Please help chose a PSU

[yanna1]

Hi,

I have been looking around for a new PSU. I have slowly been upgrading things and this is next on my list. I have a budget of around £80GBP. I reckon something 600w + to keep me ahead of any other upgrades later on.

I quite like the EVGA 650W SuperNOVA G3. A wee bit over budget but for the right psu i would do that.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-evga-g3-80plus-gold-full-modular-sli-crossfire-single-rail-541a-plus12v-1x130mm-fan-psu

Corsair Carbide 88R Case (Max PSU Lenth 160mm)
Intel i5-6500
MSI B150M Motherboard
2 x 4GB HyperX Black Fury 2133 Ram (Soon to be 16GB)
Asus GTX 1050ti
Seagate 1TB
Samsung 860 500GB SSD
Cooler Master B-Series B500 500w Ver.2 80Plus

Thanks for your help

 

[jankerson]

The G3 is an excellent PSU, nothing wrong with that choice.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

The EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G3 is a good model.

These are also some good units:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/power-supply/#X=0,9000&m=52,11,14,101,95,71,63,39&W=600,750&p=1,2&e=6,5,4


Corsair TX650M Gold
Corsair RM650x
Corsair TX750M Gold
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 (EU)
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 (G2 or G3)
XFX P1-650B-BEFX
FSP Group HG650


Now, the one on that list that fits your stated budget is the Corsair TX650M. (The rest I mention specifically are under £90

 

[st4rburst]

My G unit blew and took an irreplaceable motherboard with it.... They replaced it with a p2 unit under their warranty. P2 has been sweet as a nut and if you catch a sale can fall within your budget depending on how soon you need the upgrade.

 

[yanna1]

The EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G3 is a good model.

These are also some good units:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/power-supply/#X=0,9000&m=52,11,14,101,95,71,63,39&W=600,750&p=1,2&e=6,5,4


Corsair TX650M Gold
Corsair RM650x
Corsair TX750M Gold
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 (EU)
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 (G2 or G3)
XFX P1-650B-BEFX
FSP Group HG650


Now, the one on that list that fits your stated budget is the Corsair TX650M. (The rest I mention specifically are under £90

Thanks for that. I think its between the Corsair TX650M Gold and EVGA 650W SuperNOVA G3. Its a hard call.

Think i will just keep an eye out to see if one drops in price a little.

Thanks

 

[Rexper]

These are also some good units:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/power-supply/#X=0,...

There is a big difference between the Corsair CSM and Corsair RMx. The CS650M is definitely not worth £75.
Better to avoid parametric filters for power supplies. You can end up with an overpriced/low quality PSU and miss out on better options.

A good 550W PSU would be fine for a GTX 1080ti upgrade. 650W would only really be necessary for top tier GPU + CPU overclocking.

The Bitfenix Whisper 550M and Corsair RM550x are appealing. Great quality, electrical performance and protections, quiet, fully modular, £83.

As always, read through some professional reviews.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-rm550x-power-supply,4484.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitfenix-whisper-series-550w-psu,4805.html

 

[yanna1]

These are also some good units:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/power-supply/#X=0,...

There is a big difference between the Corsair CSM and Corsair RMx. The CS650M is definitely not worth £75.
Better to avoid parametric filters for power supplies. You can end up with an overpriced/low quality PSU and miss out on better options.

A good 550W PSU would be fine for a GTX 1080ti upgrade. 650W would only really be necessary for top tier GPU + CPU overclocking.

The Bitfenix Whisper 550M and Corsair RM550x are appealing. Great quality, electrical performance and protections, quiet, fully modular, £83.

As always, read through some professional reviews.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-rm550x-power-supply,4484.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitfenix-whisper-series-550w-psu,4805.html

Thats a good call. 550w is probably more than adequate for me ands saves a few £. I will look into those two thanks.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

These are also some good units:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/power-supply/#X=0,...

There is a big difference between the Corsair CSM and Corsair RMx. The CS650M is definitely not worth £75.
Better to avoid parametric filters for power supplies. You can end up with an overpriced/low quality PSU and miss out on better options.

A good 550W PSU would be fine for a GTX 1080ti upgrade. 650W would only really be necessary for top tier GPU + CPU overclocking.

