How do I choose a PSU?
Posted by MtZion19@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 16 comments
I'm looking to build my first PC but don't know how to choose a PSU. After some research on the Internet all I know that I need about 650W-750W of power. Can ya'll give some tips and suggestions on what I should look for? Thanks!
CallMeYoYo@reddit
Man, everyone's giving you a hard time understanding this, its not that hard. let me simplify this for you so you don't get confused and intimidated.
Go for an 80+ gold rated PSU, the lowest rating you should ever go for is bronze, never un-rated or white. as long as its 80 + bronze and/or above then you're ok.
Secondly, to check what wattage you need, look at your two most power hungry parts, cpu/gpu, depending on what they require on pcpartpicker or whatever website you use (if you don't use anything in particular just google each part and their "TDP"), and push an extra like 100 watt over ish. you don't need 1000w or 850w. people are gonna say you do and "oh its futureproofing" no. don't. do. that. don't overpay, don't overkill. you don't NEED that. unless that 850w psu is literally the same price as the 550 or 650 then go for it, it wont hurt.
Thirdly, just make sure the dimensions fit your case, and that it has all the cables you need, such as, 6-8 pin for gpu and so on so on.
I personally would suggest reputable brands with good costumer service, all power supplies are essentially the same and most of them are manufactured through the same company and then rebranded (EVGA for example). So something like ...EVGA. seasonic, corsair. those are three great options.
optional :
- fully modular means all the cables on it can be detached so you can leave on only the ones you need, for better cable management.
- semi-modular, only the cable you will undoubtedly need are fixed to your PSU (cpu pins gpu pins 24 pin) meaning they cant be removed but leaves the extra cables optional to plug in.
-non modular is basically the opposite of fully modular :p
good luck hope this is made simple for you. i just hate that wherever i go to ask a question to i get 5 wiki pages of data that i will never remember, i just want the consumer friendly info and move on.
Dehrild@reddit
Hey, I'm 5 years late to this thread, but thanks for your answer, it was very helpful to me.
rrrrrroadhouse@reddit
Here's an interesting vid from a reputable source GamersNexus, about PSU's and how 750watts is probably the most you'll ever need from a PSU:
https://youtu.be/X_wtoCBahhM
Another decent article about choosing a power supply is at Newegg here:
https://www.newegg.com/insider/how-to-choose-a-pc-power-supply-buying-guide/
That'll at least get you familiar with the basics of PSU's.
When you go to build a system at PCpartpicker the site will calculate what wattage PSU you will need for the parts you have chosen.
LeChef01@reddit
Well, that‘s from back in last summer, when we didn‘t know GPUs would start gulping 400W again.
Overclocking a 3090 and a 5950x will easily push peak power draw up to around 700W, probably more. That might be a bit of an unrealistic example, but saying that 750W is the most could ever need is not true.
rrrrrroadhouse@reddit
That's why I put the word 'probably' in there.
For the highest end, and xtreme overclocked God builds, of course you're gonna need a 1500W Godly PSU that costs 400 bills.
Conscious_Pangolin69@reddit
There's absolutely no need for anything past 1200w even on super OC builds, at least if you're using just one GPU
hagala1@reddit
bot that comment aged like milk, here with a 750 looking for a new psu for the 50 series
Agabouga@reddit
Pfffft, my video card installation manual says to use 650W yet that build a pc website says I should get 400W… I would definitely not rely on that website…
DanPlaysVGames@reddit
Firstly, find what you can buy in your local market. If in a major market, pcpp should have regionalized stock statuses.
Then go to the PSU Tier List, figure out which tier you are aiming for.
Go back to your list of available PSUs, find a PSU which matches the criteria you're looking for (price, wattage, modularity, ratings, and so on) and compare it with the tier list. You should be able to find a model which matches all the needed criteria pretty soon.
ETA, for future readers: 80+ certification only speaks to the power supply's efficiency. While getting an 80+ Bronze or Gold unit is ideal, efficiency and quality have a correlative, not a causative link. It is stupidly easy to build an 80+ Titanium PSU that can kill you, don't just trust the 80+! The Gigabyte P-GM series is a great example, 80+ Gold and blows up. Not good.
MtZion19@reddit (OP)
I'm afraid I don't quite understand 😅 What would I need for a amd ryzen based build for 144hz and 1440p?
DanPlaysVGames@reddit
It's a PSU, it powers your computer, the resolution and refresh rate of your monitor have no influence as they are externally powered.
MtZion19@reddit (OP)
Ohh okay, so how would I know how much power I would need for my pc?
DanPlaysVGames@reddit
You base that off of your CPU and GPU mainly, then add some more for the rest of the hardware, then a bit more for headroom.
Or just a calculator like Outervision, EVGA, Cooler Master and so on, they're pretty good.
MtZion19@reddit (OP)
Ahh alright I get it. Thanks for your help!
mtlpwr@reddit
Plus, don't give too much credit to the wattage number in the name of the PSU because it's a bit arbitrary. Look for the power chart of the specific PSU which looks more or less like this for every PSU: https://images.evga.com/articles/01212/br_psu_power_chart_450w_LRG.jpg
EVGA is more on the honest side, so they call this a 450W PSU (exacly the output of the 12V rail; 12V * 37.5A = 450W) while any other company (generally the crappy ones) could call this a 550W unit simply by adding all rail output values (120 + 450 + 3.6 + 15 = 588.6) and rounding down a bit for marketability.
At the very least, make sure that your PSU has the required cables for your CPU and GPU. If your GPU requires 8+8+6 pins while the PSU only has 8+8, that's a red flag. In that case, do NOT use molex to PCI-e adapters; just get a beefy enough PSU that has 8+8+6 or more for the GPU.
LeAnomaly@reddit
3 years later, this was very helpful.