Best Power Supply Buying Guide (Jun 2020)

[PLSG08]

Looking forward to a more balanced roundup next time. Much more interesting in PSUs are the Gold units that perform admirably and are probably going to last the very same 10 years and then some but at competitive price points.

Exactly. Some Bronze units are pretty good as well for the price but Gold is the sweet spot right now for anyone and everyone.

Totally agree. I look at some regions that don't require certification like some Easter EU countries, some South East Asia countries, Africa, South America and I shudder. They sell some absolute crap.

Here lots of people fall for the "TRUE RATED" or "GAMING READY" BS marketing that some low ball OEM makes. Really sad.

 

[Frick]

No. You shouldn't use any double forward PSU with a newer GPU like Nvidia's Turing. Just not going to fair well.

Ahhh yeah that, forgot about that. How prevalent is that messege? Because if I forget about that and just look at the wattage many others will as well.

 

[ROMUZ]

Super Flower Golden Silent Fanless SF-500P14FG is absolutely silent but costs significantly less than fanless Seasonic.
I know that availability of this SF model is not good in the world, but it deservs to be an alternative to Seasonic, I guess..

 

[hat]

I'll never understand the complaints about PSU fan noise. I can barely tell my FSP unit is even running under heavy load... and in such a case, you're going to hear other fans anyway.

 

[Vayra86]

I'll never understand the complaints about PSU fan noise. I can barely tell my FSP unit is even running under heavy load... and in such a case, you're going to hear other fans anyway.

Wait until you get a crappy fan... I've had a LEPA G650M and it would easily be the loudest component in the rig... alongside two 660's with a BLOWER

 

[Icon Charlie]

Oh.. Ok. I didn't realize you had the data that supported that. My bad.



True. Full modular is a hell of a cost adder (upwards of $10 to $20). But it spoils you.

Oh I agree, which is why I go semi modular and a good reviewed Tier 2 PSU manufacture.
The difference between a 5600Xt and a 5700 is not much and between a 5700 and a 5700 XT at the moment is between 30 and on up. But that of course, the pricing could change in a heart beat. So yes a luxury item or an upgrade. In my case I'll take the upgrade.

 

[-The_Mask-]

Oh I agree, which is why I go semi modular and a good reviewed Tier 2 PSU manufacture.

What's your definition of a Tier 2 manufacturer?

And why do you prefer a Tier 2 manufacturer over Tier 1 manufacturers like AcBel Polytech, Chicony, Delta, Flextronics, Great Wall, FSP and Huntkey for example?

 

[Deleted member 6693]

I have a AX860 - running since 2013 - best ever PSU I have owned. Stable, quiet, have never let me down.

 

[djisas]

TPU needs to start reviewing psus again, the last Seasonic reviews are over 2yo, they should test some new popular models, Seasonic for ex renewed it's entire lineup last year...
Although they did review some cheapo units, they tend to be not very good, like the pikachu nidus for ex...

 

[dj-electric]

No. You shouldn't use any double forward PSU with a newer GPU like Nvidia's Turing. Just not going to fair well.

Why is this mentioned as a btw thought? Are you aware of the massive amounts of VS series PSUs being paired with RTX GPUs around the globe?
Shouldn't there be a clear statement about this? I feel like there should be one.

 

[-The_Mask-]

Why is this mentioned as a btw thought? Are you aware of the massive amounts of VS series PSUs being paired with RTX GPUs around the globe?
Shouldn't there be a clear statement about this? I feel like there should be one.

If Corsair would do that, there is a ~50% chance they would get some worse from another manufacturer and ~50% chance they choose something better from another manufacturer, but around 0% chance they make a good choice. As it won't fix the lack of knowledge to make a good decision.

 

[dirtyferret]

yeahboi.

Keep them corsair CX's in the lowest tier where they belong. So long as the machine is pulling barely any wattage. Those PSUs are just fine and dandy.

