PSU price-point and overclocking old hardware

[G_Sol]

Hi All,

I’m looking for a bit of guidance from the community.

I’ve built a couple of systems at this point, and I’m looking to experiment with overclocking. I have some old hardware laying around (we’re talking an AM2 CPU here) which I was planning on messing about with, both as a learning process and an experiment to see how well I can get it to run.

I have pretty much all the parts I need for this system, minus a PSU. From doing some research, there seems to be a lot of caution around budget models. I’m not planning on it seeing much use, but I don’t particularly want to brick the hardware (regardless of how old it is), and I’d quite like to be able to walk away from it without worrying my house is going to catch on fire. As a consequence, I’m not overly concerned about efficiency in this case (although I’m sort of assuming that efficiency tends to correlate with higher quality components?)- so should I be paying more attention to the amp delivery on the 12V rail?

Given that my budget for this project is essentially ‘as-cheap-as-it-can-be-without-everything-going-wrong’, would anyone kindly be able to suggest the general level/price point of PSU I should be looking at as a minimum? I live in the UK, if that plays any part in availability. If you were in my situation, would you just run it with low cost components and take the risk of it breaking?

Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[tejayd]

You can usually find a few great deals for power supplies on new egg or just check pcpartpicker. If you don't mind dealing with rebates. I saw they had a some fairly decent evga psus for around 25$ after everything. I would play it safe and skip the 20$ generics. Just watch your temperatures.

 

[Rexper]

I’m sort of assuming that efficiency tends to correlate with higher quality components

Not really. You can have some 80+ white units better than some gold units, for example (efficiency ratings). That said, top quality power supplies usually aren’t less than Gold.

should I be paying more attention to the amp delivery on the 12V rail?

As long as 12v rail capacity is sufficient for your system you should be looking at other aspects - build quality, electrical performance, protections, noise cable and size compatibility.
For a better recommendation, provide full system specs, so we can ensure compatibility.
Decent power supplies sell as cheap as £45. As budget options you’ll be looking at the Xilence Performance A+, Corsair CX/CXM 450/550, be Quiet Pure Power 10 400w+, be Quiet System power 9, Coolermaster MasterWatt (not lite).

 

[cisco9898]

If you are in US, probably EVGA 500B, Corsair CX450, Seasonic S12II 500. They are usually around $30 with MIR

 

[Rexper]

If you are in US, probably EVGA 500B, Corsair CX450, Seasonic S12II 500. They are usually around $30 with MIR

OP stated they live in the UK. Also the 500B and S12ii are mediocre/overpriced.

 

[madmatt30]

What are the exact components ??