Why buy an expensive PSU

[charlie101]

Hi all
I'm building a small Micro ATX box for an elderly relative so it's not a gaming power house and I want to keep the price down. I'm going for a celeron 1620 and an Asus H61M-A/USB3 board.

When I consider the PSU they range from £15 cheapos to over £45 for a recognized quality brand.

I've read stuff about noise and ripple but nothing about how the Motherboard power regulating components modify the input from the PSU. Why should I care about variations in PSU output if they are within the limits of the M'board's regulating components?

Statisticians say 'A difference is only a difference if it makes a difference'.
So what makes a difference?

£45 is more than I am paying for the cpu or m'board and a lot of money to a pensioner.

Why (specifically) would I want to pay the premium in the 300 - 400 watt range?

Any info' gratefully received

 

[ryan27968]

good brand psus will last much longer. if you go cheap, the psu might actually only be a 200 watt psu instead of a 300 watt(yes, they would lie) and will not last long. also, there have been cases with cheap psus exploding(not the whole pc mind you, but causing a lot of damage) and destroying motherboards and cpus.

 

[rolli59]

Quality PSU's have safeties in them so if something goes wrong they will shut down instead of damaging your other components. PSU is the part in a computer that all the other parts rely on.

 

[lordnickelbottoms]

For such a low power / price build it doesnt really matter. A cheapo one will do the job. However the main diferences between a cheap one and a high quality one is in reliability / performance. A quality power supply will most likely last longer and is generally more efficient. Also if you want to do overclocking then a good PSU is essential. For your build however it really doesnt matter. In your case the only factor changed buying a more expenisve PSU is probably longevity.

 

[gazum123]

Your PSU is the Heart of your system. You wouldn't pay less for plastic nuts to hold your wheels on your car together so I wouldn't go for a cheap one here. There are some good branded PSU's at low prices but I would get a list together so we can see. Look at reviews from people I know I had a 700W cheap psu costs like £15. After about 6 months it began to fail and the last thing you want is it to die and kill the system.

 

[molletts]

As others have said, reliability and longevity are the main differences.

You don't need to spend quite as much as £45, though. The Antec Basiq 350 is about £30 inc. VAT on dabs.com (I haven't checked anywhere else) and is an excellent-quality power supply - I have dozens of them in service at work as replacements for cheapo ones that have blown up.

I did see a lab test/review of it somewhere a while back and it came out better than some far more expensive so-called entry-level units.

Hope this helps,
Stephen

 

[USAFRet]

Would you cheap out on a circuit breaker box for your house? Knowing that it supplies power to the whole house, and a fail could actually cause a fire?
No, you wouldn't.

Same with a PSU. It doesn't have to be 'expensive', it just has to be 'not crap'. Yes, the better ones do usually cost a bit more, But 'expensive' is relative.
The 15 quid one is 15 for a reason. They cut corners inside that box somewhere. And those corners could actually kill the whole PC.

We're not saying you have to buy top of the line. Just don't buy a crappy one.

 

[Harry Brown]

I have found the real cheapies to be unreliable. However the most expensive are not a lot better than mid priced units. I believe getting a mid priced unit from a recognized manufacturer is the way to go.

 

[geofelt]

If a cheap psu fails, it can damage anything it is connected to.
For your build, you only require a minimal psu, 100w should do it.
Here is one list of psu's sorted by quality tiers.
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

See if you can't buy a tier 3 unit. Corsair CX 430 is usually on sale.

 

[charlie101]

good brand psus will last much longer. if you go cheap, the psu might actually only be a 200 watt psu instead of a 300 watt(yes, they would lie) and will not last long. also, there have been cases with cheap psus exploding(not the whole pc mind you, but causing a lot of damage) and destroying motherboards and cpus.

Hi ryan27968

Thanks for your reply.
Ok so it seems to be a question of reliability, safety and whether the supplier is reputable.
Which means checking reviews or going by company reputation.
Like many I tend to go with reputation once I trust a companies product. The problem is that some companies then use their reputation to inflate prices way beyond any additional production costs. Which then sends us back to the product reviews.

 

[charlie101]

Quality PSU's have safeties in them so if something goes wrong they will shut down instead of damaging your other components. PSU is the part in a computer that all the other parts rely on.

HI rolli59

Thanks for your reply. Safety again and cost of system damage. That's obviously important because I could weigh the cost of the cheap unit against the probability it would fail and the cost of a more expensive unit. But if it's going to take out the the mb or cpu that's all addition time and money.

 

[charlie101]

For such a low power / price build it doesnt really matter. A cheapo one will do the job. However the main diferences between a cheap one and a high quality one is in reliability / performance. A quality power supply will most likely last longer and is generally more efficient. Also if you want to do overclocking then a good PSU is essential. For your build however it really doesnt matter. In your case the only factor changed buying a more expenisve PSU is probably longevity.

Hi lordnickelbottoms

This is really what I was wondering about. I have a machine I use for online training. It's an 8 core AMD with lots of disks and I have a Seasonic PSU in it. That's because it draws more power, has more components and is pretty critical to me.
If my Aunt's PC fails it hardly matters at all. So long as it doesn't take out the rest of the machine or burn down her house.

At 3 times the price we can easily accept the possibility of a 'safe' failure.
I've had lots cheapo pre-built boxes in the paste 16 years and only one psu unit ever failed on me and that was a safe failure.
We all hear horror stories but how often does it actually happen?

