How much money from my budget should I dedicate to a PSU and a motherboard?

[MrCanEHdian]

So let's say my budget is $1,500 CAD, that translates into approx. $1376 USD. I thought I was all ready to build, but now I'm worried about the PSU, and to a lesser extent, the motherboard. I'm looking at the Z97 Gaming 3, 5, or 7. But or the PSU, I haven't a clue where to go now, I was recently educated by a member here about the important aspects of a PSU. They recommended a SeaSonic, and anywhere from 550w-750w, although only 750w because I was so sure I needed that.

Anyways, let's say 650w-750w, the gentlemen recommended Gold plus as the rating for efficiency. Most people seem to recommend bronze plus. Anyway, I'd like to spend less than $100 if possible, and certainly no more than like $140.

I prize products like this on their quality, reliability, and function.

 

[Thanatognomonic]

NEVER SKIMP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY
Having a good, 80+ rated power supply is vital for your computer to last its lifetime. Today, you will be fine with a +80 Bronze/Gold 650W SeaSonic/XFX power supply. It's always best to go with gold.

The MSI Z97 Gaming 5 will cater to most gamers needs, I'd personally go with this.

 

[Leonell12]

NEVER SKIMP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY
Having a good, 80+ rated power supply is vital for your computer to last its lifetime. Today, you will be fine with a +80 Bronze/Gold 650W SeaSonic/XFX power supply. It's always best to go with gold.

The MSI Z97 Gaming 5 will cater to most gamers needs, I'd personally go with this.

+1 to Thanatognomonic, MSI Gaming 5 is one of the best mobo's out there, and for power supply, i would go with either Seasonic x series 650m or 750m
or corsair's AX650 or 750

 

[MrCanEHdian]

NEVER SKIMP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY
Having a good, 80+ rated power supply is vital for your computer to last its lifetime. Today, you will be fine with a +80 Bronze/Gold 650W SeaSonic/XFX power supply. It's always best to go with gold.

The MSI Z97 Gaming 5 will cater to most gamers needs, I'd personally go with this.

That's great! I'll look for gold, but depending on the prices, may settle for bronze.

The motherboard has received generally positive reviews, with enthusiastic write ups from consumers on Newegg.ca. If it continues to be a competitive option at its price point, I think I will go for it.

 

[MrCanEHdian]

NEVER SKIMP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY
Having a good, 80+ rated power supply is vital for your computer to last its lifetime. Today, you will be fine with a +80 Bronze/Gold 650W SeaSonic/XFX power supply. It's always best to go with gold.

The MSI Z97 Gaming 5 will cater to most gamers needs, I'd personally go with this.

+1 to Thanatognomonic, MSI Gaming 5 is one of the best mobo's out there, and for power supply, i would go with either Seasonic x series 650m or 750m
or corsair's AX650 or 750

I don't suppose you own one, eh 😛? I'll look at those, so Corsair is a good manufacturer of PSUs then? Price is a big issue for me, but performance/reliability is the biggest point of focus for me.

 

[Leonell12]

NEVER SKIMP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY
Having a good, 80+ rated power supply is vital for your computer to last its lifetime. Today, you will be fine with a +80 Bronze/Gold 650W SeaSonic/XFX power supply. It's always best to go with gold.

The MSI Z97 Gaming 5 will cater to most gamers needs, I'd personally go with this.

+1 to Thanatognomonic, MSI Gaming 5 is one of the best mobo's out there, and for power supply, i would go with either Seasonic x series 650m or 750m
or corsair's AX650 or 750

I don't suppose you own one, eh 😛? I'll look at those, so Corsair is a good manufacturer of PSUs then? Price is a big issue for me, but performance/reliability is the biggest point of focus for me.

haha no my friend owns a Gaming 5 mobo, i built my rig before this thing came out, but yea Corsair and Seasonic make pretty much indestructible psu....

 

[Thanatognomonic]

If you plan on going for a corsair PSU then I wouldn't advise going for their CX/CS series, they're considered corsairs budget line PSU and are not the best you can get for a price range.

Personally, I'd recommend this : http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120pg0650gr
This is a very affordable ($69 for the next 3 days!) PSU from EVGA. It's gold-rated (90%+) and it comes with a very good 5 year warranty.

If this comes out of its deal by the time you're buying, then I'd personally recommend anything from this list ( http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/power-supply/#e=4&W=600,750&m=11,14,51,71,39&sort=a9 ) EXCEPT the corsair CS series.

 

[MrCanEHdian]

NEVER SKIMP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY
Having a good, 80+ rated power supply is vital for your computer to last its lifetime. Today, you will be fine with a +80 Bronze/Gold 650W SeaSonic/XFX power supply. It's always best to go with gold.

The MSI Z97 Gaming 5 will cater to most gamers needs, I'd personally go with this.

+1 to Thanatognomonic, MSI Gaming 5 is one of the best mobo's out there, and for power supply, i would go with either Seasonic x series 650m or 750m
or corsair's AX650 or 750

I don't suppose you own one, eh 😛? I'll look at those, so Corsair is a good manufacturer of PSUs then? Price is a big issue for me, but performance/reliability is the biggest point of focus for me.

haha no my friend owns a Gaming 5 mobo, i built my rig before this thing came out, but yea Corsair and Seasonic make pretty much indestructible psu....

