Choosing a power supply help.

Check out jonnyguru for good reviews. Than look at the newegg reviews and avoid supplies with very few reviews or a large portion of returns. Try to catch a good PSU on a special sale if you can.

Corsair makes some of the best price/performance PSUs. Antec is good for that too.

Brands I like are: Enermax, silverstone, antec, corsair, and ocz, but I'm sure there are other good brands.

Something like this would suit your needs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... or any power supply that is comparable

While I am not a fan of OCZ PSU's, you can't beat the pricing on this one. And a good 400 - 450 watt PSU will run your system.

Most people do as you appear to be doing, that is looking for the smallest cheapest PSU you can find. My advice is exactly the opposite. I think everybody should use the highest wattage quality PSU you can afford. I believe it's the cheapest insurance policy you can buy for your new build. It will yeild benefits you will never know about because of problems you won't have and can be re-used for years to come.

How about these?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

No one here will recommend either of those PSUs. The cheapest quality ones you are likely to get off newegg are from OCZ, especially with some of the rebates they have.

Both aren't quality as you notice the lack of 80plus certification and active PFC. Also neither brand is known for good PSUs. You'd be better off shelling out an extra of $20-30 now instead of replacing a couple hundred dollars worth of parts because you had a bad PSU.

I agree with the above. Neither of those PSU's should go anywhere near the inside of a PC. Picking a quality PSU is the key to a stable system. This PSU would easily power the system for a reasonable price:

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W $54.99 - $15 MIR

The things to look for in a quality PSU are active PFC, at least 80+ certification, and high amps on the 12v rail. The PSU's you linked to don't satisfy any of those requirements.

what does it mean to be 80+ certification

It means that the power supply has been tested at various loads and is always at least 80% efficient at converting mains power into power that the system uses.

400 watts sounds pretty low to me. Have you used a power supply calculator to determine the actual amount of power your components will need? You can find one here http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp. Something else to keep in mind is that it's typically recommended that you keep approximately 25% power in reserve. So if you calculate that your computer's components will use 400 watts, you absolutely do not want to buy a 400 watt power supply, because they are not made to run at full capacity all the time. You should buy one that is 500 watts or so, which is 25% more than what your computer will be constantly using. Of course, you may also want to consider any hardware upgrades you may do in the future...adding a second, or a more powerful GPU, or more hard drives, all will increase the amount of power the PSU is needed to output.

Good luck!  


I have a question regarding Corsair power supplies: I notice that the model numbers are prefixed by either HX or TX, with the HX supplies typically costing more. Are they 'better' than the TX? Can anyone tell me exactly what the difference(s) are between these two models?

Thanks in advance!

One of the differences is that HX PSUs from Corsair are modular. There might be other differences in how they were made and by what OEM but the only difference that typically matters to consumers is the modularity.

I actually bought one on ebay from 5 star computers it's a 650 watt green item # 270507209588 for $36.95 and it works great