Advice on PSU: EVGA or Cooler Master (Budget)

So,

I have credit at Staples so my choices are limited. This is for a non gaming, Ryzen 3700x Asus x470 Prime.

EVGA 100-W1-0500-KR Main Stream ATX12V Power Supply, 500 W

Cool Master MWE Bronze Power Supply, 500 W (MPX5001ACAABUS)

I think the PSU I am currently using a OCZ 500W may not be working well.

Any thoughts?

thanks again!

They are most likely both fine.

EVGA has good customer service in my experience if something were to go wrong.

The Cooler Master is Bronze rated, which in theory would mean better components than the White EVGA. In practice who knows.

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What do they cost each?

Seasonic.

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A good PSU that is turned on regularly (this is a requirement for this particular statement) can last you about 8 to even 10 years, depending on your ambients and usage scenarios.

A crappy one can last you anywhere from 2 to 5 years however; if we’re talking very light usage scenarios and really good conditions overall.

Budget is a relevant thing :slight_smile:
So rather than asking what others would do in your shoes, it’d be best if you sat down and thought what’s of more worth to you; saving some money now, or spending quite a lot more in the long run.
All this in general, i haven’t used either of the PSUs you mention nor am i ever going to, so apart from zero experience on them, am also clueless about their pricing.

(not necessarily related but worthy of keeping in mind is the brand factor; the supernova titanium EVGAs, sure, i swear by them and they’re worth their premium; their bottom of the line ones however? Who can say? Chances are you’re paying more for the sticker than for the actual unit. Since someone… recommended them… in general… same goes for Seasonic. Their top ones are good, their bottom tier ones have always had issues. Guess why)

((also in general, a good site to check for PSUs is this: http://www.jonnyguru.com/ Read first, ask later))

Sir yes sir…

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Took me a while. But I found this http://www.orionpsudb.com/platforms . It shows the OEM brand PSUs and the brands that put their name on them.

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Well, I didn’t really have the $$$ for a new build, but I had some store credit and all the Ryzen buz. I think I got an excellent price on my 32gb ram. My Asus Prime cost about $15 out of pocket with my store credit. Both PSUs are $50-60.

I have an OCZ 500w now, which I don’t know for sure if it had issues before. Its working for now.

My PC use to run 24/7. I’m trying to be more energy conscious, so I’m using Hibrinate, if I will be away for a few hours.

If I had the extra $$ I’d rather upgrade my GPU.

Thanks.

Generally, Upgrading from a low-mid to really good PSU will be a 10-20 bucks difference. You won’t upgrade you GPU in a meaningfull way with that money. But you can ensure the ever SINGLE expensive component in your PC is safe and that for years.

A cheap PSU can kill ALL of your hardware at once. Everything is connected to it. If you have to save on something else to get a decent PSU, i’d strongly recommend doing so.

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@westech - spend a little more & get a EVGA G2 (7 year warranty) - they also come with a handy PSU tester which can reset a seemingly dead unit.

For a little bit more than this a Seasonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 550W is a great choice (10 year warranty)

Make that 80 and get a SeaSonic Focus SSR-550FM
Semi modular, 80+ Gold rated and 7 year warranty (not that it needs it)

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3 best PSU’s I ever had
The OEM that came with the older IBM PS/2 lines
The OEM that came with my kids emachines 1300 from Walmart
Only 220 watts but has lasted over a decade and I keep it around for bench testing. Made by LiteOn and is has the “UL” seal of approval

An open box Antec case+PSU I got half off cause it had a small scratch. It says 380 earthwatts and has been drop dead reliable. The original A10-7870K now has a GTX 1060 3gb, DVD drive and 1tb HD and 256gb SSD.
The PSU is mounted up top, probably why that model was discontinued.

August is great month to check out garage sales

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If your getting psu, you want to prioritize on the rating, if it is modular, and if the fans will stay off during idle.

I heard seasonic and evga had some psus that have done that.

