[SOLVED] Help choosing a Power Supply for my build

[rajeshja]

Hi,

I recently upgraded the CPU, Motherboard, and other components into an ancient (11 years old) case with an equally ancient PSU. I now want to get a good PSU to go with the rest of my build.

The new specs are:

CPU: i5-9600K
Motherboard: Asus Prime B360M-A
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (1x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C16
CPU Cooler: Antec C400 Glacial
SSD: Western Digital Green PC 240GB M.2 SATA III (WDS240G2G0B)
Case Fan: Cooler Master 120mm Fan

The following old components remain:
A DVD-RW Drive
2x 160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm drives
1x 1TB WD Green 5400rpm drive
PSU: iBall LPE223-400 (power rating image below)

I intend to get the following components over the next few months (or even years in the case of the RAM)
1x M.2 NVME SSD, and I will probably retire 1 or both of the 160GB Barracudas.
2 more fans
A max of 3 more sticks of 16GB RAM. (I will probably stick with a total of 32GB for the next year or two.)
NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1660 Ti Graphics Card - I will most probably get one of the 1-click OC ones, like the GALAX.
1 WLAN PCI-E Card

I would have a maximum of 3x USB drives connected at any point in time.

I'm using the OuterVision Expert Power Supply Calculator, but have a few questions:
1. What % of TDP should I use in the calculation? Why is 90% recommended?
2. Does the calculator account for power drawn at boost frequency or do I have to increase the frequency or overvoltage parameters?
3. The GTX 1660 Ti has a base clock of 1500 MHz, but a Boost Clock of 1785 MHz. The OC setting uses a 1800 MHz clock. What parameters do I set in the expert calculator for Core clock, Memory clock and Overvoltage?
4. Why is the recommended PSU Wattage 50W above the Load wattage?
5. With the assumptions I'm making, I'm getting a recommendation of an 850 VA UPS. My current UPS is 600VA. What happens if I don't upgrade it? Will it trip in case of power failure or just reduce the battery life?
6. All the PSUs seem to have fans on the top. My case doesn't have a grill on the top panel. I'm assuming that this isn't a problem because the air is blown downwards and out through the rear?

With the values I used, OuterVision recommends a 550W PSU.
Here are the power supplies that are available in the 550W to 600W range:
1. Antec VP600P - Rs 3189
2. DeepCool DN550 - Rs 3035
3. Corsair VS550 - Rs 3300
4. Cooler Master MWE550 - Rs 3665
5. Antec Neo ECO NE550M - Rs 4215
6. Corsair CX550 - Rs 4460
7. Cooler Master MasterWatt 600 Lite - Rs 4747
8. Thermaltake Smart BX1 RGB 550W - Rs 4990
9. Corsair CX650 - Rs 5059
10. Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550W - Rs 5885

My budget started at Rs 2500 and is currently at Rs 4000. So the last 5 are outside my budget but I am willing to consider them if the others aren't the right choice.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Get corsair CX550 (Grey unit) or CX650 (also grey unit, they are newer production)for some headroom in case of beefier GPU.

 

[Mastropomodoro]

I know that PSU can be tricky, but personally i don't trust calculators. Quick guide: first choose the brand (sesonic, enermax, xfx, be quiet, corsair) i trust those brands, Seasonic is considered the best. Don't buy a VS series from corsair. Than you have the certification (efficency and so quality) I normally go with an 80+ gold certification, but also silver or bronze are ok. For your build 550W are more than enough, 500W is also fine. The certification is kinda important because basically tells you how much energy your psu will waste. So if you need 400W and you buy a 80+ certified psu will have an efficency of 80% and you want a 550W psu, if you buy a 80+ gold you have 90-92% efficency and also better quality, so you can buy for the same build a 500W psu.
your case it kinda old so you have to place your psu on the top, no problem, the fan will take the air from inside and not from outside the case.

 

[rajeshja]

Thanks. Is the Antec VP600P worth considering at all? I don't see an 80Plus rating but the OEM seems to be FSP.

Good 500W PSUs don't seem to be available here, so the choice is between 450W and 550/600W.

 

[rajeshja]

Good 500W PSUs don't seem to be available here, so the choice is between 450W and 550/600W.

