Amazon's 5 Most Popular Power Supplies: Budget PSU Round-Up
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I would also like to see a general overview of acrf based units from FSP, like the G5 or GD. Many people have stated that the acrf topology, with it's poor transient responses, will be prone to issues with high transient gpu's. i have not seen any complaints on this subject to verify it outside of maybe the G5, which is a pretty meh psu in the first place. The GD hasn't had any substantive reviews and it's the most budget often, so that may be of higher interest.
The evga GT has been reviewed quite well, but atm there is a bit of a discrepancy in regard to the fan profile. An older review at tweak pc noted a fan profile that was very sporadic in nature, making me thing it was using a resistor. User reviews also noted that the fan would turn off and on sporadically. But the most recent review by Aris shows a very standard fan profile with a pretty normal gradual speed increase. Perhaps whenever the sound isolation booth is completed we can see what the actual fan profile is?
That about wraps....oh....the Evga GA is a common unit that causes problems with high transient gpu's and was often bundled with gpu's as well. I recall statements regarding both ocp and possibly under built 12v mosfet arrangements. Just hearsay, but it's a pretty common unit that was forced on people with gpu bundles, so I would very much like to see that unit as well.
Thanks for the content, I'm really stoked to see more reviews, especially in this format. I'm also quite happy to see another reviewer as many reviews outside of Aris and f14 typically just look at the externals or at most, use a multimeter. I look forward to the future reviews, keep up the good work.
Date: 2022-03-28
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Comments and reviews: 9
Marcos
I mean, PSUs were always so hard to choose. I always just kept going back to EVGA but I also always considered and recommended corsair and Seasonic ones. But that was always based on a blind belief their units are of a good quality. I can't really say I even understand the differences is their product stacks, especially EVGAs, like there's so many different X amount of power B something PSU like 650 b5, 650bq, 650bw, 650b, 650b2, some are BR... Etc, etc and that exists for all tiers, it's so confusing. So I'd really want to ask you guys to help us on that matter, test as many PSUs as possible and maybe run an online Google docs chart? So we can reference all the tested models and maybe make sense of how the product lines work for the different manufacturers? Like maybe EVGA b2 PSUs are good bronze PSUs but the b5 range is not? Or the corsair cx is nice but maybe the vx isn't or something like that.
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I mean, PSUs were always so hard to choose. I always just kept going back to EVGA but I also always considered and recommended corsair and Seasonic ones. But that was always based on a blind belief their units are of a good quality. I can't really say I even understand the differences is their product stacks, especially EVGAs, like there's so many different X amount of power B something PSU like 650 b5, 650bq, 650bw, 650b, 650b2, some are BR... Etc, etc and that exists for all tiers, it's so confusing. So I'd really want to ask you guys to help us on that matter, test as many PSUs as possible and maybe run an online Google docs chart? So we can reference all the tested models and maybe make sense of how the product lines work for the different manufacturers? Like maybe EVGA b2 PSUs are good bronze PSUs but the b5 range is not? Or the corsair cx is nice but maybe the vx isn't or something like that.
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aaron
Great start! I'm not sure how to winnow down the hundreds of options into a manageable test set.
I think it would help to show at-the-wall differences to drive home a key point of buying a more efficient PS. For example on the 2% PF measurement: 10W from the 500W PS costs you 12W at the wall in unit A vs 15W at unit B etc. Or: your system running a game consuming 350W consumes 370W (20 extra) on unit A and 395W (45 extra) at the wall on unit B, a 25W delta. Maybe run some standard usage model numbers out in the charts: eg: assuming 800 hours a year gaming , that's 20kWh extra power consumed by unit B , power in California is .23/kWh for 4.60/year extra, figure 5 years minimum useful life of the PS and that's 23 more money spent on power for the less efficient PS. Show one or two standard usage model values in the big graphs, maybe run a separate episode to explain the choices made in the model.
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Great start! I'm not sure how to winnow down the hundreds of options into a manageable test set.
I think it would help to show at-the-wall differences to drive home a key point of buying a more efficient PS. For example on the 2% PF measurement: 10W from the 500W PS costs you 12W at the wall in unit A vs 15W at unit B etc. Or: your system running a game consuming 350W consumes 370W (20 extra) on unit A and 395W (45 extra) at the wall on unit B, a 25W delta. Maybe run some standard usage model numbers out in the charts: eg: assuming 800 hours a year gaming , that's 20kWh extra power consumed by unit B , power in California is .23/kWh for 4.60/year extra, figure 5 years minimum useful life of the PS and that's 23 more money spent on power for the less efficient PS. Show one or two standard usage model values in the big graphs, maybe run a separate episode to explain the choices made in the model.
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AJBtheSuede
I think it's better to use losses in stead of efficiency with power transfer devices. People generally seem to think the difference between 86% and 91% transfer efficiency is negligible.
But if you change that to 14% heat losses vs. 9% heat losses, management usually sit straight and listen... Heat losses are increased energy cost, faster equipment material decay rates and increased costs for heat management.
I've specced and bought MegaWatt industrial systems, and there 1% difference in efficiency can be cost you a few tens of thousands extra just in cooling requirements. Not a big problem in PC's, but mind that a GOLD PS under a 400W gaming load behaves just like a 40W space heater :) That heat is partly dumped into the system, increasing the temps of all of your other components.
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I think it's better to use losses in stead of efficiency with power transfer devices. People generally seem to think the difference between 86% and 91% transfer efficiency is negligible.
But if you change that to 14% heat losses vs. 9% heat losses, management usually sit straight and listen... Heat losses are increased energy cost, faster equipment material decay rates and increased costs for heat management.
