Discussion PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

[NightHawkRMX]

Back then, instead of fake 80+ badges, you got weights added into the PSU.

Don't know that's any better

 

[Eximo]

Back then, instead of fake 80+ badges, you got weights added into the PSU.

Don't know that's any better

This was before 80+, late 90s and early 2000s. Mostly just poor quality units available, not outright fake ones. Most were empty enough that you could see most of the components through the fan grill. They just tended to cause system instability until the review websites started going up and the e-tailers started allowing customer reviews. In the midwest, internet penetration was minimal, so these were really the only source of computer parts outside of highly priced local stores. I would make occasional pilgrimages to Fry's and Best Buy, which is why my early systems had a lot of thermaltake units, only brand I knew.

 

[jonnyguru]

@Eximo @NightHawkRMX

Yeah. But that's also why some PSUs would have chunks of concrete in them.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

@Eximo @NightHawkRMX

Yeah. But that's also why some PSUs would have chunks of concrete in them.

I have to give them credit for disguising it as a transformer at least. Effort was made. Ashame that effort was not used to make the unit good.

 

[Eximo]

@Eximo @NightHawkRMX

Yeah. But that's also why some PSUs would have chunks of concrete in them.

Well aware, been a while since I have seen one referenced though. Also scrap metal (oddly a lot of effort put into those when they shape them into fake transformers), and lead (hopefully lead) weights taped to the inside of things. Still see that in fake game consoles pretty regularly, speakers every once in a while.

My current bane is relatives and acquaintances buying cheap USB chargers that don't have full rectification, and then complaining the old charger was faster...

Most of the booths at the old computer shows were local Midwest shops. They weren't in the habit of selling PSU shaped objects, just cheap ones, since it wasn't like we couldn't track them down. And the other half was people selling used business hardware or straight up old computer parts. (Software piracy was the more rampant issue) Less than common motherboard brands, generic RAM, all came with the territory. I returned a monitor once that had some weird overbrightness issue, looked fine on a desktop, completely blew out the light areas when gaming. Last system I built from a show was an Athlon XP 1800 I believe.

 

[Eximo]

I have to give them credit for disguising it as a transformer at least. Effort was made. Ashame that effort was not used to make the unit good.

That is what always gets me, all the effort to fake a product to sell it a few bucks under the competition. Why not take the time to make a legitimate product.

Just all the chains of malfeasance to maintain boggles my mind.

 

[4745454b]

LOL. "585W" PSU with a single 20A 12V rail? So 240W, not even half of the 585W on the 12V rail? That alone would make me pass on that unit.

 

[Aeacus]

So, in one of the topics, i came across newly released, 1st RGB PSU from Corsair, CX-F RGB series, with 550W, 650W and 750W units. Also comes in white colored casing,
specs: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/CORSAIR-iCUE/Power-Supplies/iCUE-CXF-RGB-Power-Supplies/p/CP-9020218-NA
review: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/corsair-cx750f-rgb-750-w/

What i'd like to know is, what our resident PSU experts think of this unit?

To me, it's price is too high, 750W unit retailing for $109.99 in black and $114.99 in white; while having 80+ Bronze efficiency and 5 years warranty. Same amount of money would bring in same wattage Seasonic Focus GX or Corsair RMx, where both are better. Then again, CX-F has RGB fan and i guess it appeals to many.

 

[King_V]

I think when they came out, the 1st post was updated:

The Vengeance models are a small step up from the 2017 CX units. The recently released CX-F models are on par with the Vengeance models.

But yeah, those prices are a bit out there.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

CX-F has been out for a little bit.

It's a Corsair Vengeance silver but fully modular with RGB tacked on top.

Power draw from the LEDs and control circuitry brings the efficiency down to 80+ bronze.

Fairly good quality units, but unless you MUST have RGB, there are probably better options for the money. I wouldn't buy one since in 99% of cases the RGB isn't even visible under the PSU shroud.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

https://www.newegg.com/super-flower-leadex-iii-bronze-sf-650r14he-650w/p/1HU-024C-00017?Item=9SIAMNPBYK9537
$25 after rebate for a SuperFlower 650w Bronze? I wonder how good these are.

 

[Aeacus]

I wonder how good these are.