The Bitfenix Whisper 550M and Corsair RM550x are appealing. Great quality, electrical performance and protections, quiet, fully modular, £83.

As always, read through some professional reviews.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-rm550x-power-supply,4484.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitfenix-whisper-series-550w-psu,4805.html

It's why I did not specifically mention it even though it was in the linked list.. the CSM isn't all that great although it does beat out the old Builder Series, but not by a large margin.

Yeah 550W is probably enough... however, sales sometimes can put a good 650W cheaper than a 550W, but not all the time.

You forgot another excellent review source for power supplies: www.jonnyguru,com

 

[yanna1]

Hi,
I think after much searching and reading I think I will go with the Corsair RM?50x. It gets some great write ups and is meant to be quite a quiet psu which I think is very important. I heard great things about the EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 but unfortunately its 165mm long and my case says maximum psu length is 160mm.

It seems to be about an extra £7 for the 650w. Would you go for the 650w I guess? Also is there anything else that I need to check compatibility with. I assume it would be a straight swap over.

Thanks for your help

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Hi,
I think after much searching and reading I think I will go with the Corsair RM?50x. It gets some great write ups and is meant to be quite a quiet psu which I think is very important. I heard great things about the EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 but unfortunately its 165mm long and my case says maximum psu length is 160mm.

It seems to be about an extra £7 for the 650w. Would you go for the 650w I guess? Also is there anything else that I need to check compatibility with. I assume it would be a straight swap over.

Thanks for your help

Between your CPU and motherboard, there is little to no chance for overclocking. The 1050Ti can be overclocked, to a point. 550W is plenty... 650W is a little more breathing room, but not mandatory. If budget is a concern, just get the cheaper model of the two. Otherwise, as long as the price is close enough, it doesn't matter other than the 650W won't work quite as hard.

 

[RememberThe5th]

1050ti cannot pull more than 100-120W from pcie and pcie power cable (if it requires, if not 75W max).
New gen cpus that arent high end like i7-7900X and etc wont pull up more than 150W at resonable overclock, my Q6600 at 1.55V could do 180W max peak. Pick good quality like G2 or G3 , RMX and etc.
You always can find reviews of psus by typing evga 550 G2 Jonnyguru.

 

[yanna1]

Sorry...I am interested on hearing peoples opinions on the Seasonic Focus Plus 550W Gold. Its gets a cracking write up and is a bit cheaper. Not really seen any mention of noise level though compared to the Corsair RM550x

I'm concerned with the length of the Corsair RM550x in my already tight case(20mm longer). Not much room or getting the cables around. Thought I might be better sticking to a psu the same size of my current on like the Seasonic one.

Maybe I should have mention earlier. I am just a light gamer but like to have good solid components in my pc with in budget of course.

thanks again

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Sorry...I am interested on hearing peoples opinions on the Seasonic Focus Plus 550W Gold. Its gets a cracking write up and is a bit cheaper. Not really seen any mention of noise level though compared to the Corsair RM550x

I'm concerned with the length of the Corsair RM550x in my already tight case(20mm longer). Not much room or getting the cables around. Thought I might be better sticking to a psu the same size of my current on like the Seasonic one.

Maybe I should have mention earlier. I am just a light gamer but like to have good solid components in my pc with in budget of course.

thanks again

A look at the Seasonic:

A top down look at our 120mm fan grille. Wire grilles are, I find, best for silence but it's been quite a time since this company put much emphasis on silence. That said, this unit stands a pretty good chance at being fanless for quite a while.

As long as you turn hybrid mode on, that is.

- Reviews - Seasonic Focus Plus 550W Gold

Can't argue about its quality.


Now-- the Corsair TX-M series (this is translated from German)

The tested protection circuits worked well on the Corsair TX-M and the power supply also offers quite high reserves, even though the specifications are already high. In terms of performance, the small 14x15 cm power dispenser does not have to hide.

The equipment makes a good impression in the price range. Long and good cables, semi-modular and a good fan. Most of what users want from a power supply is delivered with the TX-M. Only the rather high speed of the fan clouds the overall picture a little. If you are looking for Silent, you will be better served with one of the larger Corsair models, such as the RM series with more space and larger fan.