Actually scratch that. I just found a Thermaltake TR2 S 500W. But it's only 80Plus, not bronze I guess.

 

[DSzymborski]

Actually scratch that. I just found a Thermaltake TR2 S 500W. But it's only 80Plus, not bronze I guess.

The TR2s are not good.

The Corsair CXs, assuming they don't have the green lettering on the unit itself, and that last Antec are the only ones on this list even worth considering. I know a 1660 Ti is more fun, but if budget is a limitation, an RX 580 and a good power supply is preferable to a 1660 Ti and a poor one. Don't skimp on the most important part of your PC.

Are these parts within the return windows or are they already running? The motherboard may not run a 9600K out of the box unless it has had its BIOS updated. And getting one stick of 16 GB RAM is significantly worse than two sticks of 8 GB RAM; you're losing the ability to run memory in dual channel mode. And if they're already running, turn it off until you have a non-iball PSU in there. That's one of the two large brands in India most notorious for selling literal garbage, along with Circle.

 

[Mastropomodoro]

I agree on everything he said.
Personally i would choose the Corsair, but check the certification and also the years of warranty.

 

[rajeshja]

The TR2s are not good.

The Corsair CXs, assuming they don't have the green lettering on the unit itself, and that last Antec are the only ones on this list even worth considering. I know a 1660 Ti is more fun, but if budget is a limitation, an RX 580 and a good power supply is preferable to a 1660 Ti and a poor one. Don't skimp on the most important part of your PC.

Are these parts within the return windows or are they already running? The motherboard may not run a 9600K out of the box unless it has had its BIOS updated. And getting one stick of 16 GB RAM is significantly worse than two sticks of 8 GB RAM; you're losing the ability to run memory in dual channel mode. And if they're already running, turn it off until you have a non-iball PSU in there. That's one of the two large brands in India most notorious for selling literal garbage, along with Circle.

Point taken on graphics card vs PSU. I can actually postpone the graphics card purchase to make space for a better PSU.
I see from the PSU Comparison Google Sheets that the Corsair CX550 comes in two different OEM versions - Great Wall vs CWT. How do I know which one I'm buying? Does it matter?

The motherboard works with the cpu. I made a point of checking that the units they had on sale. The sacrifice on dual channel performance (0-10% depending on who you ask) was on purpose. 2x8 GB sticks were 40% more expensive than a single 16GB, and I intend to upgrade to 32GB in the next few months, so it would be simpler to just add another identical 16GB stick. The same brand/model seems to have sufficient stock available.

 

[DSzymborski]

The RAM makes more sense then, though are you sure you need 32 GB? It's still kind of unusual to need that unless you have a very specific need for it (for example, I can easily get to 25 GB of RAM in MySQL, so all my non-laptops have at least 32 GB).

The CWT and GW versions aren't identical, but they're about the same quality. Great Wall's manufactured some junk in the past (and really, so has CWT), but what they make is at the behest of whoever's ordering them and given a company that wants a quality platform, they're perfectly capable of the task. The Corsair CX isn't an amazing PSU or anything, but it's a competent budget one with a more-than-adequate warranty. Corsair, as far as I know, doesn't list any indication whether you're getting a CWT or a GW.

 

[rajeshja]

The RAM makes more sense then, though are you sure you need 32 GB? It's still kind of unusual to need that unless you have a very specific need for it (for example, I can easily get to 25 GB of RAM in MySQL, so all my non-laptops have at least 32 GB).

My work laptop has 16GB, and I really see it straining when I'm running a Java server, a NoSQL database, a Kafka cluster and umpteen tabs on my browser.
I won't be "working" on my build, but
I'll be playing with game development and I believe Unreal Engine 4 does like more RAM.

The CWT and GW versions aren't identical, but they're about the same quality. Great Wall's manufactured some junk in the past (and really, so has CWT), but what they make is at the behest of whoever's ordering them and given a company that wants a quality platform, they're perfectly capable of the task. The Corsair CX isn't an amazing PSU or anything, but it's a competent budget one with a more-than-adequate warranty. Corsair, as far as I know, doesn't list any indication whether you're getting a CWT or a GW.

That's good to know. I'm going with the CX550 then. The 650 seems way beyond the max configuration I'll ever fit into this build, and the Antec's availability seems questionable.