Here's inside pic, if you can make anything out of it:

Source:
Official specs page: https://www.super-flower.com.tw/product-data.php?productID=123&lang=en

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Seems fairly good on paper, so I picked one up. Probably will do a teardown.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Leadex III is a solid platform. Looks identical to the Leadex III Gold unit reviewed by Aris, but obviously with a lower efficiency. I would expect it to be pretty reliable.

Super Flower Leadex III 650 W Review

The Super Flower Leadex III with 650 W performs very well in all areas: load regulation, ripple suppression, efficiency, and transient response. On top of that, it is one of the quietest PSUs money can buy today and has two EPS connectors for power hungry CPUs and mainboards.

www.techpowerup.com

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I wonder what the main changes are. I will have to see. It advertises Japanese bulk cap, which leads me to believe the rest of the caps aren't Japanese. That might have an effect on efficiency. Probably some other changes too.

 

[Darkbreeze]

At some point in the next month or so, I'm going to revise the front page of this thread since it's been quite some time since I did so and some of the information is definitely out of date.

For that reason, and the fact that many of you have been both more involved in current hardware trends, and might have had more time than I have, I'd appreciate if any of you who I know are knowledgeable and active in this area to list for any reasonably easily available (All things considered) newer models that ought to be listed because we've seen the reviews and they are solid, but aren't currently among the recommended models on the front page, so I can take a look and add them in to at least modernize the recommendations there a little bit. I'd really like to keep it mainly to models that are going to be available in markets for the majority of people we see here, which primarily means the US, Canada, Australia, UK, etc., but if there are WELL KNOWN highly reliable (Based on professional reviews) models that should be included because they are readily available to some of the smaller or lesser seen markets, then for those folks I think at least a few of those should be included IF there are models that meet that criteria and aren't already included because of also being commonly available elsewhere.

If it's a model that is either basically new or uncommon, that should be included, please also link the review that shows it to be a worthy option. Thanks for anybody who can help with this. Just figure it's time to freshen the recommendations up a bit.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

EVGA G6 (Seasonic)
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/evga-supernova-850-g6

In my opinion, I would remove the "completely avoid cooler master" in the past couple of years, especially with the "V2" models, they have had some good releases.

Cooler Master MWE Bronze V2

View: https://youtu.be/JwgqP9C31U0

This model is available in the US but is also a good option in other smaller countries with poor selection from what I see.

Cooler Master V Gold V2
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cooler-master-v850-gold-v2-power-supply-review

Cooler Master MWE Gold V2 review. Overall quality seems improved over the V1.
https://www.eteknix.com/cooler-master-mwe-gold-750-v2-power-supply-review/9/?amp=1
Not the most detailed review but it tests most key things.

They still have their rotten apple models, but I think their good models need worth mentioning. Just an FYI because of the state of jonnyguru website, the cooler master review link doesn't work. Perhaps the review can be linked via wayback machine.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Currently the front page can be a bit... Lengthy... And can make it hard to find the information, especially on mobile. Without removing information I'm not sure how hard it would be to make more concise, but it would be helpful.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, I get that it's a little lengthy, and I can try to condense it a little, but honestly, the majority of people looking for desktop hardware are MOST LIKELY using desktop hardware if they are bothering to research something, so I'm 100% not very worried about mobile users. This site absolutely sucks butt when it comes to it's mobile version anyhow, so there's not a lot of point in making mobile friendly pages for a site that is a total train wreck when it comes to mobile presentation anyhow.

People who live on their phone are generally not people who are hardcore desktop enthusiasts or PC gamers, not from what I've seen anyhow. Yes, everybody uses their phone now and then, especially if their desktop system isn't working and they need to get it fixed which is why they are looking for a PSU, but unfortunately you just can't cater to EVERYBODY, and make them all happy. Never happen.

And that MWE bronze V2, has problems. Even Jon Gerow says it's probably best to be avoided because there are generally other, better options in the same price range, that don't use burst mode OR have a seriously poor track record when it comes to customer service and misleading shenanigan tactics. Sure, they have a few ok models. So do a lot of companies that I wouldn't recommend. I don't think the MWE V2 meets the criteria for "easily recommendable" unless it's the best of a bunch of really poor options.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/mwe-550w-v2-ticking-noise.3608439/post-21765039

 

[Aeacus]

Yeah, I get that it's a little lengthy, and I can try to condense it a little, but honestly, the majority of people looking for desktop hardware are MOST LIKELY using desktop hardware if they are bothering to research something, so I'm 100% not very worried about mobile users. This site absolutely sucks butt when it comes to it's mobile version anyhow, so there's not a lot of point in making mobile friendly pages for a site that is a total train wreck when it comes to mobile presentation anyhow.

