Help picking a power supply

DarienG · Aug 25, 2014

so I just purchased the parts necessary for building a gaming pc. My only concern is I'm cutting it close with power. According to a power calculator, my system will use 370 watts. My psu is 430. Should I return it and get a 500w? what happens if I use the psu I'm getting? Here's the specs

CPU- Amd Fx 6300
Motherboard- Asus m5a78l mx plus
Gpu- msi Radeon r9 270
Ram- Crucial Ballistix 1x4gb
Hard drive- Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB
Optical Drive- Asus DRW 24x infernal DVD burner
Case- Rosewill challenger
PSU- Evga 430w

Any help I would appreciate!

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

For that build a 500w unit from Antec, XFX, Seasonic would be ideal.

Yingda Wang · Aug 25, 2014

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9
Cheap seasonic rebranded

MasterDell · Aug 25, 2014

Definitely get a PSU with 500W or more. Dont get any PSU from Antec, XFX, and Seasonic.. Antec and XFX do make some bad PSUs. Pick a PSU from this list in tier 2b, or 2a. List: https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

Huh? there are ZERO bad XFX PSUs and basically everything Antec CURRENTLY makes is better than tier 3.

Yingda Wang · Aug 25, 2014

MasterDell :

I find you real funny

MasterDell · Aug 25, 2014

Yingda Wang :

Thank you. Tier 3 PSUs are not really suggested for gaming. If he can get a 2b then dont you think that would make sense? Or is this not a feasible concept to you.

Tier 3 PSUs from those 3 brands:
Antec Earthwatts >greater than 700 watt
Antec Basiq
Antec Phantom
Antec TruePower III
Antec TruePower II
Antec TrueControl II
Antec NeoPower 480 watt (Old Model)
Seasonic Super Versatile

That list is not updated with all XFX PSUs.

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

You know that ONLY the Basiq series are still made out of ALL of those right? Those are all old units.

Also, I promise you that all XFX units are above tier 3. They all use the Seasonic G, S, and M series as OEM's.

If you go to PCpoartpicker and select Antec, there are ZERO bad units on there. Also many people argue the list is not even that accurate. They place the Corsair CX units in tier 3 with the Antec Basiq units. The Basiq units are MUCH better quality and use better parts.

Yingda Wang · Aug 25, 2014

tiny voices :

Adding more to his point,
Basiq is only 20$ on sale, Dont think u can get anything better for that money.

MasterDell · Aug 25, 2014

tiny voices :

Basiq may me old but they are still sold. I just wanted to make sure that OP didnt get one of those units.

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

Yingda Wang :

EXACTLY. The Basiq units are not the best, but EASILY beat any Corsair CX or EVGA B unit you can get for the same price. That is the point. Of course a $35 430w Antec will be worse than a $85 450w Seasonic because you are not comparing level priced PSUs. Antec has some of the highest end PSUs on the market for the mid and upper tiers. They use Delta as an OEM which is highly regarded as the same or even better than the Greats (Seasonic and Super Flower).

Yingda Wang · Aug 25, 2014

" Dont get any PSU from Antec, XFX, and Seasonic" is what u said.
Atleast u left corsair out. even if cs series sux.

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

Yeah, Corsair has about 50% lower than average quality units. They even lie on their packaging about it. Corsair is one of the shadiest computer part companies in existence.

DarienG · Aug 25, 2014

tiny voices :

DarienG · Aug 25, 2014

but is a 430w psu that bad? I'm not planning on over clocking, I just wanna make sure there's enough headroom so my pc doesn't catch on fire

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

PCs don't catch on fire with not enough power. They just turn off.

Yes technically your PSU will be alright for the build if you overclock nothing.

Yingda Wang · Aug 25, 2014

Is always better to have a 100-150w safety margin.

DarienG · Aug 25, 2014

what about slight overclocking? what's your suggested headroom for the power supply? at least 50 watts? I wanna just make sure because I do have a option to return it and pay $5 more which I didn't realize to upgrade to a 500w, but returning it would be a hassle so I don't wanna unless I'm forced to

Yingda Wang · Aug 25, 2014

If u already bought it, just keep it. No need to change.

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

You don't need to return it. You will be fine. Don't worry about it. I would not recommend overclocking, mostly because of the motherboard, not the PSU.

DarienG · Aug 25, 2014

ok guys, thanks for the help, do you think everything in my build sounds good together? I did a ton of research but I would like to hear from the experts

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

Yingda Wang :

Which he does. An fx6300 and r9 270 will pull MAX 300w under FULL 100% load. His build is perfectly safe.

tiny voices · Aug 25, 2014

Your build is fine. I recommend 8gb RAM (2x4gb) but otherwise it is a good build.

The motherboard is low end, but that fine if you are not overclocking.

Yingda Wang · Aug 25, 2014

tiny voices :

Didnt do the math myself, He said 370w in his original post

DarienG · Aug 25, 2014

I will add another stick of ram soon, I don't plan to overclock the CPU because it is already ideal for gaming at 6 cores, but I was thinking of overclocking the gpu slightly from 900mhz to maybe 1000mhz. suggestions?

Help picking a power supply

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