Selecting The Right Power Supply Unit For Your Pc

Submitted by: Vijay Devakumar

In most of the forums related to PCs and hardware, you will see that a lot of people ask recommendations for good power supply units (PSUs or SMPS). But many of them end up buying substandard and cheap ones just because they can save some money. Even bad is that many of the folks with no hardware knowledge at these forums even recommend useless PSUs. But everyone has to know the simple fact that a PC is powered by a PSU and it decides the ultimate fate of it in the long run.

A power supply unit is an important component of any PC. When you decide on the hardware configuration, you should be in a position to know which one to buy and how many wattage it should carry. But the maximum watts rating printed on the sticker on any PSU can be deceiving and you have to do further research before purchasing it. For example, a 500W PSU can in fact be a 350W part and installing high end components including a power hungry graphic card can lead to burnt hardware. If you are somewhat tuned to the hardware scene, you will already know that manufacturers do not honor warranty for burnt components. Thus purchasing the wrong PSU can lead you into trouble.

So how do you know which PSU is suitable for your configuration? Firstly, you can try some of the online calculators to get a rough idea. But they are just estimates and the real-world power consumption can be different depending on what you are going to do.

Do go cheap

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Those cheapo, Chinese made PSUs are simply not recommended for any type of systems. If you are building a PC, never get the no-name PSUs just because you can get it for a bargain deal. They are always overrated and simply don t have any protection against over current, over voltage etc. They are very power inefficient that they waste power unnecessarily. If you look carefully on the sticker, you can clearly see that they over exaggerate the maximum power output. As a thumb rule, you can be sure that they cannot even provide 60% of what they are rated for. For instance, a cheap PSU rated at 500W will simply blow up if you try to pull 350W from it. Just avoid them. You get what you pay for.

Don t be obsessed with official ratings

Most of the manufacturers overrate the maximum wattage. The fact is it s not only the maximum wattage that matters but also the electrical noise (ripple) a PSU produces. Check for online reviews and make your purchasing decisions.

More is not always bette

You need not get a power supply that far exceeds the calculated power consumption. That is, if the power supply calculator reports your configuration would consume 350W, you need not get a PSU that can provide 750W. While it won t hurt, you end up wasting money. Secondly, most of the PSUs perform best at 50% to 70% load. Thus getting a good 450 or 500W PSU will make more sense. In this scenario, a 750W PSU won t be as efficient as a 450W PSU.

Always get PSUs from well known brands like Seasonic, Corsair, OCZ, Antec etc. Look for reviews on specific models as different OEMs make different models for a same company. Look for reviews and the OEM. The UL number that is printed on the PSU will be useful in finding the OEM. If a PSU model from company X is excellent, it doesn t necessarily translate to all other models from the same company.

Look for these in a PSU: Efficiency, Active PFC, OCP, OVP, OLP and ripple and you will be good.

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