 

[geofelt]

Here is a reasonable Corsair CX 430w unit:'
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Builder-Series-Bronze-Supply/dp/B009RMP14M/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1379087356&sr=1-4&keywords=power+supply+corsair

Another approach might be to buy a case with an included power supply. Antec is the only vendor that I would trust with a integrated psu.
Here is a very small ITX case and psu: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-300-150-Desktop-slimline-adapter/dp/B002ZJFFHC/ref=sr_1_13?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1379087550&sr=1-13&keywords=antec+case
You will need a ITX motherboard : http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-H61M-VG3-Motherboard-Express-Extreme/dp/B00AYNWPN8/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1379087762&sr=1-1&keywords=itx+1155+motherboard

And... I would try to use a SSD if storage capacity is not an issue. It makes everything much more responsive.

 

[charlie101]

Your PSU is the Heart of your system. You wouldn't pay less for plastic nuts to hold your wheels on your car together so I wouldn't go for a cheap one here. There are some good branded PSU's at low prices but I would get a list together so we can see. Look at reviews from people I know I had a 700W cheap psu costs like £15. After about 6 months it began to fail and the last thing you want is it to die and kill the system.

Hi gazum123

Thanks for your reply.

I don't accept your analogies precisely because they are only analogies.
I think your point about good PSUs at low prices is a key point though. Likewise a supplier can use quality looking marketing and a high price to ship chap units. The key point being that price isn't the real issue it's quality and suitability. Price is only a poor secondary indicator or quality. Which is why many of us rely on supplier reputation or trawl countless review every time we want to make a purchase.

 

[charlie101]

I have found the real cheapies to be unreliable. However the most expensive are not a lot better than mid priced units. I believe getting a mid priced unit from a recognized manufacturer is the way to go.

Hi Harry Brown

Thanks for your reply. I must say the whole price/performance curve is what's at the back of this question. When I'm looking for a CPU I visit cpu-world.com but there isn't an equivalent for PSU's. When I read all the marketing blurb that suppliers put out and 'reviews' peddle I can't help feeling a lot of it is marginal. Once you cover the basics of safety and reliability I doubt that one could give a cost/benefit justification for the rest of the features that would apply to the vast majority of the domestic market.

 

[charlie101]

If a cheap psu fails, it can damage anything it is connected to.
For your build, you only require a minimal psu, 100w should do it.
Here is one list of psu's sorted by quality tiers.
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

See if you can't buy a tier 3 unit. Corsair CX 430 is usually on sale.

HI geofelt

Thanks for the advice and the link. Just what I was looking for.

 

[dkulprit]

Here is an article from 2011 of PSU failure rates by brand. It does not give percentage of critical failures (damaged other parts of system), but it gives you an idea.

http://www.techpowerup.com/138174/antec-psus-achieve-lowest-failure-rate-study.html

There is a link at the bottom of the article directly to the French website that runs these tests every year. You can translate it if you use Google chrome.


*EDIT* The rating system helps you too. When it says bronze, silver, etc. Here is a link to help you figure that out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus

 

[geofelt]

The French link looks like a translation of a report from BEhardware published in 2/2010.
Here is a more current version as of 11/2012 in english.
The other components are also interesting reading too.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/881-3/components-returns-rates-7.html

 

[charlie101]

Here is an article from 2011 of PSU failure rates by brand. It does not give percentage of critical failures (damaged other parts of system), but it gives you an idea.

http://www.techpowerup.com/138174/antec-psus-achieve-lowest-failure-rate-study.html

There is a link at the bottom of the article directly to the French website that runs these tests every year. You can translate it if you use Google chrome.


*EDIT* The rating system helps you too. When it says bronze, silver, etc. Here is a link to help you figure that out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus

Hi dkulprit

Thanks for the Link very useful info.

 

[charlie101]

The French link looks like a translation of a report from BEhardware published in 2/2010.
Here is a more current version as of 11/2012 in english.
The other components are also interesting reading too.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/881-3/components-returns-rates-7.html

Hi geofelt

Thanks for the update.
Re the other components; Yes really useful. especially for a low end system when what I mainly need is the reliability stat's.

 

[pratik maru]

Hi all
I'm building a small Micro ATX box for an elderly relative so it's not a gaming power house and I want to keep the price down. I'm going for a celeron 1620 and an Asus H61M-A/USB3 board.

When I consider the PSU they range from £15 cheapos to over £45 for a recognized quality brand.

I've read stuff about noise and ripple but nothing about how the Motherboard power regulating components modify the input from the PSU. Why should I care about variations in PSU output if they are within the limits of the M'board's regulating components?

Statisticians say 'A difference is only a difference if it makes a difference'.
So what makes a difference?

£45 is more than I am paying for the cpu or m'board and a lot of money to a pensioner.

Why (specifically) would I want to pay the premium in the 300 - 400 watt range?

Any info' gratefully received

"you might end up like me,buying new reliable psu. Although in my case, unavailability of particular brand and service availability was the main problem. For example, my current rig (system) needs approximately 601watts power total; while my old chepo psu only provides 200 watts instead they labelled and sold me that item with 450 watts lable on it. This way i ended up i the situation where after 1.5months of usage, one day i was suddenly unable to boot up-after little search and 4days of headach, i found out that its the chepo psu that was unable to provide jump-start watts (yes, pc does need it!!) . Now i am happy with seasonic 750 watts, whichactually provide what they labelled and gives headroom for expansion. In you case, money is main concern, then assuming that you won't upgrade that rig and with at least 5 years of working smooth time, choose nearby bottom line psu. If you provide detailed configuration about your rig, i might provide you link to some good psu after little search and my IT-engineer friend.