Many PCs on the market today use low cheap cost PSU in them.
In the PC building world we refer to them as "Generic PSUs"
A generic PSU looks something like this
A Power Supply Unit or PSU is one of the vital components of a computer and shouldn't be taken for granted.
PSUs come in a wide range of prices and wattage.
A simple computer intended for web browsing and other simple tasks can get away with only a 300watt PSU in it while mid range PCs with a dedicated graphics card are suggested to have atleast a 500watt PSU powering it and PCs with dual card setups usually have quality 800+watt PSUs. The ultra High end 1000w and above PSUs are only recommended for enthusiasts and extreme gamers using a quad SLI/Crossfire configuration.
Always look for good branded PSUs and you shall be fine. Brands like Seasonic,Corsair,Thermaltake,Tagan,Rosewill,Inwin,Antec,OCZ,ASUS,Gigabyte and Cooler Master are good brands and make quality PSUs
2. Wattage - As stated earlier a PC with no dedicated GPU and a low power consuming processor should run well on a 300-350 watt PSU. Now there are some even cheaper PSUs that are rated for 250watts but its always better to have some headroom and not stress the PSU too much!
On a PC with a single card setup a 500-550 watt PSU is usually good enough. I am writing this post on a Phenom II x4 970 PC with a GTX 550ti and a Seasonic S12II PSU. As stated earlier a good brand PSU is always good.
3. Current on 12v Rail - One of the most important things to look at when buying a PSU is the number of amps on the 12v rail. The 12v rail is very important as it powers your CPU and GPU. For a single card setup atleast 28-30 amps on the 12v rail are recommended while for a dual card setup about 45 amps would be good.
Most PSUs have a Rating on their side that looks like this
4. Efficiency - Have you recently got sky high electricity bills? wanna make them come down well pickup a PSU with a good 80 plus rating.
Efficiency basically tells you how efficient your PSU is when it converts AC to DC
These days PSUs come with various efficiency ratings
Some of them are-
Non 80 plus - these PSUs are below 80% efficiency.
80 plus standard - These PSUs stay at 80% efficiency under max load
80 plus bronze - These PSUs are about 81-82% efficient under max load
80 plus silver - These PSUs stay at about 85% efficiency under max load
80 plus gold - These stay at 87-88% efficiency under max load
80 plus platinum - These are about 90-92% efficient
For a typical computer we would recommend a 80 plus bronze PSU or even a standard 80 plus PSU.
For enthusiasts and gamers a silver or gold unit might be more economical
However 80 plus Platinum is just overkill and is only for the extreme PC builders as they are quite expensive.
5. Rail setup - PSUs come in single and multi-rail setups and usually a single rail setup is better in low wattage PSU while a multi-rail setup is better in higher wattage PSUs(above 550watts)
6. Modular/Non modular and looks - A modular PSU is that which allows you to disconnect the cables that you don't need to reduce cable mess.They are a little more expensive than non modular
It looks something like this
In the pic above you can see the the points where your required cables plug in
However Non modular PSUs don't have that feature and the cables are directly attached/soldered to the PSU's PCB
A non modular PSU looks like this
In the PSU shown above you can see that the cables coming out of it cannot be detached and are soldered/connected to the PSU's PCB
Finally we come to sleeving
Most good PSUs have their cables sleeved with nylon or a similar material to make it look better and some cheaper PSUs come without sleeving.
Now this is does not affect performance so its your choice as to which PSU you wish to select
Thank you for Reading this short article and if you have any questions you may send me a message or email me at this ID - jaideeptw@yahoo.com
In the PC building world we refer to them as "Generic PSUs"
A generic PSU looks something like this
 |
| A typical generic PSU. AVOID IT! |
A Power Supply Unit or PSU is one of the vital components of a computer and shouldn't be taken for granted.
PSUs come in a wide range of prices and wattage.
A simple computer intended for web browsing and other simple tasks can get away with only a 300watt PSU in it while mid range PCs with a dedicated graphics card are suggested to have atleast a 500watt PSU powering it and PCs with dual card setups usually have quality 800+watt PSUs. The ultra High end 1000w and above PSUs are only recommended for enthusiasts and extreme gamers using a quad SLI/Crossfire configuration.
Now lets come to some important points to look at when you buy a new PSU:
1. Generic PSUs - AVOID BUYING THESE!!! These PSUs are cheap low cost PSUs and are not reliable at all. They usually come from small manufacturers and use cheap components inside. Sure you may get away with them sometimes but if they fail they usually take down your whole system with them!Always look for good branded PSUs and you shall be fine. Brands like Seasonic,Corsair,Thermaltake,Tagan,Rosewill,Inwin,Antec,OCZ,ASUS,Gigabyte and Cooler Master are good brands and make quality PSUs
2. Wattage - As stated earlier a PC with no dedicated GPU and a low power consuming processor should run well on a 300-350 watt PSU. Now there are some even cheaper PSUs that are rated for 250watts but its always better to have some headroom and not stress the PSU too much!
On a PC with a single card setup a 500-550 watt PSU is usually good enough. I am writing this post on a Phenom II x4 970 PC with a GTX 550ti and a Seasonic S12II PSU. As stated earlier a good brand PSU is always good.
3. Current on 12v Rail - One of the most important things to look at when buying a PSU is the number of amps on the 12v rail. The 12v rail is very important as it powers your CPU and GPU. For a single card setup atleast 28-30 amps on the 12v rail are recommended while for a dual card setup about 45 amps would be good.
Most PSUs have a Rating on their side that looks like this
 |
| Power ratings on a XFX 1000w PSU |
4. Efficiency - Have you recently got sky high electricity bills? wanna make them come down well pickup a PSU with a good 80 plus rating.
Efficiency basically tells you how efficient your PSU is when it converts AC to DC
These days PSUs come with various efficiency ratings
Some of them are-
Non 80 plus - these PSUs are below 80% efficiency.
80 plus standard - These PSUs stay at 80% efficiency under max load
80 plus bronze - These PSUs are about 81-82% efficient under max load
80 plus silver - These PSUs stay at about 85% efficiency under max load
80 plus gold - These stay at 87-88% efficiency under max load
80 plus platinum - These are about 90-92% efficient
For a typical computer we would recommend a 80 plus bronze PSU or even a standard 80 plus PSU.
For enthusiasts and gamers a silver or gold unit might be more economical
However 80 plus Platinum is just overkill and is only for the extreme PC builders as they are quite expensive.
5. Rail setup - PSUs come in single and multi-rail setups and usually a single rail setup is better in low wattage PSU while a multi-rail setup is better in higher wattage PSUs(above 550watts)
6. Modular/Non modular and looks - A modular PSU is that which allows you to disconnect the cables that you don't need to reduce cable mess.They are a little more expensive than non modular
It looks something like this
However Non modular PSUs don't have that feature and the cables are directly attached/soldered to the PSU's PCB
A non modular PSU looks like this
In the PSU shown above you can see that the cables coming out of it cannot be detached and are soldered/connected to the PSU's PCB
Finally we come to sleeving
Most good PSUs have their cables sleeved with nylon or a similar material to make it look better and some cheaper PSUs come without sleeving.
Now this is does not affect performance so its your choice as to which PSU you wish to select
Thank you for Reading this short article and if you have any questions you may send me a message or email me at this ID - jaideeptw@yahoo.com
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