Discussion What is the minimum power supply you would reccomend for a gaming pc?

[NightHawkRMX]

This discussion stemed from a different thread after talking about how cheap power supplies degrade after restarts.

What would be the cheapest power supply that you would reccomend for a budget gaming system with dedicated graphics and a higher power draw?

Also, what do you think is the best mainstream power supply if money is no factor?

 

[hftvhftv]

EVGA 450BT comes to mind as far as cheap power supplies go. For the best mainstream power supply I'd have to say the Corsair AX1600i, but I'm not sure if there is really anyone who can use that much power except for maybe an overclocked Xeon W-3175X with dual RTX Titans for gaming on one VM with another two Quadro RTX 8000s running a workstation simultaneously plus a ton of ECC memory and like 10000RPM SAS hard drives. Oh wait, that'd probably use 1600 watts or more.

 

[TJ Hooker]

^I'd agree, looking at PCPP I'd say the 450BT is the cheapest PSU I'd feel somewhat comfortable recommending.

Edit: Even up to a graphics card like a 1660 Ti or RX 570/580 (assuming they will be undervolted and aren't a model with significant factory OC), so long as the rest of the specs aren't power hungry. Although I'd generally recommend spending a bit more if possible, the price to get a better PSU is usually pretty small relative the the total build cost, even for budget builds.

 

[hftvhftv]

^I'd agree, looking at PCPP I'd say the 450BT is the cheapest PSU I'd feel reasonably comfortable recommending. Depending on the other components, obviously.

For example the PC I built using one was an i3 8100 with no GPU, one Optane memory module, and a 3.5in 7200RPM hard drive. Just enough headroom to put in a mid range GPU in the future to resell the business PC as a low end gaming PC down the road, maybe an 8600/8700 CPU upgrade too.

 

[DMAN999]

I personally wouldn't buy any thing less that a 650W 80+ Gold PSU that reviewed well for a current mid-level rig.

As for recommending a PSU, I don't.
I always recommend that you do you own research and choose the highest quality PSU that you can afford.

 

[jankerson]

This discussion stemed from a different thread after talking about how cheap power supplies degrade after restarts.

What would be the cheapest power supply that you would reccomend for a budget gaming system with dedicated graphics and a higher power draw?

Also, what do you think is the best mainstream power supply if money is no factor?

I don't recommend anything below 650W for the said system.

The cheapest would be a solid mid-range to higher end unit etc like a Seasonic Focus Plus, EVGA G2 or Corsair RMX that are on sale. NOTHING below those for any reason whatsoever period.

Budget is never an excuse for not buying a quality unit, if they can buy the rest of the PC then they can buy a good high quality PSU to power it.

Money no factor would be:

Seasonic Prime Ti Ultra
Corsair AXi
EVGA Platnium


For the extreme budget PC's my opinion is they get a console as they would be better off in the long run. Much less issues than with low quality hardware. All they are doing is throwing their money away in the end as they will have to spend more on top of what they already spent in the 1st place replacing bad parts.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

How good is the EVGA BR 450 80+ bronze?
Comparable to the BT 450 Bronze?

How good is the Corsair CX450 (2017) 80+ Bronze compared to the EVGA 450BT 80+ Bronze? The Corsair is like $2 more right now.

 

[TJ Hooker]

CX450 is better. Can't find any reviews of the BR.

 

[punkncat]

In my opinion this can vary widely according to the processor, GPU, and other factors such as how many drives, fans and other equipment is inside.

So much as you mention "budget" I typically try to stick to a formula of 1/2 the actual requirement to rating...IE, there are some inexpensive 600W EVGA models out there that I use in respect to an actual requirement in the low 300W range.
I ALWAYS stick to a well known brand name, nothing fly by night or unlabeled.

If I wish to stick near the draw to requirement line, then I move up in the name brand quality level, or to specific brands that I "trust" with the rating.

Regardless of all above, I always stick with a supply that is "rated" and try to keep that at a minimum of Bronze or above where economically/budget feasible.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

EVGA and Corsair have always confused me. They make really good models, but they also make the bottom of the barrel kind of power supplies.
Corsair's VS450 and potentially EVGAs N1 400w come to mind as bad.
I understand they want to cater to different markets, but why go sooo low to confuse buyers. I have heard people say "I thought it was good because it said Corsair." after their VS450 failed, started smoking, and filled their room with a foul smell.

