Akasa Paxpower 460W

[aghastpumpkin]

I tell you something - in the last cuple of years PSU's have suddenly become just as an important component in a PC as a motherboard or CPU. A poor PSU, or a PSU wrongly suited to its task, can proove disastrous, resulting in instability and even damaging components.

A few years back, any PSU virtually would have been sufficient. Now there are various standards, wattages, rails, voltages, amps, cable management systems and certification and efficiency all to contend with.
This means buying a new PSU is just as complicated now as buying the right memory or graphics card. Yet it's often the part least thought about.

People these days are easily attracted to a PSU because it has a modular cable system, a coloured LED fan or because it costs £70 and therefore it must be good.
The real issues that have to be looked at thoroughly are what power the PSU actually provides. There's no point looking at wattage - this is simple. 300W for a low powered system, 450 for a mid range powered PC and 500W for a high powered system i.e SLI.
What you need to look at are what wattages are provided on rails. You also need to make sure your PSU is ATX2.0 Certified, has an efficiency of at least 70% and if it is a dual rail (i.e suitable for SLI) PSU then it must provide at least 12W of stable power on each of the 12v rails.
If your PSU is checking all these boxes, it should be fine.
My first peice of advice is to avoid anything below £30. It simply won't be up to the task of powering a modern PC. Also don't be fooled by 600W PSUs selling for £10. It won't be giving your PC 600W. In fact, it'll probably only produce 200-300W of stable power. The rest is a result of a poorly made PSU resulting in crap efficiency.

My new PSU is an Akasa Paxpower 460W job. It came second place in Custom PCs PSU round up. It costs around £50 - yet is mroe stable than some more expensive Power Supplies. It does not have a modular cable system - however the PSU only has the minimum number of cables required and any not needed can simply be tucked behind the motherboard tray.

It has dual 12v rails making it suitable for an SLI based system. However, for anyone with a high powered SLI system I'd reccomend a 500W PSU. It is a 24 pin plug with the extra 4 pins detachable meaning you can still use it with your iMon systems or on older motherboards.

The PSU is very cool due to it's quiet and efficient 12cm fan. In fact, after 12 hours running, the air being exhausted was still cool to touch.
This PSU is 70% efficient, so it's kind to the environment and to your (or your parents) pocket.
It's attractive and attractively priced. I'd reccomend this PSU to anyone in the market for a mid range PSU.

[cloasters]

Sounds like you bought a good 'un, may it serve you well!

[Favu]

You know we all want pix

[Got EpOx]

Seasonic PSU's did very well in a recent Custom PC test. Got the latest issue Mike? always a good read.