I have one going five years plus with no issues, in fact Ive never had an issue with any of my corsairs (mostly CWT) yet have had several issues with my seasonic oem units.

 

[Chrispy_]

Great article!

The best way to evaluate your power supply requirements if you want to replace your current unit is to use a kill-a-watt device and run an intense benchmark. The peak wattage you see will prove useful in deciding on your next PSU purchase. A safe choice is a PSU with at least 20% headroom over your peak wattage, not only for future upgrades, but also because even the best power supply delivers its highest efficiency at loads in the 30%–50% range of its maximum rated capacity.

Unfortunately that doesn't help people trying to choose one for a new build or anyone without a Kill-a-Watt meter. Perhaps you could list a couple of rule-of-thumb examples? 5600XT and 2080Ti to cover the sweet spot and high end, coupled with an R5 3600 and maybe a 10900K for the same two configs?

Personally I just total the manufacturer rated TDP of CPU+GPU and double it to cover peak spikes, differences between rated TDP and actual TDP, and to ensure I'm covering other (minor) power-using components like fans and drives. For me that would mean that a 65W 3600 + 160W 5600XT would get a 450W PSU and a 125W 10900K + 250W 2080Ti would get a 750W PSU.

What do you think, and is that rule-of-thumb even a good one?
People love being armed with a method that lets them easily calculate their own needs, based on my own experience.

<various comments>

Nice to see your input in here man; You are PSU royalty to me since I first stumbled on your site back in 2008.

 

[Pumper]

Been using my Corsair TX650W for 10 years now. At first used for 1055T, since 2014 with a 4770K, lived through multiple GPUs (5770, 6850, 660Ti, 970, now 1070Ti).

Plan to upgrade the whole system when Zen3 and RTX3000 are released and am looking at the current PSUs. The best price/performance/noise seems to be Corsair RMx series (with 10 year warranty, while Seasonic only gives 2 years over here for the local shops). Not sure if it is a good choice as far as reliably goes as I've seen multiple customer reviews of the 2018 models killing their brand new systems.

 

[sith'ari]

@crmaris
Are you reading hardware forums? There are plenty of troubleshooting threads linked to Corsair PSUs.
Recent Corsair PSUs perform badly and tend to fail quickly. Seasonic is a better choice for performance, and Antec for budget.

So , what you are saying to a veteran PSU hardware tester (*crmaris) , with many years of experience at PSU field , is to …… ignore his own tests , and his conclusions to be based …..on what people claim at the forums ???
do you know what kind of people write at the forums ?? people like myself , who , if I wasn't reading Aris reviews(*and other reviewers as well , such as JonnyGuru ,Oklahoma Wolf , etc) , I wouldn't even know the basics of a PSU !!!
Thanks to reviewers like Aris I have learned lot of things over the years about PSUs , and I wouldn't trade his knowledge not even for a thousand of forum comments , most of them just consumers who know nothing about electrical matters and PSUs, such as myself !!

--P.S. I would like to thank Aris for his years of hard work on the PSU field. His contribution has beeninvaluable for those of us who wanted to know more about PSUs.

 

[Regeneration]

He himself said the Corsair PSUs aren't great.

Corsair VS Series 650 W Review

At just $55, the Corsair VS650 is very affordable and performs well enough to be your next power supply if you are on a tight budget and your system is not all that power hungry. It aced our tough tests, and comes with 80 PLUS and Cybenetics ratings.

www.techpowerup.com

Corsair RM750 750 W Review

The Corsair RM750 only costs slightly less than the RM750x, and the latter comes with the topnotch NR135L fan and Japanese caps. That said, the RM750 has jaw-dropping efficiency at very light and light loads and is compatible with the new Modern Standby mode in Windows 10, meaning it can wake up...

www.techpowerup.com

Corsair AX Series 1000 W Review

At $240, the Corsair AX1000 is certainly not cheap, but it is the best PSU we ever tested. Being built on a Seasonic platform, only top-notch components are used, making this one of the most recommended 1000 W PSUs you can get today, if your system needs much power.

www.techpowerup.com

Reviewers cannot check products for lifespan.

