What to look for in a PSU?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
R

RoloFanatic

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
17
0
10,510
Hi, I am a first time PC builder and I dont know what power supply to get. So I have a few questions:

1. Can you get a power supply that is too powerful?

2. What do you need to look for in a PSU? (What makes the good ones good?)

Currently I am looking at getting a geforce gtx 660 and an i5 4570. Would a 650W corsair be ok?
 
Solution
jimthenagual
1. No, you can't get one that is too powerful from a 'damage your computer' standpoint, but you can get one that is too powerful from a 'waste of money' standpoint. But your computer will only draw as much as it needs. If it has too many watts available, no harm done.

2. The best thing you can do, is read the reviews. There are a lot of really good sites that are well known for putting PSUs through vigorous testing, and letting us know what they found. One page that I have bookmarked, and always look at before buying is this one. It is a collection of reviews done, and is updated regularly.

In order to know how many watts you need, I use three sites. First these two (one and two) for getting a rough ballpark, then...
Sort by date Sort by votes
jimthenagual

jimthenagual

Splendid
Apr 8, 2012
4,005
16
29,365
1. No, you can't get one that is too powerful from a 'damage your computer' standpoint, but you can get one that is too powerful from a 'waste of money' standpoint. But your computer will only draw as much as it needs. If it has too many watts available, no harm done.

2. The best thing you can do, is read the reviews. There are a lot of really good sites that are well known for putting PSUs through vigorous testing, and letting us know what they found. One page that I have bookmarked, and always look at before buying is this one. It is a collection of reviews done, and is updated regularly.

In order to know how many watts you need, I use three sites. First these two (one and two) for getting a rough ballpark, then this one for fine tuning.

For that setup you describe, 650W would be overkill. So no damage done to your system, but you could potentially save yourself some money by getting something like a 550W instead. As for Corsair, they make great PSUs for the most part. But they do have 'budget level' entry PSUs, like the CX lineup. Not really ideal for a high end gaming system.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom