Need a new PSU

The_B_Man

Hi,

My PSU died and I am looking for info on getting a new one.

I've never had to buy one before so I don't know what to look for.
If its ATX, do I just buy any PSU that says ATX on it? What details should I be looking for to make sure it'll fit in my case and connect to my motherboard?

I'm looking for something energy efficient and quiet. The current one is/was 600w but I don't even think I needed that. (4x1GB RAM, 1xSSD, 1x1TB HDD, onboard graphics, AMD X2 6400 CPU).

Can anyone give me pointers as to where I can start to look for a replacement?

Thanks.

grindle

As long as you're not gonna be adding a GPU or something this'll be fine.

The_B_Man

OK cool thanks.

One question though.
According to a Power calculator, I was told I need a 350W PSU as the recommended level (274W actual usage).

So 274W is ~80% of the max.
Am I better going with like a 500W PSU and using 50% power, rather than using 80% of a 350W PSU?

Like I said, the 2 main areas I'm focusing on are noise and energy efficiency, so I'm curious if a 500W PSU running at 50% would consume less power than a 350W running at 80%.

Thanks.

grindle

If your system was constantly running at max then bumping up by 50w would prolong the life of the PSU by a tiny margin, but it seems unlikely that it would be running at 100% all of the time. On the other hand it'd be a small bump in price for your peace of mind if you want it.

TerrorFirmer

I sincerely doubt the machine is 274w usage either unless you have a lot of stuff not mentioned in your original post. The antec will be fine.

The_B_Man

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I sincerely doubt the machine is 274w usage either unless you have a lot of stuff not mentioned in your original post. The antec will be fine.

Ye I know but thats what the calculators say.
(See attached)


TBH, I reckon a 450w will be plenty. The current AMD CPU uses about 110w apparently, compared to newer CPUs that use less than half that, from what I've read. So going forward, if I upgrade my PC and keep the PSU, I can go for a low power CPU and that'd give me more leverage for a standalone graphics card or whatever other peripherals may be needed.
Actually, its my parents PC so there'll be no games being played on it anyway.

EDIT: I just realised that I don't actually have that AMD 6400 CPU. It might be the 4600 actually. With that in the calculator, its dropped about 50w.

So is that 430W one quiet? If so, that'll seal the deal!

TerrorFirmer

The X1300Pro is also a seperate dedicated graphics card, you said you had onboard in your original post

The_B_Man

Ye I've the X1250 onboard one, but it wasnt in the list, so i went with the closest one I could find.
I'd imagine there's not much wattage in the difference though.

Motherboard is MSI K9AGM3.