 

[punkncat]

I always have had really good performance and reliability out of the CX line from Corsair. I recently started using EVGA, I cannot recall what line off the top of my head, in some budget/repair builds and so far have been very impressed. The 600W model I am referring to only fault I have found so far is the candy stripe cables on them.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I like the CX line as well and feel comfortable recommending it for budget systems using decent GPUs.
The newer Corsair CX line has great 5 year warranties, much longer than other PSUs at that price point. Not as great as SeaSonics 10 year on the focus plus, however, the CX line costs less then half as much.

Fans aren't too loud. Cables are black and look good.
80+ Bronze certification and decent wattage even at the low end.
Decent amperage on 12V rail and decent temperature rating.

Sometimes the CX450 comes with rebates making it like $30 or $35.

 

[TJ Hooker]

The fact that Corsair will reuse the same or very similar names for multiple lineups of PSUs that vary greatly in performance/quality is pretty annoying. That and the fact that they omit the rated amps per rail from their spec pages.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Luckily Newegg does list the amps per rail for the CX lineup.

The old CX is named nearly identically to the new ones. This makes it hard to determine the exact quality of the PSU. Luckily the wattage ratings are different from the old CX to the new units.
Apparently, some of the grey units of high wattage are actually similar to the old green units of similar wattage...
Old CX = not great
New CX = decent for budget
I have seen instances of failed green units here. No failed grey units yet.

 

[jankerson]

I have seen instances of failed green units here. No failed grey units yet.

There are more than a few that I linked to in the PSU thread when I was keeping track of them.

Fried GPU's mainly.

I don't recommend any budget units from anyone to put in any gaming system that has a gaming card in it.

The bottom for Corsair would be the TXM to even think about putting in a gaming PC.

I don't recommend anything below the RMX personally though when I do recommendations especially with the more powerful GPU's.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The txms are priced well for a gold psu.
Are the old bronze tx psus any good?

 

[punkncat]

The 'old' green CX430 was a go to for me on many budget builds both for myself and others. It's commonplace rebate/refund brought new units under $20 and for a build with i5/960 or even HD7xxx series cards I had zero issues out of likely a dozen builds. Each one of them still is use is still operational. There were not OC builds, or particularly heavy on peripherals either. I used one of these for a small form server on an i5 and 7 disks on integrated as so far as I know it's happy (still) in it's far away home.

Where it comes to personal preference for a power build, I tend to go with Antec or Silverstone where possible. As mentioned above, I just started using some rather vanilla EVGA 600W on budget builds due to the under $40 price point I am finding on those with rating. I read about some of the early models having issue with a loud fan but on my fourth one of these, one has been in action over two years now, and haven't experienced anything bad.
As a side note, I use a battery backup/power conditioner on my desktop gaming rigs as well. Take what you will from that aspect.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I was just browsing FB marketplace saw a used pc for sale with a supposed dead PSU.
Judging from the pictures the culprit: CX430m

At least Corsair would be easy to deal with if there was a failure.

 

[jankerson]

The txms are priced well for a gold psu.
Are the old bronze tx psus any good?

No, they aren't.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Are the old bronze tx psus any good?

Yeah they're fairly good, or at least they were at the time (they're kinda old). I imagine that a PSU today that costs what those did when they came out would perform better.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

How accurate do you find the LTT updated PSU tier list?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Just a question, why are there so few 80+ silver power supplies?

 

[jankerson]

How accurate do you find the LTT updated PSU tier list?

Not really accurate since the last change when the idiots moved around the PSU's that aren't dual rail.

A few complete total morons over there convinced the ones who made the tier list that it matters, complete total idiots.

It doesn't except in their fantasy land all cooked up in their heads.

The PSU list is all but useless now.

It was pretty good before they changed it.

Jonny Guru stated that if single rail was really dangerous that 98% of the PSU's in the world would burst into flames.

That's how much dual rail really matters in the real world.

It doesn't matter at all PERIOD.

 

[jankerson]

Just a question, why are there so few 80+ silver power supplies?

Any you find today are garbage.

So are a lot of Bronze rated units and some GOLD so you have to be carful what you buy.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

What avout the Corsair Vengence 80+ silver 650w