When did PSUs become so important?

[swbsam]

I haven't really tinkered with home-building since AMDs original glory, and have recently put together a low-end htpc build for fun. While researching and reading geek sites, I find it striking that so much importance seems to be put on PSUs lately. I've built dozens of computers in my hobby years (mid-to-late 90s) and always used $30 chinese cases with cruddy power supplies, and all of those systems are actually still up and running at various relatives houses - even a Celeron 300 I build using a $15 case.


Now power supplies are upwards of $100 and I was literally yelled at for a friend for almost buying a case with a built in power supply, him assuring me that my components would die an early death. When did components become so sensitive? Overall, hasn't power draw gone done significantly over the years? Besides, doesn't major OEMs still use $4 psus?

 

[Denithor]

Depending on the time frame you're discussing, power draw may have gone down for the general system components (high end GPUs excluded). For example, a few years ago the P4 Prescott 2.4GHz single core was rated at 89W and today you can get an e8600 (3.33GHz dual-core) that's rated for 65W.

In the GPU arena things are a bit different, but again it depends on what you're looking at. On the low end many of the cards do pull less power than their ancestors (4670 pulls far less watts than an x1950xtx but will beat it senseless in today's games). However, at the top end...it's a different story, with the GTX 285 pulling >200W by itself under load. Throw a pair of those in SLI with an overclocked quad-core system and you'd better have at least a 700W PSU just to handle peak loads (and it better not be a "cheapie" 700W or you will probably blow your system the first time you really crank it up).

The problem with the cheapie units is that they often cannot truly provide the watts they're rated for. If all you're running is a basic HTPC with IGP and doing nothing more stressful than watching DVDs a cheapo PSU will probably be adequate. But if you're spending $700-1500 on a gaming system, why risk it?

And you don't have to spend $100 to get a good one. Antec EA380 is $35, Antec EA430 is $50, PCP&C 610W is $60AR, Corsair 650TX (one of the best on the market today) is $80AR.

 

[betasub]

When did components become so sensitive? When they starting being built with finer and finer processes, utilising lower and lower voltages, that can be destroyed by a poorly regulated power unit.

And that's before we get onto the subject of the whiney fans those cheap cruddy PSUs use.

 

[Leros]

I'll tell you this. A few years ago, my $45 PSU malfunctioned and destroyed $900 of equipment (CPU, mobo, memory, etc). After that, I've always bought ~$100 PSUs.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: swbsam
When did PSUs become so important?

Those in the know, have always held power supplies in high regard.
They're one of the unsung heros in a stable system. :thumbsup::laugh:

 

[Denithor]

Just to tack on some more info - it has been quite a while that good-quality PSUs made a difference.

Back in the P3 days I had a 733MHz setup that got fried by a "cheapo" PSU. Took out the motherboard, RAM, GPU, modem D) and DVD drive. The only things that survived were the CPU and HDD. Lost >$600 worth of gear by saving $30-40 on the PSU.

Since then, I read the reviews and pick a PSU that's underrated - ie a model that will crank out more watts than the sticker on the side claims. AT does testing of collections of PSUs and they usually do a 10-20% overdraw test to make sure the PSU has a safety margin before it fails. They've tested a fair number of models that wouldn't even hit the rated wattage, let alone cruise along solidly cranking out 20% more than the rating.

And like I said above, you don't necessarily have to spend $100 on a PSU, especially if you aren't running some crazy SLI/crossfire GPU setup. Just read the reviews, figure out roughtly how many watts your system should need and get a solid model rated slightly above that point.

 

[legoman666]

Originally posted by: Leros
I'll tell you this. A few years ago, my $45 PSU malfunctioned and destroyed $900 of equipment (CPU, mobo, memory, etc). After that, I've always bought ~$100 PSUs.

Same. I bought a cheapo 500w PSU from Microcenter once and it fried a few hundred bucks worth of equipment. Now I buy quality.

 

[Lonyo]

People seem to have power supplies all wrong for the most part. Like Denithor says, it's not about cost, or how many watts it puts out, it's about buying something of good quality.
I'd much rather have a 400w £40 power supply for my system than a £100 600w power supply, because 400w is more than enough, and it's a quality unit.

Overall power draw probably hasn't gone down from say 10 years ago, but it's probably on its way down for average systems these days, although the high end (SLI/overclocked quad core) is still very high.
The simple fact is that most people don't need a huge power supply still, but they've been scaremongered into the thought that they need lots of watts. The important thing about a power supply is quality, and arguably that's always been the case.

 

[Denithor]

AT: Debunking power supply myths

Have a read.

 

[RebateMonger]

My own experience is that when we went from AT- to ATX-power supplies, things went downhill. I NEVER had an AT power supply fail. My first AT power supply (200W PowMax) was in use for twelve years on six different motherboards, running 24/7. I had to replace the fan once or twice, but the power supply never quit working.

I built many cheap PCs for friends using those $17 (case + power supply) AT minitower cases Frys offered. And NONE of those ever failed.

The power supply in my first ATX case failed within a year. Since then, I can't think of a single ATX power supply that's lasted longer than six years. Most failed within four years.

I've had to replace the ATX supplies on all three of my main computers within the past two years. All quit working suddenly. One day, I'd go to turn on the PC and the power supply was dead. Two of those were Antec and one was a no-name CompUSA supply.

Over the past twelve years of ATX supplies, I've had them die silently while turned off and I've seen sparks fly out the back when I turned one on. And I had one that killed two (thankfully inexpensive) motherboards before realizing tthere was something fatally wrong with the power supply. With that exception, the worst result from seven or eight ATX power supply failures has been having to swap out power supplies.

Several years ago, I got tired of all the failures and attempted to go "high-end". Unfortunately, this was right at the time when Antec supplies started failing right and left, so my result from buying "high-end" wasn't as good as it should have been.

 

[zenguy]

I high price is NOT required to get a Quality PSU...........

If you don't have a High-End Gaming Card, This will do nicely at $35 w/free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371005

Or Here for $30 AR + Shipping......
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817256032

Here is a PSU that will handle most gaming builds for $50 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817703015

And Here is one that will handle anything but the most extreme gaming systems for $70AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341011

All of the PSUs are well known Brands and the specific models are known for their quality.

 

[imported_Scoop]

When you started reading about them. Clueless people today just buy the cheapest 700W PSU they can find.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Scoop
When you started reading about them. Clueless people today just buy the cheapest 700W PSU they can find.

I bought the cheapest 650W psu I could find.

 

[wwswimming]

what we know as a "basic quad core system" would have qualified as a supercomputer
or supermini 5-10 years ago.

it's not surprising that a system of such complexity requires rock solid stable voltages
to operate well.

no electric field, no computer. and the electric fields (that make the electrons move,
opposite the direction of current) are created by ... voltages.

i'd still like to see a PC power supply that is linear (step down at 60 Hz using large
transformer), with windings for +- 5 and +- 12. just for the heck of it.

 

[JackMDS]

In general Enthusiasts market is a combo of 60% technology, 30% marketing, and 10% Woodo.

The percentage combination can periodically change when the latter two (Marketing and Wood get a good chance to increase their share).

Like all the lights in the case are needed to make the electron go faster (you know all of this photons), and also elevates the Arousal level of the user thus makes him a better gamer..