One option in condensing the text in 1st reply would be to put part of it under Spoiler tags. This way, all the info is still there and anyone who wants to read the additional info, can do that by expanding the spoiler tag. It's almost win-win for PC and mobile users, or the very least, best that can be done with the site limitations.

newer models that ought to be listed

Here are few;

Seasonic Connect 750W,
specs: https://seasonic.com/connect
review: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/seasonic-connect-750w-power-supply

Seasonic Focus SGX,
specs: https://seasonic.com/focus-sgx
review: https://tech-legend.com/reviews/seasonic-sgx-650-gold/
Note: Not to be confused with SGX (2021) model.

Seasonic Focus GM,
specs: https://seasonic.com/focus-gm
review: https://www.thefpsreview.com/2021/05/04/seasonic-focus-gm-650-650w-power-supply-review/

 

[NightHawkRMX]

One option in condensing the text in 1st reply would be to put part of it under Spoiler tags. This way, all the info is still there and anyone who wants to read the additional info, can do that by expanding the spoiler tag. It's almost win-win for PC and mobile users, or the very least, best that can be done with the site limitations.

I thought about that but didn't mention.

That's a good idea, although making the font a size or 2 smaller overall would help too. It's rather large currently.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The problem with putting the majority of the content in spoilers is that then nobody finds the page because Google doesn't include spoiler tagged content. At least at that time, with the rules in place when I created the thread, they didn't. So the thread was not coming up in searches even after several weeks. Not much point in the thread if nobody can find it. Also, going back to mobile users, IIRC there were quite a few mobile users who claimed they couldn't access the spoiler content on the mobile site.

I'll look at condensing if I get a chance but I don't think I'm going to spoiler tag much of it. If somebody isn't willing to scroll 1/4 of the way down the page, then they aren't really interested in whatever there is of value there anyhow and is most likely one of the (much hated) member types that simply wants you to TELL THEM what to buy, rather than to get some useful information and then make up their own minds.

 

[awayagain]

Hey guys what do you think about the msi a750gf gold it is a worth to buy ?
since i have a 10600kf 32gb ram and gtx 1080 soon will get a 3070 4tb hard drive
an a aio 260mm cooler

 

[Aeacus]

msi a750gf gold it is a worth to buy ?

It's good on paper,
specs: https://www.msi.com/Power-Supply/MPG-A750GF

But it has 0 reviews. So, i wouldn't buy it.

Also, it doesn't help MSI reputation that the 1st try they did on PSU market, back in 2006, with MSI Turbostream 600W PSU was a BIG mistake. That unit has the worst warranty PSU could ever have, 16 months form manufacturing date, and not from the date you bought it. So, if it sat on the store shelf 1 year, you only got 4 months of warranty left, if you bought it. And PSU itself wasn't that good of a unit either, made by Solytech (it's essentially a rebadged Solytech SL-8600EPS) and lacking peripheral connectors, among other things.

Looks like MSI is trying their hand again in PSU market and on 1st glance, their 2nd iteration of PSUs look to be much better. But without a review, nothing can be said for sure.

With this, better buy something that has been reviewed by reputable reviewers, so you know what you get.
Further reading: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

 

[NightHawkRMX]

MSI MPG A850GF 850W Power Supply Review - Page 7 of 7 - The FPS Review

The MSI MPG A850GF 850W Power Supply. Will MSI shine bright today? Or is the A850GF more of a fading star? Check out our review of this PSU.

www.thefpsreview.com

The MSI MPG A850GF is an excellent unit today as MSI has come back from past PSU outings with a very solid unit. The A850GF gave us excellent build quality, excellent voltage regulation, excellent DC Output Quality, and very good Transient Load results while also being relatively quiet. Indeed, this unit seemed to score very well across the board and it is right up there with the best 850W power supplies we have seen to date.