Best PC Power Supplies to Buy

This monthly guide to buying a PC power supply will not be divided by price ranges but by categories, based on the final use. In each category we will show you the best PC power supplies to buy according to your budget

Contents

– Best 430W-500W PC Power Supplies: Suitable for low-end PCs without a discrete GPU

– Best 650W PC power supplies: suitable for PCs with a discrete GPU that is also very performing

– Best PC 750W power supplies: suitable for PCs on which you intend to do OC

– Best 850W PC power supplies: suitable for PCs on which you intend to do OC with a good safety margin, or on Multi-GPU configurations without OC

– Best 1000-1050W PC power supplies: suitable for configurations with Multi (Dual) GPU and OC (Core i9 and AMD TR)

– Best 1200W PC Power Supplies: Suitable for configurations with Multi (Dual and Tri) GPU and OC (Core i9 and AMD TR)

– Best PC power supplies from 1500W – 1600w: suitable for configurations with Multi (Tri and Quad) GPU and OC even very high (Core i9 and AMD TR)

We want to clarify the most controversial issue in the PC world when it comes to buying hardware: thepower supply, also called PSU (from the English acronym Power Supply Unit).

First some fundamental notion for the choice and then off with the list of best PC power supplies available on the market.

What is the power supply for and why not save on its purchase

Often overshadowed by the whole configuration, the power supply is the most important component of the PC. In fact, it has the fundamental task of correctly supplying energy to all the various components present within our system.

Its breakage or malfunction can cause problems for the rest of the components. A real shame to throw away $ 1000 worth of PC hardware for buying a $ 20 Chinese PSU, right?

Furthermore, the power supply is the only source of power consumption of the PC, the more efficient the chosen power supply will be and the less power the system will consume. Here lies the real savings!

How do you measure the efficiency of a power supply?

The efficiency of a power supply, measured as a percentage, is simply the ratio between the amount of energy absorbed by the socket and the amount of energy that is used by the components inside the PC.

A 500W power supply with an efficiency of 80% does not mean that it will have 400W (80% of 500W) but, rather, that it will first draw 625W from the socket (500W divided by 80% efficiency ) and then disbursed 500W. During this process, a good 125W (the difference between 625W and 500W) will be transformed into heat and, consequently, lost.

Efficiency is therefore a factor of some weight when choosing a good power supply. An inexpensive power supply will surely make you consume more than an efficient power supply, so the money saved in buying the inexpensive power supply will soon be spent with the higher power consumption of the whole system.

Energy Star 5.0 e standard 80 Plus

One of the most important indicators of a power supply’s efficiency is compliance with guidelines Energy Star 5.0 and the standard 80 Plus. In the table you can see which efficiency levels the various certifications correspond to.

Standard PLUS	Efficiency at 20% load	Efficiency at 50% load	Efficiency at 100% load
80 PLUS	80%	80%	80%
80 PLUS Bronze	82%	85%	82%
80 PLUS Silver	85%	88%	85%
80 PLUS gold	87%	90%	87%
80 PLUS Platinum	90%	92%	89%

Modular and non-modular power supply

On the market it is possible to find modular or non-modular PC power supplies (in ATX format). But what does modular or non-modular mean?

A modular power supply is a type of PC power supply to which you can connect only the cables you really need. Thus reducing the number and size of cables used, with a consequent advantage in terms of air circulation and aesthetics.

Observation: if you want to aim for savings, the only option is to prefer a non-modular power supply. But buy, in any case, a product of decent quality.

The list of the best PC power supplies to buy

No news this month. Same choices and stationary prices compared to the previous month.

Let’s see together which solution to choose and what minimum budget to propose. Pay attention to the offers: sometimes power supplies with higher wattage are paradoxically found at a lower price.

Best non-modular PC power supplies

A non-modular power supply is the classic PC power supply where all the necessary cables have already been attached to the power supply itself. This can be a serious problem, especially for smaller homes. We only recommend them up to 750w. Keep in mind that the recommended models do not offer two eps, for this reason stick to non-modular PSUs only for low or mid-range solutions that do not require the two eps.