More PSU wattage vs higher tier : Where to spend money?

[2JZGTE]

Hi all,

Trying to recycle old parts to build a PC (used for gym : spotify, youtube, general web browsing and all three done together)

Parts I have
Q9550 (now at stock speed but it's a good overclocker, so that's a possibility)
ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo
OCZ 8gb DDR2
ATI Radeon HD4870 (1gb DDR5)
PSU : OCZ Stealthxstream 600w
LG CD/DVD drive
An old 2.5" laptop HDD (Hitachi, don't remember the details, 750gb)

I will add/change :
Case
256gb SSD
1gb ethernet adapter (if compatible with mobo)

The PSU is very low end and I'd like to change it. I narrowed it down to 2 choices

SeaSonic M12II 520W (tier 2)
Rosewill Hive-550 (tier 3)

No price difference as it is. Both are modular

What do you think?

 

[elbert]

First there is more at play than tier and wattage. Both Antec and Seasonic powersupplys are know for wattage under rating. The Seasonic could easily output more than 600W. Go for the Seasonic without question.

 

[Zerk2012]

you have about a 300 watt PC get the Seasonic more watts than you need and better quality.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Seasonic. The Rosewill Hive isn't bad but the Seasonic is a step up in quality.

 

[2JZGTE]

Thanks for the inputs. Just to be sure my research was exhaustive, are there any other PSU's in that price range or better you would recommend? (I narrowed it down to these 2 but maybe I missed something)

Edit : I just realized the 620W version is [strike]only 5$ more[/strike] the same price after instant coupon on Newegg. Now the 520 is already overkill so the 620 is really too much for my rig... but would I be a fool to skip this? Any downside of having too much wattage (or I should say too much wattage available)?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

No downside. The parts only draw the power they need. Leaves you room to upgrade in the future.

The CX550M is only $49 right now.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3hkwrH/corsair-power-supply-cp9020102na

Mail in rebate involved but an excellent unit.

 

[2JZGTE]

Thanks, but I'm in Canada and it's more expensive than the Seasonic according to the canadian website
However it looks like there are two Seasonic M12-II, the EVO (tier 2) and M12-II 2015 (un-tiered).

Is this the right one?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Looks like it's $79.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/3hkwrH/corsair-power-supply-cp9020102na

It's a newer design than the Seasonic. The Seasonic won't support Haswell and newer low power sleep states due to being group regulated. The new CXM uses a more modern DC-DC design and it will natively support the low power sleep states of the newer processors. You really can't go wrong with either. Disabling those sleep states is only a few clicks in BIOS.

There's not really anything else at that price point that competes with those 2.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Thanks, but I'm in Canada and it's more expensive than the Seasonic according to the canadian website
However it looks like there are two Seasonic M12-II, the EVO (tier 2) and M12-II 2015 (un-tiered).

Is this the right one?

I think that's the Evo edition but it's so hard to be sure with Seasonic's crazy marketing.

 

[2JZGTE]

I checked further and yes it's the EVO.
Would you buy a tier 4 over a tier 2 because of the advantages you listed?

(I'm sorry I don't know much about PSU's so my only way to gauge and compare is the tier list. I'm trying to spend wisely = not overspend but not cheapen out on the important stuff)

 

[Deleted member 217926]

That tier list is a subjective opinion piece. That being said no one ever got a bad power supply by sticking with units listed in tier 2 and up. Don't cheap out on the power supply.