This ^.
If you need another frame of reference, getting a good psu and case will last multiple upgrade cycles.

Hibrinate will write your hard drives, sleep (suspend to ram iirc) might be better

Both are crap and bad PSU as they regulate 12V and 5V together. And both are not tested (well, there aren’t really many good Testers or

The Cheapest you can go with is either be quiet System Power U9 400W or Corsair CX450. I would not go any lower in quality and get a decent quality PSU and not save too much on it.

Independant Voltage regulation and good protection are the most important features.

Be quiet Pure Power U9 500W was %55 on newegg, last time I checked (a couple of hours ago), that should be preferred over that.

If you don’t have any money, that’s one of the best choices. Other, better choices are more expensive.

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Do NOT go by brand!

The lower end Seasonic (S12II-Bronze based up to 620W) are awful, shitty units. The worst you can get for the money.
Group regulated, no OTP, OCP on any rail and not even UVP is implemented, according to the Datasheet for the HY-510N Supervisior they use. And its also really really loud.

The last known reviews are these:
https://www.computerbase.de/2015-10/350-watt-netzteil-test-lc-power-xilence-sea-sonic-super-flower/3/ <- the 350W Seasonic fails miserabely. really loud and voltage regulation/quality is hardly any better than the Xilence Performance C - wich is half the Price.

https://www.computerbase.de/2017-07/cooler-master-cougar-xfx-zalman-netzteil-test/ <- XFX XT500 (zweite Revision) is the Seasonic S12II-Bronze variant. ANd you see how “well” it does…

Overload test, at 565W:
8,7V on 12V,
3,3V on 5V
2,6V on 3,3V

ähhm, no. That is NOT a good PSU.
And also take a look at voltage regulation, Crossload minor: 12V at 12,88V - wich is almost 0,3V over the specification…

Of course there are bad products by quality brands. You pay a certain price for quality, below that mark, you might aswell burn your money instead.

No need to write a wall of text to say that.

And even the higher end aren’t that great, especially the Seasonic ones.

As said, the older X/P Series don’t work well with higher end GPUs such as x80ti nVidia Cards, VEGA and so on.

And the Focus also has some issues, for example with the ASUS GTX970 STRIX, Prime has some pretty shitty fans - not acceptable for THAT Price. Oh and lower end Prime ULTRA also use the FOCUS Plattform up to I think 650W…

And no, the Issues on the Focus are NOT fixed, because the Fix is to increase the OPP/OCP trip points - on a design that wasn’t designed for that, so now you have high ripple…

So no, “going Seasonic” is not that great, be quiet and Corsair are far better than Seasonic!

Here More Infos:

And especially that:
http://www.pceva.com.cn/article/3911-2.html

Works with 900W - and 268mV Ripple - 2.23 times what the specification allows!
Other 750W either switch off sooner or still keep the voltage inside specs…

Jonnyguru review is saying that the Focus is exceptional though?

https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2017/09/18/seasonic-focus-plus-850-gold-power-supply/

And a quick look and it seems the Prime series is great as well.

Yes and they don’t test a ton of things such as fan noise and other stuff. Their Gear isn’t that great either (old SM-268 Load for example for the most part). And it also shows you that Reviews are just one part!!
And a PSU that can be tested really good can fail in the real world.

Jonnyguru also does not test overload/protections. That was tested. And it was before the “VEGA FIX”, wich was to increase the trip points of the protections, wich in turn leads to the above -> high ripple, for example due to Transformer Saturation…

Yes, it SEEMS but that doesn’t mean it is :wink:
But if it was as good as claimed, why are there people who had 5-6 Prime (ULTRA) because of fan noise? :wink:

The Issue is that Seasonic cheaped out on the fan and just used the Standard Hong Hua fan without any changes thus the fan has a rather annoying tickering…

And yes, there are some fans/PSU that have no noticable fan noise from other manufacturers…