Based on Darkbreeze’s “recommendations”, there are NO “moderately” priced power supplies worth purchasing since pretty much every 4 and 5-star rated power supply on Newegg that is less than $75 is “not good” according to Darkbreeze.
I’m frugal and even though I plan to keep a power supply for at least 5 years, I don’t want to spend $100 on one.
Obviously, all of the power supplies that Darkbreeze calls “bad” aren’t. People buy them and they get good reviews.
I’m guessing that what Darkbreeze is recommending are power supplies for serious gaming systems that will be used to overclock hardware. Is that correct?
It looks like my Antec 380s have enough watts to power “low-end” gaming cards especially GTX cards, so I don’t have to replace them with more watts to add a “low power” card to my current systems.
However, my kids are into gaming, mostly eSports and their current systems and cards (GTX 1060) are sufficient.
But, at some point a GTX 2060 Super will be their card of choice which calls for a 500 Watt power supply.
I’m not concerned about modular, etc. except for my HTPC but that uses a TFX unit and there is only ONE modular PS out there and it isn’t even sold anymore. I spotted a used one but didn’t buy it immediately so I missed out.
Based on Darkbreeze’s post and searching for 500 to 699 Watt units on Newegg, here are the price ranges for the power supplies he considers “not bad”.:
Seasonic “recommended” $99 to $160
Focus, Focus plus, Prime, Prime ultra
Corsair $95 to $272
TX, RM, RMx, RMi, HX, HXi, AX or AXi units are good
Antec $95 to $319
True power classic “very good” (OK for newer CPUs?)
Earthwatts Gold Pro units are very good and are based on the Seasonic Focus platform
EVGA $95 to $170
Good models are the B2, GQ, G2, G2L, G3, P2 and T2 models
Rosewill $85 to $120
Tachyon, Quark and Capstone M series are pretty good
“In MY opinion, Cooler Master and Thermaltake should be completely avoided”
I’m not even going to consider or mention the other brands in the post because they seem to be hard to find.
I’m shopping in America, and only use Amazon or Newegg to simplify my shopping. Please note: For some reason I often end up in Tom’s UK forums. I haven’t figured out why or how, so sorry for being “America First”. (That is meant only to be funny only, not political.)
Based on “quick” searches on Newegg, it looks like I need to spend about $100 to get a 500 to 699 Watt Power Supply that Darkbreeze would find “acceptable”.
I can live with that since that would be less than $1 a month over a 10-year lifespan. Is 10 years a reasonable expectation?
Of course, the current trend is for all components to use LESS energy, so if I build a “new” system in a year or two, I might not need that many watts and my trusty 380s might be “good” enough. Any chance they will last 15 years?