I've specced and bought MegaWatt industrial systems, and there 1% difference in efficiency can be cost you a few tens of thousands extra just in cooling requirements. Not a big problem in PC's, but mind that a GOLD PS under a 400W gaming load behaves just like a 40W space heater :) That heat is partly dumped into the system, increasing the temps of all of your other components.
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FirstName
I literally just bought a new PSU an hour ago. I initially went with a TX850M, used, on Amazon ( 75), but then I cancelled it and went with an RM850 (2021) ( 95) from Corsair themselves, since it was only 20 in the difference.
I would have liked to go with an RMx850X but it was 60 more expensive than the RM850, but I bought the PSU for my new 3080 so I needed to calm down and stop spending money!
It would be interesting to see some of these reviewed, in particular the RM850 (2021) since they talk about new triple/dual EPS12V connectors, I assume these are for the latest RTX GPUs..
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I literally just bought a new PSU an hour ago. I initially went with a TX850M, used, on Amazon ( 75), but then I cancelled it and went with an RM850 (2021) ( 95) from Corsair themselves, since it was only 20 in the difference.
I would have liked to go with an RMx850X but it was 60 more expensive than the RM850, but I bought the PSU for my new 3080 so I needed to calm down and stop spending money!
It would be interesting to see some of these reviewed, in particular the RM850 (2021) since they talk about new triple/dual EPS12V connectors, I assume these are for the latest RTX GPUs..
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coastermad13
I have a Corsair RX1000M from 2017 and apparently they shifted some capacitors for voltage ripple down onto the 24pin cable. How does this actually affect the ripple?
Is the ripple okay if you replace the cables with ones without the capacitors on?
Cablemod had to make specific cables for the RX series but I'm currently using some cheaper Amazon cables without the capacitors so I don't know if I should be worried.
You might need to mention some power supplies have additional voltage ripple regulation on the cables to reiterate the need to watch out using aftermarket cables
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I have a Corsair RX1000M from 2017 and apparently they shifted some capacitors for voltage ripple down onto the 24pin cable. How does this actually affect the ripple?
Is the ripple okay if you replace the cables with ones without the capacitors on?
Cablemod had to make specific cables for the RX series but I'm currently using some cheaper Amazon cables without the capacitors so I don't know if I should be worried.
You might need to mention some power supplies have additional voltage ripple regulation on the cables to reiterate the need to watch out using aftermarket cables
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Nekuia
So I would like to see some higher ended PSU tested too at some point. Jay and Linus have used Seasonic products in the past for their super high end rigs. Which makes me wonder just how good are those products. But for low budget things. I would suggest looking at some Thermaltake stuff, because they are known to take design ques from others, and while case or fan design is one thing. And liquid cooling can always be reinforced from leaky pipes. A power supply is major. If it fails it could take your whole PC. So I would like to see you push some of theirs to the limits and see.
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So I would like to see some higher ended PSU tested too at some point. Jay and Linus have used Seasonic products in the past for their super high end rigs. Which makes me wonder just how good are those products. But for low budget things. I would suggest looking at some Thermaltake stuff, because they are known to take design ques from others, and while case or fan design is one thing. And liquid cooling can always be reinforced from leaky pipes. A power supply is major. If it fails it could take your whole PC. So I would like to see you push some of theirs to the limits and see.
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James
Going by the fact that higher end GPU's and CPU's have become heavy power users (Pentium 4 Prescott eat your heart out) once more, I think it would be good to get a 750 - 850w round-up going for those of us building new systems with an eye to either using higher end components or eventually upgrading to them once prices come down (some time after Hell's next ice age). Also is there any chance on a piece on the new ATX 3.0 specifications now that they are finalised and how that should effect our choices in terms of what PSU we should look to buy for our next builds?
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Going by the fact that higher end GPU's and CPU's have become heavy power users (Pentium 4 Prescott eat your heart out) once more, I think it would be good to get a 750 - 850w round-up going for those of us building new systems with an eye to either using higher end components or eventually upgrading to them once prices come down (some time after Hell's next ice age). Also is there any chance on a piece on the new ATX 3.0 specifications now that they are finalised and how that should effect our choices in terms of what PSU we should look to buy for our next builds?
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castform5
It's been mentioned a bunch, even though it might be a bit anticlimactic, but a comparative look at a lower end and a higher end PSU would be interesting.
I'm building a desktop server, and I had picked out a seasonic focus GX-750, but I found a promo deal for a focus PX-750, so I might get that. The practical difference between those two is probably pretty minimal, but I'm trying to build this thing to last at least over the PX's warranty period, which is 10 years.
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It's been mentioned a bunch, even though it might be a bit anticlimactic, but a comparative look at a lower end and a higher end PSU would be interesting.
I'm building a desktop server, and I had picked out a seasonic focus GX-750, but I found a promo deal for a focus PX-750, so I might get that. The practical difference between those two is probably pretty minimal, but I'm trying to build this thing to last at least over the PX's warranty period, which is 10 years.
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TexanMiror2
I would be most interested in 1) how a consumer can look for whats good in a power supply, regardless of reviews, i.e. can someone just look at components or other basic info and make a good guess on quality and whats best? 2) durability which is also a big factor that might be difficult to measure, and 3) comparing supplies of different quality, i.e. what are the exact details that make some insane seasonic 80+ titanium power supply better than a normal one etc.
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I would be most interested in 1) how a consumer can look for whats good in a power supply, regardless of reviews, i.e. can someone just look at components or other basic info and make a good guess on quality and whats best? 2) durability which is also a big factor that might be difficult to measure, and 3) comparing supplies of different quality, i.e. what are the exact details that make some insane seasonic 80+ titanium power supply better than a normal one etc.
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