How to tell a bad PSU from a good one??

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tollyman

Commendable
Aug 4, 2016
30
0
1,530
I had a couple threads posted about my future build and on two different PSU's i had selected people told me they were a bad PSU. What makes them a bad unit and how can you tell??

yeah i want a budget psu 350-500W for $30-50. I understand its not gunna be the best but whats a good psu for the price

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/zNK7YJ/evga-power-supply-100b10500kr

"Although its not a great psu, it isnt horrible"

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/Wk2kcf/thermaltake-power-supply-sp650pcbus

"Not a good psu..."


 
Solution
geofelt
A cheap PSU will be made of substandard components. It will not have safety and overload protections.
If it fails under load, it can destroy anything it is connected to.
It will deliver advertised power only at room temperatures, not at higher temperatures found when installed in a case.
The wattage will be delivered on the 3 and 5v rails, not on the 12v rails where modern parts
like the CPU and Graphics cards need it. What power is delivered may fluctuate and cause instability
issues that are hard to diagnose.
The fan will need to spin up higher to cool it, making it noisy.
A cheap PSU can become very expensive. Do not buy one.

Here is one list of psu quality.
There are others.
Buy a psu on tier 1 or 2 if you can...
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boosted1g

Titan
Jun 12, 2013
14,846
8
74,965
You cant tell a bad psu for a good one by looking at specs.

There are tech companies that take them apart and thoroughly test them for the things BadActor listed. They then post their findings online for others to see. This is how we determine what is good and what is bad. Just because a company has a PSU with 80 Plus Gold rating, and all the protections still is no guarantee that it is not a cheaply built PSU.

Seasonic si12 520 would be a good PSU for your price range.
Seasonic and XFX are always a safe bet.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,269
4,130
174,240
A cheap PSU will be made of substandard components. It will not have safety and overload protections.
If it fails under load, it can destroy anything it is connected to.
It will deliver advertised power only at room temperatures, not at higher temperatures found when installed in a case.
The wattage will be delivered on the 3 and 5v rails, not on the 12v rails where modern parts
like the CPU and Graphics cards need it. What power is delivered may fluctuate and cause instability
issues that are hard to diagnose.
The fan will need to spin up higher to cool it, making it noisy.
A cheap PSU can become very expensive. Do not buy one.

Here is one list of psu quality.
There are others.
Buy a psu on tier 1 or 2 if you can:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
 
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