These Corsair RM, VS (and possibly other models) offer "average" performance and die after a year or two.

2 failed on me and I always see posts of other people having similar issues.

 

[Chrispy_]

These Corsair RM, VS (and possibly other models) offer "average" performance and die after a year or two.
2 failed on me and I always see posts of other people having similar issues.

I have about 500 300 CX and RM corsairs in active use. They're cheap and the warranty is good enough. I reckon I've had to RMA about 10 corsairs over the course of the last 5 years, which seems reasonable.

I suspect the reason you are seeing more threads complaining about corsair PSUs is because there are simply many more corsair PSUs out in the wild to be complained about. It's a common bias that doesn't actually reflect reliability statistics.

Edit, actually spent 30 seconds running a search against the account purchase history, I have more Seasonics than I thought - still over 200 550CX supplies though.

 

[sith'ari]

He himself said the Corsair PSUs aren't great.

Corsair VS Series 650 W Review

At just $55, the Corsair VS650 is very affordable and performs well enough to be your next power supply if you are on a tight budget and your system is not all that power hungry. It aced our tough tests, and comes with 80 PLUS and Cybenetics ratings.

www.techpowerup.com

Corsair RM750 750 W Review

The Corsair RM750 only costs slightly less than the RM750x, and the latter comes with the topnotch NR135L fan and Japanese caps. That said, the RM750 has jaw-dropping efficiency at very light and light loads and is compatible with the new Modern Standby mode in Windows 10, meaning it can wake up...

www.techpowerup.com

Corsair AX Series 1000 W Review

At $240, the Corsair AX1000 is certainly not cheap, but it is the best PSU we ever tested. Being built on a Seasonic platform, only top-notch components are used, making this one of the most recommended 1000 W PSUs you can get today, if your system needs much power.

www.techpowerup.com

Reviewers cannot check products for lifespan.
These Corsair RM, VS (and possibly other models) offer "average" performance and die after a year or two.
2 failed on me and I always see posts of other people having similar issues.

you'll always see failure rates , even for the highest end PSUs. Unfortunately for myself , that's pretty much unavoidable even for the greatest brands !!
few years ago , I was active member at jonnyguru forums , and I had made a Newegg-search about the failure rate for well known PSUs . If I remember correctly they all had negative comments about failures around 10% (*if you are interested , I can take a look and give you that post I had made but it might take a while , I was very ""active"" back then , and few years have passed since then ... )
---Every unhappy customer will bother to make a negative comment , but very few of the happy customers will bother to do the same.
The fact that you are reading negative comments doesn't tell you the % of the product's failure rate. Reviews are created to give you info about each PSU's-platform build quality in order for you to minimize the possibility for a failure...

 

[Vayra86]

To do a best Bang for the buck article I need to have steady prices, which is not the case, especially in this period. Also Titanium and 80 P, in general, mean nothing to me, I see all performance aspects and not efficiency only. Because a manufacturer can focus on efficiency only and let aside all the rest (load regulation, ripple, transient response etc.)

Been thinking about this. But do you need steady prices? Its not like Gold units jump around the other segments in terms of price. If something drops or rises, usually all PSUs go along with it. The stack order doesn't ever really change does it?

Its admirable to be thinking of all PSU characteristics too, but from a reviewer I would also expect some guidance on how important each metric truly is and for what usage. You don't need a top of the bill unit to drive 90% of systems out there. Essentially that was also the point of my previous post. This is the PSU selection for a niche group, really. It would be good to note that in some way, as it gives a clearer impression of the review's purpose. Right now it conveys the impression everyone should be gunning for Titanium and Platinum units. Oh yeah... or a CX450 lol. That one kinda sticks out like a sore thumb now, imo

So , what you are saying to a veteran PSU hardware tester (*crmaris) , with many years of experience at PSU field , is to …… ignore his own tests , and his conclusions to be based …..on what people claim at the forums ???
do you know what kind of people write at the forums ?? people like myself , who , if I wasn't reading Aris reviews(*and other reviewers as well , such as JonnyGuru ,Oklahoma Wolf , etc) , I wouldn't even know the basics of a PSU !!!
Thanks to reviewers like Aris I have learned lot of things over the years about PSUs , and I wouldn't trade his knowledge not even for a thousand of forum comments , most of them just consumers who know nothing about electrical matters and PSUs, such as myself !!

