I hear that if a power supply from them causes your entire system to break, their warranty will cover your entire PC and have really friendly customer service, unlike corsair who I have had bad past experiences with.

plus in my defence, I did provide my GPU and CPU since those are the most important specs to do with the power supply. If you've missed it, it was in the 10th line.

 

[madmatt30]

£55??

Just buy a cx550 mate & be done.

Corsair  CP-9020121-UK CX Series 550 W CX550 ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply Unit - Black https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06X9BV5PR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_oVHEzbV4Q442W

Its a good quality PSU & not to be confused with the old model cx's.

That xfx ?? Good unit , little sketchy on the 12v though , I'd consider it a 400w unit really.

You must be using an adapter for your 970 , I own the exoc & I know its a 8+6 pin card & can pull 180w stock & 230w overclocked.

Evga replace a system or components ??

No mate , certainly not the norm.If you push it enough in the UK you may get a result because out ts & consumer rights laws are so stringent.
It would still be an uphill battle though make no mistake !

 

[madmatt30]

BTW - the amazon reviews - be aware 90% of those are not foebthe same PSU - they cover a time span from before these silver/black units were even available.

They're amalgamated reviews going right back to the original 2012 CX units.

 

[dudmont]

Ok, sadly, if you PSU fried major components, you're almost certainly out of luck.
Ok, I found 2 bronze units in your price range, with the XFX being the preferred of the two. https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/6ZkD4D/silverstone-power-supply-st60fesb and https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/fntWGX/xfx-power-supply-p1600bxtfr
I used your pound amount and set the minimum power amount of 500 watts. Not a lot of options, setting the pounds amount to 65 yielded a lot more, including two unknown gold units(when I say unknown, they are merely in category of unknown, their manufacturers are well known).
Like I said, with your electricity costs per KW/H, you'd more than pay, over the life of the unit, to spend a little more now, and save over the life of 2 machines, by buying a better PSU.

 

[madmatt30]

^ they're no good units.
The Silverstone is acceptable , the xfx xt is not.

Unfortunately xfx dropped the ball on the new budget xt range.

Until now they solely used seasonic units , the xt are outsourced to a small Chinese manufacturer , they're not completely dire but they're absolutely not worth the money.

 

[dudmont]

^ they're no good units.
The Silverstone is acceptable , the xfx xt is not.

Unfortunately xfx dropped the ball on the new budget xt range.

Until now they solely used seasonic units , the xt are outsourced to a small Chinese manufacturer , they're not completely dire but they're absolutely not worth the money.

I'm betting you're right, I re-looked at the tier chart and didn't find it. I switch my vote to the silverstone.
I know it's easy for me to say, cause I'm not spending the dough, but finding 20 more pounds would get a seriously good PSU that's both high quality on the parts, and high efficiency. Plus he would get full modularity out of it, which is a nice big plus. https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/NrDzK8/evga-power-supply-220gs0550v3

 

[madmatt30]

The cx550 is a great PSU though , plain as.
Similar to the old RX platform but with better quality caps.
Dc-dc, close to gold efficiency , 5 year warranty.
At £50 there really isn't anything better.

Modular ?? Not really an issue when youre using an 8+6 pin GPU anyway IMO.
You generally end up plugging in all the cables in anyway .

 

[dudmont]

The cx550 is a great PSU though , plain as.
Similar to the old RX platform but with better quality caps.
Dc-dc, close to gold efficiency , 5 year warranty.
At £50 there really isn't anything better.

Modular ?? Not really an issue when youre using an 8+6 pin GPU anyway IMO.
You generally end up plugging in all the cables in anyway .

Have they(whoever makes the CX series, is it Channel Wall?) improved it enough to get to Tier 3 on the chart? If they have, then I wouldn't tell him not to buy it, but if his budget is firm on 55 pounds, then a Tier 3 is the best he's going to do, which is very marginal if he's going to overclock his components.
Modularity is nice, but it's not a must, for his budget, build quality has to be first, efficiency second, imo.

 

[madmatt30]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/corsair-cx650m-psu,review-33693.html

650m review

The 550/550m are the same platform.
They're the same PSU apart from semi modularity.
I've used 6 of the 550m's in the last 5 months & currently have a ryzen 1700+gtx 970 (that same exoc model as the op) running on one

I find it pretty faultless (paid £48 for the 550m's on a flash sale)

The 550 non modular is still good value at a touch over £50 IMO.

 

[dudmont]

Probably be as good a unit as he's going to buy for the money. I say that after looking at that review.

 

[Shock34]

Seeing that you think the cx550 is worth the money, do you think perhaps an evga 600 B1 or 550B3 is better?
I'm not really much for the wattage I'm more interested on better quality components and customer service

EDIT: forget that.
I just discovered my budget can reach £85.
Is the corsair rm550x ideal?

 

[dudmont]

Looking at the tier chart and placing where the grey model cx550 sits(or where I think it would sit), as compared to the b1, I think, speaking for myself, I would take the Corsair.
I run EVGAs myself(with a Seasonic in the mix too), but I've never had to use their customer service, so I can't speak for it. So I can only speak on components, as I see it.

 

[madmatt30]

The new CX (if the tier lists were not 2 years out of date) would be a firm tier 2 without a doubt.
Far better than the b1 , a b2 or b3 I would consider because they're super flower units.
The b1 is a bargain basement hec manufactured PSU .
Its OK for what it is , its most definitely nowhere near the corsairs level though.