- Corsair TX550M Under Test - Compact and Affordable Gold Power Supply with Long Warranty Period (9/9)
Unfortunately I don't see hard numbers on noise levels in this one in this review.

 

[Rexper]

The Focus Plus is reviewed as very high quality - great electrical performance, great build quality, functional protections.
There are some issues though, mainly the lack of support for high end graphics cards. Seasonic recommends against using this power supply for GPUs consuming more than 225w on two PCIe cables.
Also, the whole Seasonic Focus line had issues with Vega GPUs. The freshly manufactured ones don’t.

Cybenetics is great for comparing noise and efficiency.
Have a look at the noise graphs for the Focus 550 and Corsair RM550X

Another option is the Bitfenix Formula 550. 140mm depth, very high quality, non-modular. Non-modular may be a pro or a con depending on your case.

 

[jankerson]

The Focus Plus is reviewed as very high quality - great electrical performance, great build quality, functional protections.
There are some issues though, mainly the lack of support for high end graphics cards. Seasonic recommends against using this power supply for GPUs consuming more than 225w on two PCIe cables.
Also, the whole Seasonic Focus line had issues with Vega GPUs. The freshly manufactured ones don’t.

Cybenetics is great for comparing noise and efficiency.
Have a look at the noise graphs for the Focus 550 and Corsair RM550X

Another option is the Bitfenix Formula 550. 140mm depth, very high quality, non-modular. Non-modular may be a pro or a con depending on your case.

No they don't.

The 450W and 550W have 1 PCIe cable with 2x 6+2 connections.

The 650W and above have 2 or more PCIe cables with 2x connections per cable. Now with GPU's pulling 225W with 2x 8 pin connections or more one needs to use 2 separate PCIe cables, the Focus Plus has them.

Nothing more than the other PSU makers actually recommend also. All of then normally recommended a 650W PSU or higher for systems with high end GPU's. (It's people who normally under recommend wattage on PSU's, recommending 550W when they should be 650W due to the connections on the GPU's)

So the recommended Focus Plus for high end GPU's with 2x 8 Pin Power connections would be the 650W or above.

Seasonics recommended connections.

 

[Rexper]

No they don't.

No what don’t what? I made 10 points in my post. We don’t know what you’re referring to.
What you and I both mentioned/inferred - The Seasonic Focus Plus 550, the PSU in discussion, isn’t recommended for a GTX 1080ti, some 1080, Vega, and other 225w+ 2 PCIe GPUs.

All of then normally recommended a 650W PSU or higher for systems with high end GPU's.

That’s because a lot of them recommend the crappy outervision calculator so they make more profit from higher wattage PSUs.
For example JonnyGURU, whom works at Corsair, recommends a good 600w PSU for Overclocked 1080ti + overclocked i7 System.
Be quiet recommends (using their calculator) a 550W for a non OC 1080ti + 8700k System.

 

[jankerson]

No they don't.

No what don’t what? I made 10 points in my post. We don’t know what you’re referring to.
What you and I both mentioned/inferred - The Seasonic Focus Plus 550, the PSU in discussion, isn’t recommended for a GTX 1080ti, some 1080, Vega, and other 225w+ 2 PCIe GPUs.

All of then normally recommended a 650W PSU or higher for systems with high end GPU's.

That’s because a lot of them recommend the crappy outervision calculator so they make more profit from higher wattage PSUs.
For example JonnyGURU, whom works at Corsair, recommends a good 600w PSU for Overclocked 1080ti + overclocked i7 System.
Be quiet recommends (using their calculator) a 550W for a non OC 1080ti + 8700k System.

Corsair doesn't make a good 600w PSU anymore other than the SF, so that would mean 650w. Nor does anyone else for that matter, goes from 550w to 650w for the good high quality units these days.

600W~650W could be pushing it for an OCed 1080Ti and 8700K system depending on the actual card.

I know my 1080Ti can pull close to 350w by itself overclocked and my 8086K pulls 140w easy.... That's not even talking about the rest of the system. That's ~500w just for the GPU and CPU alone.

Anyhow overprovisioning is called headroom, PSU's operate best at around 50% of their rated wattage. That's something people seem to forget when recommending PSU's and or buying them. That's based on actual load, not possible max load. That's why max load is used in the PSU calculators, well the good ones anyway.

