Saturday, June 13, 2020

Which Power Supply Unit in computer to buy ? Made Easy

This is a very interesting question...not because it is very difficult to answer but because some people don’t take it very seriously and some just make it too complicated and hard for themselves.

Which 80 plus Power Supply Unit in computer to buy ?

First things first...........How do you know if your power supply switch is ON or OFF ???

Check the switch on the power supply if the switch is pressed on the side where "|" sign is there it means that the PSU is switched on. 

And if the switch is pressed on the side where "0" sign is there it means that the PSU is switched off.

Also the ketchup and mustard cables that you see in the picture above let me tell you the voltage rating of each color.

YELLOW - 12V
RED - 5V
OTRANGE - 3V
BLACK - GROUND

There is a very common misconception that using a high rated power supply for a low power build will destroy it by pushing more power but that is not the case as the power supply units DO NOT push power on their own rather they its the components that draw power from the PSU unit .....so even if using a very high rated PSU with a low power required build all the components will be safe.

Let us start with the basics.....

What is a power supply unit ? / definition of power supply unit :

A Power Supply Unit or PSU is a device which converts the Alternating Current (AC) to Direct Current (DC) which can be used by the internal components of a computer like motherboard , CPU, RAM and various other peripheral devices attached to the computer.

To know more about the history of power supply you can just click on the link below,  it is from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_unit_(computer)

Let us try to find the purpose:

The second thing that you have to know is what type of computer you are going to build. Because this will help you in choosing the right Power Supply Unit for your PC.


Types of purposes:

  1. Building a normal desktop  computer where you just want to do lightweight activities like playing very less intensive games , watching movies , just browning the web , listening to music etc.
  2. Building a gaming PC here you have made your intention very clear that you want to play games like the AAA titles which have high requirements for CPU and GPU, Play Online multiplayer games , stream online etc.
  3. Building a editing PC where you will be editing a lot of videos to upload , editing songs etc  which also requires that the desktop computer must have high specification.

Choosing the Right Power Supply Unit for you!!


If you fall in the normal desktop build category , then you don’t have to go with a very high powered power supply unit for your PC. You can just choose a Power Supply Unit of around 450 Watts and that will be enough for you. It will also give you some head room to do minor efficient modifications to your computer like adding extra RGB fans , adding some low powered GPU etc in the near future if you decide to do so without having to swap out your whole Power Supply Unit and making the connections again with a new PSU.

If you choose to build a gaming PC , then it is recommended and highly advisable to go with a high wattage Power Supply Unit  somewhere preferably between 550W to 1000W. Now this is because a gaming Desktop will definitely be having a Graphics Card or GPU, a powerful processor or CPU , high performing RAMs , motherboards etc,

Just consider a normal gaming PC build with a budget to mid level processor and a budget to mid level  GPU where you won't be overclocking anything by supplying high voltages or tweaking anything just using what you get out of the BOX , then in this case you can easily go with the 550 -600 Watts Power Supply Unit .This will be enough for your build and and power supply to your parts will be sufficient.

Now consider you are Building a very high-end desktop PC for playing games or content creation like video editing etc  with a high-end desktop processor , high-end GPU , you will be overclocking them and playing your games and for that overclocking you will be using a third party Cooler which will require more power for its functions . If you are using air coolers then the power consumption will be fairly low as compared to the AIO cooler or the Custom water coolers where more power is needed by the cooler pump or the reservoir functioning. The advised amount of Wattage that you will need is about 750 - 900 Watts.

In case you think that you have to go with  dual GPU setup for the GPU intensive titles or video editing which uses GPU intensive softwares then consider bumping up the wattage count of the Power Supply Unit to 1000 - 1200 Watts.

Now let’s see the  types of Power Supply Units that are available:

There are mainly 3 types of Power Supply Units that are available in the Market as of now.


  • The standard Power Supply Unit for desktop computer:

Pros:
  1. Pocket friendly , they have low and affordable prices.
  2. Genuine quality in spite of being a budget option.
  3. Go to options for people who are on a tight budget or just want to build a desktop PC without spending much.

Cons:
  1. This Power Supply Unit will have all the cables attached to it.
  2. Here you cannot remove the cables from the PSU as you see fit. You will have to accommodate all the cables in your CPU cabinet or chassis making you put to test for doing cable management or just have to dump these cables in your chassis.
  3. Generally , you don’t get the high voltage  efficiency and purity rating with these types of power supply Units but now they are stating to roll out products having the same.
  4. Cleaning becomes very difficult because of all the cables
  5. Easy to get intimidated if you are just starting out to build desktop computers.

  • Semi-Modular Power Supply Units:

Pros:
  1. This Power Supply Unit will not have all the cables attached, some of them can be removed but not all of them.
  2. Can make a cleaner build without having to deal with all the cables as compared to the standard computer PSU.
  3. Cleaning becomes easy as compared to the standard PSU.

Cons:
  1. As already mentioned you won’t have all the cables removed you will still have some cables attached.
  2. Costlier than the standard PSU.

  • Fully Modular Power Supply Unit :

Pros:
  1. This is the highest end line-up of power supply available.
  2. All the cables of the power supply can be removed and you can choose to include only the cables that you need in your build.
  3. Can make a clean build and also cables can be managed quite easily.
  4. Cleaning is also easy.
  5. You always get the highest efficiency rating and purity rating power supply unit if going for a modular PSU.

Cons:
  1. Costs highest among the 3 types of Power Supply Units that are available in the market.

Let Us understand why the PSU manufacturers give the 80 plus rating and also advertise the purity with reference with a metal (Bronze, silver Gold, Platinum etc).


The 80 plus rating is the efficiency rating of the power supply unit. This rating means that less power will be wasted for every unit of power it receives directly from the wall socket of your house and in turn will generate less heat as wasted power is minimum so the PC will also not be having any internal heating issues.

This certification is obtained when a Power Supply Unit delivers 80% efficiency at typically 3 instances of load  i.e 20% , 50% and 100% of the load at maximum rated power that is being supplied to the PSU.

It is highly advised to buy a Power Supply Unit which suits your needs and not to go overboard with them.

You might think that going overboard with a PSU with higher Watt than required will not do any harm ….well you are right to some extent that it won't damage your PC but the efficiency at which it operates will not be optimal.It can draw more power which in turn can cost you more electricity bill.

This is because when power supplies Units are made they are made with a certain power limit in mind  fro example suppose a 80 plus bronze certified Power Supply Unit will perform well with loads of about 100W and give high 80% or more efficiency than advertised.

But if this PSU is replaced with the higher spec PSU like the 700W 80 plus gold certified which is meant to perform well under loads higher than 100W say like 230 W , then it might not perform with the same high efficiency as advertised in the low powered range of 100W.

You can see all the specifications and range of efficiencies for different purity levels.

Be careful as it is proved that power supplies which are not built or manufactured well do not give the needed/ desired output in power output once it is pushed to its advertised rating .

Just a Friendly Tip:

Do not go with the case cabinet or chassis which has an upper mounting PSU bracket . Go with the one which has lower mounting PSU bracket.

Also check if the Power Supply Unit that you are buying are giving the following benefits:

short circuit protection, overpower (overload) protection, over-voltage protection, under-voltage protection, over-current protection, and over-temperature protection.


So guys I hope this post regarding "Which Power Supply Unit in computer to buy ?" helps you to simplify the thought process while buying a power supply for your computer build especially the beginners.

An extra TIP ...Power supply does not work like a transformer rather it works like a Rectifier as its only sole function is converting AC to DC.

I would love to hear back from you regarding your favourite brand of PSU....


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