--P.S. I would like to thank Aris for his years of hard work on the PSU field. His contribution has beeninvaluable for those of us who wanted to know more about PSUs.

Don't mistake criticism for a complaint. The end goal is a better article, for me at least. Or a better understanding of it. Pages of praise don't make things better.

 

[bobbybluz]

Over the past two decades my preferred list of power supplies has been trimmed to Seasonic and the Corsair AX and HX series units. I've never had a Corsair PSU fail yet but the Seasonic X-1250 & X-850 I currently have in use are both warranty replacements. The X-850 is my third replacement unit.

 

[sith'ari]

Reviewers cannot check products for lifespan.
These Corsair RM, VS (and possibly other models) offer "average" performance and die after a year or two.
2 failed on me and I always see posts of other people having similar issues.

you'll always see failure rates , even for the highest end PSUs. Unfortunately for myself , that's pretty much unavoidable even for the greatest brands !!
few years ago , I was active member at jonnyguru forums , and I had made a Newegg-search about the failure rate for well known PSUs . If I remember correctly they all had negative comments about failures around 10% (*if you are interested , I can take a look and give you that post I had made but it might take a while , I was very ""active"" back then , and few years have passed since then ... )
---Every unhappy customer will bother to make a negative comment , but very few of the happy customers will bother to do the same.
The fact that you are reading negative comments doesn't tell you the % of the product's failure rate. Reviews are created to give you info about each PSU's-platform build quality in order for you to minimize the possibility for a failure...

After a lot of search I have finally found the old thread I told you about : http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/sho...as-so-bad-review-on-amazon&highlight=sith'ari
It wasn't exactly as I remembered (*it's been 5 years since then ) , but I believe it's an interesting thread to take a look at , since based on my comment , JonnyGuru intervened and gave some very useful statistical data about PSUs .

 

[cucker tarlson]

this needs more options

I'll never understand the complaints about PSU fan noise. I can barely tell my FSP unit is even running under heavy load... and in such a case, you're going to hear other fans anyway.

well that is cause there's other psus than your FPS

 

[crmaris]

Guys I do have access to some RMA data, but I cannot reveal any information. Most branded PSUs

TPU needs to start reviewing psus again, the last Seasonic reviews are over 2yo, they should test some new popular models, Seasonic for ex renewed it's entire lineup last year...
Although they did review some cheapo units, they tend to be not very good, like the pikachu nidus for ex...

I second that, we need from Seasonic reviews. I am in talks with SS to send some new units but the current situation is weird, because of C19. I am also trying to get my hands on some really cheap units to make a legendary round-up

 

[Chrispy_]

Guys I do have access to some RMA data, but I cannot reveal any information. Most branded PSUs


I second that, we need from Seasonic reviews. I am in talks with SS to send some new units but the current situation is weird, because of C19. I am also trying to get my hands on some really cheap units to make a legendary round-up

YAY! Please video the explosions, flame-jets, and magic smoke escaping

 

[djisas]

Guys I do have access to some RMA data, but I cannot reveal any information. Most branded PSUs


I second that, we need from Seasonic reviews. I am in talks with SS to send some new units but the current situation is weird, because of C19. I am also trying to get my hands on some really cheap units to make a legendary round-up

See you can get some eurotech psu's, they have good marketing, at least in Portugal and a tendency to let the smoke out, it was my first psu, I don't miss the painful days of dead hardware and constant crashing...
I would give you my 460W if it even exists still...