 

[Rexper]

PSU's operate best at around 50% of their rated wattage.

That makes no sense. Anyone who has read through atleast 1 review would be baffled by your comment.
A PSU will be quieter the lower the load is. A PSU will be cooler the lower load it is. A PSU will have better ripple the lower the load is. Hold up time is longer at lower loads. Turn on transients are smoother when jumping to lower loads.
But we recommend a PSU based on how well it performs at any load.

How did you come up with 50%? Some people are mislead with peak efficiency. Peak efficiency varies from 30%-70% load depending on the model, and it really doesn't make much difference (1 - 2 % at most). Not enough to justify spending more for an overkill power supply.
If efficiency is important, get an efficient PSU. Don't waste time/money on unnecessary wattage.

OP's current system is fine on a good 450W PSU. An i7 + high end GPU upgrade should be fine on a good 550W unit. If they decide to overclock top-tier components, 650W may be necessary. 750W+ would be required for high end GPU SLI/Crossfire.

lso is there anything else that I need to check compatibility with. I assume it would be a straight swap over.

P
A few factors that affect compatibility: phsyical size, wattage, connector amount, connector length, voltage / frequency input, and random compatibility notes some PSU have (like the Focus Plus, described above).

 

[yanna1]

The Focus Plus is reviewed as very high quality - great electrical performance, great build quality, functional protections.
There are some issues though, mainly the lack of support for high end graphics cards. Seasonic recommends against using this power supply for GPUs consuming more than 225w on two PCIe cables.
Also, the whole Seasonic Focus line had issues with Vega GPUs. The freshly manufactured ones don’t.

Cybenetics is great for comparing noise and efficiency.
Have a look at the noise graphs for the Focus 550 and Corsair RM550X

Another option is the Bitfenix Formula 550. 140mm depth, very high quality, non-modular. Non-modular may be a pro or a con depending on your case.

Thank you for the links and suggestions. Think I would stick with modular. Cable management is a bit difficult in my case. I would really only need the 2 cpu connections and sata cable plugged into the new psu. The 1050ti does not need a (6+2)8 pin connector.

Psu's are such a mind field. However its hard to ignore the performance of the Corsair RM650x for £94. Even though its a little larger than what I have. Its still with in the case limits but reckon it may be hard to route the cables around.

Thanks

 

[yanna1]

The Focus Plus is reviewed as very high quality - great electrical performance, great build quality, functional protections.
There are some issues though, mainly the lack of support for high end graphics cards. Seasonic recommends against using this power supply for GPUs consuming more than 225w on two PCIe cables.
Also, the whole Seasonic Focus line had issues with Vega GPUs. The freshly manufactured ones don’t.

Cybenetics is great for comparing noise and efficiency.
Have a look at the noise graphs for the Focus 550 and Corsair RM550X

Another option is the Bitfenix Formula 550. 140mm depth, very high quality, non-modular. Non-modular may be a pro or a con depending on your case.

No they don't.

The 450W and 550W have 1 PCIe cable with 2x 6+2 connections.

The 650W and above have 2 or more PCIe cables with 2x connections per cable. Now with GPU's pulling 225W with 2x 8 pin connections or more one needs to use 2 separate PCIe cables, the Focus Plus has them.

Nothing more than the other PSU makers actually recommend also. All of then normally recommended a 650W PSU or higher for systems with high end GPU's. (It's people who normally under recommend wattage on PSU's, recommending 550W when they should be 650W due to the connections on the GPU's)

So the recommended Focus Plus for high end GPU's with 2x 8 Pin Power connections would be the 650W or above.

Seasonics recommended connections.

That's interesting. What does that diagram mean? Is it just recommending the type of cable to use rather than it doesn't support certain GPU's.

Found a comparison table and for noise it seems that Seasonic almost matches the RM650x

https://uk.hardware.info/comparisontable/products/322511-402633-376351

Thanks

 

[jankerson]

The Focus Plus is reviewed as very high quality - great electrical performance, great build quality, functional protections.
There are some issues though, mainly the lack of support for high end graphics cards. Seasonic recommends against using this power supply for GPUs consuming more than 225w on two PCIe cables.
Also, the whole Seasonic Focus line had issues with Vega GPUs. The freshly manufactured ones don’t.

