Is a modular psu worth it?

Hey so I was wondering do you get alot better airflow with a modular beacuse I'm looking at the corsair 550vx(non modular) and the 520hx should a spring for an extra $20 and get the modular? Or should I just hide the extra cables in a drive bay, I am only going to have one hard drive and optical drive too, what do you think?

Ya, do you think all the extra cables would fit snug in a extra drive bay lol first time builder or does anyone else have a alternate opinion on modular psus thanks.

Ok thanks.

Just about all of us have hidden unused wires in a drive bay, some of the newer cases have enough room behind the M/B tray to hide them back there, and thats a whole lot neater.

The most important thing is not to disrupt the airflow path of the case, and hopefully you have purchased one with good airflow.

Snag yourself some Nylon Wire Ties it makes for a lot nicer and easy to deal with situation, personally I've never bought a modular P/S and have excellent airflow.

I know it takes more time but if you plan your wire routing all through the build you won't have a mess to deal with in the end.

Link(s) please. And PC P&C doesn't count.

Ya thats what I was thinking are they any good cases with a bottom psu anyone could recommend with a vent so I can keep the psu fan facing down in the $50 area thanks?

I tend to shy away from typing things like this , but LOL.

I really like the coolmaster 690 though I'm going to wait for it to be $70 with free shipping on newegg cause I'm a budget and I'm planning on getting the amd phenom 2 x3 720.

Since the only quote in the article is from PC P&C (of course not backed up with any facts), it really doesn't count.

Was it this article?
http://www.motherboards.org/articl [...] 488_1.html

I doubt that there was any bias there, the author , Jon Gerow , is also known as "jonnyguru".

I have a 520 mentioned above. I also have non modulars. If you have a lot to hook up either will be a "mess" to deal with. If on the other hand you only need to run a few cables the modular will do for a neater job.

Back to the 520. The cables are stiff and hard to work with to an extent. If you want neatness, the Ultra's used to have round cables and seemed to me to give a slightly neater job. not sure if they still make them that way or not. Read around and if the "ribbon' type wires are flexible I'd go for one of those. ( Ultra )

There is more resistance in the actual cable than the connectors.

There are far more 80Plus Bronze & Silver modular PSUs on newegg than non-modular.

The COOLER MASTER Centurion 590, is an excellent case, great airflow and wire hiding capability behind the M/B mounting plate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] rion%20590

I have one myself and heres my Non-Modular wire tucking job with a 750Watt PCP&C Power Supply.

Well that hasn't been a problem so why should I forewarn of something that hasn't even happened, the front screens allow airflow through basically the entire front of the case.

IMO the 590 is an excellent case for my purposes or I wouldn't recommend it.

Thermaltake modular power supplies are all I use, never have a problem with them.

Well how else would you power the computer?

Wrong. There are more non-modular PSUs, but the most efficient PSUs have more modular.

people, go to your college or high school science professor and he will explain u scientifically why modular psu are less efficient.
there are 3 things that affect ressitance on a cable: 1-cable material (silver-least resistant, copper-most widely used), 2-cable dimensions (thickness and length), 3-connectors (more connectors = more resistance). this loss of efficiency is very low, maybe modular psu is less than 1% less efficient that its non-modular version.

almost all modular have the gpu and main power cables as native, something that I belive is important and should always stay native.

dont get confused about 80plus and so on. like i said, people sell what people buy. at the moment, modular PSUs are popular, so manufacturers and sellers are concentrated on that. that doesn't mean that modular are better than non-modular.

It's personal preference here more than anything. There are good and bad modular PSU's just like any other PSU. You need to read the reviews, and check the specs.

I find though that hiding, routing cables etc. to control heat, or just so you don't have a mess to look at, is no harder with one than the other, whether it is modular or not, you still have cables to deal with. I have found that the cables on a modular PSU can actually be thicker, heavier, and harder to route and conceal than those on a non modular PSU. There may be fewer of them since you only install what you need, but they are harder physically to route and hide.

I have owned several of both, and I prefer non-modular types myself.

Actually, that entirely depends on the connector type. Some connectors actually have less resistance than an equivalent length (an inch or so) of wire. I don't think the connectors used in modular PSUs fall into this category, but it isn't always true that a plug is less efficient. Also, the loss of efficiency is probably quite a bit less than 1%.