Getting the right PSU

Yesterday I blogged about getting a new PSU (Power Supply Unit) and since I always used Corsair PSU’s that was also my prime target. But let us start with the requirements:

1) It must carry a 80 Plus Gold label. Preferable 80 Plus Platinum.

2) The PSU must be modular.

3) Come with at least 5 years of warranty.

4) The PSU must be affordable.

With a non-modular PSU all cables are hard-wired (soldered) inside the PSU. You can cut some of the cables off at the box, but that is a bad idea (think possible shortages). It is better to purchase a modular PSU. This way you are in control. You decide which cables to use and which not. Resulting in a cleaner, less cluttered cable layout. It also gives you the option to opt for coloured cable sleeves. That is. If you want to spent the extra buck, because they come with a hefty price tag. Not to mention the labor and the risk of doing something wrong.

The PSU must be affordable, because I don’t want to spent too much money on a PSU that I am going to mod (rip apart and put inside something else). More about the latter in a next blog post. But what I do not want to do is to compromise on the efficiency rating, and that brings me to the Seasonic P-600 80 Plus Platinum. It costs around 135 Euro and it should arrive here soon. I however could not wait and thus I also purchased a cheap (65 Euro) Seasonic G-360 with 80 Plus Gold label on it – I didn’t know this, but the shop owner opened a webpage revealing a 89.2% efficiency. Great. That is getting close to a Platinum label, and that will do for now. Until the other one arrives.

Warranty is also important i.e. do not accept anything that comes with less than 3 years warranty. I mean. Come on. When the manufacturer won’t give you a few years of warranty, then it must be rubbish. May fail early, with the possibility of damaging your motherboard and other components in your computer. Not going to happen here. And you don’t have to, because I only paid 200 Euro for two great PSU’s. Not a Corsair brand, but I couldn’t care less about anything. I mean if it works it works. Done deal.

The biggest problem is to predict the total amount of Watts you need for your computer. The golden rule is twice the amount of Watt, and this is where my power meter comes in handy. Even the 300 Watt PSU will be overkill, but I want the 600 Watt Platinum for its Platinum label, and because it can handle a discrete graphics card. Not to mention that it runs without a fan so there is no noise.

I also need some additional headroom to play with this thermoelectric module. Something I like to install on top of the CPU, underneath my Scythe Mugen 3 cooler. This should give me the option of cooling the CPU pretty well (regulating with voltage changes). The risk of frying it is however severe, so I might as well just install my Koolance CPU-380i. A part that hasn’t even seen a single shred of daylight. Still unpacked in a black box. Or was that the box for the bit-something (forgot the brand) stuff I also have laying around somewhere (we’ve only moved to Spain recently, and haven’t unpacked everything)?

Now the one million dollar question is: Will this change the power usage or not? What do you think?

The hardwaresecrets.com review can be found here.

Update: I need to add a clarification about the Corsairs PSU I referred to. First. Corsair designs their PSU’s but uses production facilities from companies like: Channel Well, Seasonic, Chicony and Flextronics. This to keep the price affordable for all of us.

You can check the E number on your PSU by entering it on this form or simply visit tomshardware.com to get the full listing and detailed explanation about who is who and who does what.