Cybenetics is great for comparing noise and efficiency.
Have a look at the noise graphs for the Focus 550 and Corsair RM550X

Another option is the Bitfenix Formula 550. 140mm depth, very high quality, non-modular. Non-modular may be a pro or a con depending on your case.

No they don't.

The 450W and 550W have 1 PCIe cable with 2x 6+2 connections.

The 650W and above have 2 or more PCIe cables with 2x connections per cable. Now with GPU's pulling 225W with 2x 8 pin connections or more one needs to use 2 separate PCIe cables, the Focus Plus has them.

Nothing more than the other PSU makers actually recommend also. All of then normally recommended a 650W PSU or higher for systems with high end GPU's. (It's people who normally under recommend wattage on PSU's, recommending 550W when they should be 650W due to the connections on the GPU's)

So the recommended Focus Plus for high end GPU's with 2x 8 Pin Power connections would be the 650W or above.

Seasonics recommended connections.

That's interesting. What does that diagram mean? Is it just recommending the type of cable to use rather than it doesn't support certain GPU's.

Found a comparison table and for noise it seems that Seasonic almost matches the RM650x

https://uk.hardware.info/comparisontable/products/322511-402633-376351

Thanks

It tells what Seasonic's recommended connections would be for GPU's that take 2 or 3 8 pin PCIe connections.

The RMX 650w is excellent.


Here are the old diagrams Seasonic had on the site.

 

[SENOR BURTOS]

Thanks

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Tsbkcf/bitfenix-formula-gold-750w-80-gold-certified-atx-power-supply-bp-fm750ulag-7r

If you want lots of watts get this one, I don't think you need that much power but whatever
only 5 year warranty, drops modular cables.
Aside from that it's a very good PSU

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3zNypg/corsair-power-supply-cp9020090na

Only 450W, 7 year warranty fully modular and is a multi-rail design

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/FF8j4D/be-quiet-straight-power-11-450w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-bn280

Another 450W, 5 year warranty, fully modular and allows you to switch

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3zNypg/corsair-power-supply-cp9020090na

550W, 10 year warranty and fully modular. Sadly it's a single rail design
(it's not that bad with low wattage systems anyway)

All of them are way more silent than EVGA's G3 and seasonic focus PSUs

 

[jankerson]

If they want quiet go with the Corsair RMX or EVGA G2.... And go with a 650w due to better cabling options over the 550W units.

Also any of the Seasonic Prime 650w units are extremely quiet.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That makes no sense. Anyone who has read through atleast 1 review would be baffled by your comment.
A PSU will be quieter the lower the load is. A PSU will be cooler the lower load it is. A PSU will have better ripple the lower the load is. Hold up time is longer at lower loads. Turn on transients are smoother when jumping to lower loads.
But we recommend a PSU based on how well it performs at any load.

No. That's not what we do. We recommend a power supply based on whether it is a quality unit and whether or not it is sufficient, and preferably have about 40% ovehead, for the load that is going to be presented to it. We do not recommend based on how it performs AT ANY LOAD. That would be ludicrous.

Also, Jankerson is just about right on the percentile. I usually say about 60% of what your system is actually going to pull, and I do so for exactly the reasons you outlined which are that at 50-60% of the power supplies maximum sustainable wattage, it is going to perform much better than it will if you get a unit that is just barely capable of supporting the hardware. This is not an arguable idea. It is simply a fact.

Even your buddy JG agrees.

But should someone, anyone, be telling YOU that YOU made a bad decision because the power supply is "too much"? No. There's really little to no disadvantage to buying a "too large" PSU outside of cost and who is some forum punk to tell you how to spend your money? Anyone that calls someone out for buying an "oversized" power supply is just being a snotty little know-it-all, and those that are telling people that they only need 380W power supplies will likely have to buy replacements for their burned out power supplies in a year or two time.

That's straight from the horses mouth.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Did anybody notice the OP is NOT referring to a 1080Ti, but is instead referring to a 1050Ti.... big difference...Also, just an i5-6500. So yeah 550-650W should be plenty in this case. It's overkill for say recommending a 1600W PSU for that... (nobody has thankfully.)