I'm glad your friend liked it! Ok, I will look at those two manufacturers' products. I want that quality hardware I can rely on to not mess up my whole system. Thank you.

 

[MrCanEHdian]

If you plan on going for a corsair PSU then I wouldn't advise going for their CX/CS series, they're considered corsairs budget line PSU and are not the best you can get for a price range.

Personally, I'd recommend this : http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120pg0650gr
This is a very affordable ($69 for the next 3 days!) PSU from EVGA. It's gold-rated (90%+) and it comes with a very good 5 year warranty.

If this comes out of its deal by the time you're buying, then I'd personally recommend anything from this list ( http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/power-supply/#e=4&W=600,750&m=11,14,51,71,39&sort=a9 ) EXCEPT the corsair CS series.

Considering the PSU can make or break (literally) the entire build, I won't go for any budget options. Wow! That looks like fantastic value, 650w and gold plus for a great price. I'm not ready to start the build quite yet, so I won't order it right away (just in case it's defective or something, I have no way to test it). Is that a high quality PSU? I've only seen GPUs from EVGA. Also, are 650w enough for a gaming PC?

Wow! The prices in that list are amazing! Why are they so low, for what seems like excellent quality?

UPDATE: I'm really liking what I am seeing from the EVGA superNOVA NEX 750, thank you so much for the recommendation! I likely would not have found it otherwise.

 

[Thanatognomonic]

EVGA do quite a lot of things across the board. GPUS, Motherboards, Cases, PSUs. All good stuff.

Power Supplies aren't as expensive in the 600-750W range, they only tend to get dear when it's over 800W

 

[MrCanEHdian]

EVGA do quite a lot of things across the board. GPUS, Motherboards, Cases, PSUs. All good stuff.

Power Supplies aren't as expensive in the 600-750W range, they only tend to get dear when it's over 800W

The price, in Canadian dollars, for the 650w is $109.99, that's a very nice price for gold plus. The 750w is $129.99, since my build will be basically 100% for gaming, should I go for the 650w or 750w do you think?

 

[Thanatognomonic]

I'm positive 650W will do perfectly fine for you! especially if it's gold rated.

 

[MrCanEHdian]

I'm positive 650W will do perfectly fine for you! especially if it's gold rated.

Do you think it will be good for the future too? Like if I upgrade to 1080p and a GTX 780 someday? Or 4 years from now, upgrade to a Broadwell CPU, and a really good GPU for that time? I'd kinda like to buy a good one that'll last me for the first build, and maybe the second build down the road.

 

[Thanatognomonic]

whilst it's more risky to continue your PSU from the first to the potential second, it could be done.
however, it's always best to buy a new PSU for a new build as capacitors age over time, which can reduce their efficiency and impose some threats on the whole component.

Remember this whenever you're building a computer:
Your PSU is the only component of your computer that is sending ALL of the electricity to ALL of your components. It is also the component that will single-handedly take out your whole system

Just from this, I'd personally believe that as long as your PSU can cover the system that you're putting it into is good, but it's ALWAYS best to buy a new one in a new computer.

I may have repeated myself in this post, but it's very important.

 

[Leonell12]

I'm positive 650W will do perfectly fine for you! especially if it's gold rated.

Do you think it will be good for the future too? Like if I upgrade to 1080p and a GTX 780 someday? Or 4 years from now, upgrade to a Broadwell CPU, and a really good GPU for that time? I'd kinda like to buy a good one that'll last me for the first build, and maybe the second build down the road.

if the psu is adequate for a second build or not depends on the quality of it. For example Seasonic X series psu's have a warranty of 5-7 years, it means that during that time any upgrades are ok, however, it is recommended to not build a second system with the same psu if the warranty is expired (most psu's will die within the the first year after the warranty has expired), if you're building a system, be sure to check the warranty period

EDIT: what Thanatognomonic says is true as well, it is risky to have a new system (or upgrade) on an old psu, but as long as its in the warranty time period, you should be fine

 

[MrCanEHdian]

whilst it's more risky to continue your PSU from the first to the potential second, it could be done.
however, it's always best to buy a new PSU for a new build as capacitors age over time, which can reduce their efficiency and impose some threats on the whole component.

Remember this whenever you're building a computer:
Your PSU is the only component of your computer that is sending ALL of the electricity to ALL of your components. It is also the component that will single-handedly take out your whole system

Just from this, I'd personally believe that as long as your PSU can cover the system that you're putting it into is good, but it's ALWAYS best to buy a new one in a new computer.

I may have repeated myself in this post, but it's very important.

Well I won't do that then, but if it could last the life of my first build, then I'd be satisfied. It's so hard to choose the right one, looking at the reviews, even on the highly review PSUs, a lot of people seem to have issues with DOA PSUs or PSUs that die after 30 days or whatever. It seems to be the case with all components. I'll keep it in mind, and buy a new one for my next build.

 

[MrCanEHdian]

NEVER SKIMP OUT ON A POWER SUPPLY
Having a good, 80+ rated power supply is vital for your computer to last its lifetime. Today, you will be fine with a +80 Bronze/Gold 650W SeaSonic/XFX power supply. It's always best to go with gold.

The MSI Z97 Gaming 5 will cater to most gamers needs, I'd personally go with this.

I ended up going with the EVGA G2 Supernova 750w Gold PSU and Asus Z97-A motherboard. The PSU was $130, and the Mobo was $170.