Hey guys,

My last computer question. Seriously!

Everything has been going fine with my new machine. Been playing The Witcher 2, which is great.

But recently the fan in my PSU has been making really odd noises, so I've decided I should get a new one. The PSU I have is the stock one, probably the cheapest item in my machine. Had a strict budget.

But my question is: Can you get a good power supply, where the fan is genuinely quiet, and is able to keep everything stable? Anything between 500W and 650W.... for under £40???

Cheers for any help :)

For under £50 you can get a 500W, but whether it will keep everything stable depends on how much stuff you have in your system. What was the wattage of the current supply you have?

@Chavtheworld: The one I have now is a 500W so I don't need much more. So I can forget about looking at 700W ones, as I can play games on ultra and have everything be stable and working for hours. There are no problems whatsoever, apart from the ridiculously annoying sound that the fan makes. So in terms of stability etc, I'm confident that a cheaper power supply is capable of meeting ones needs, it's just the fan. I'd really like a quiet one. It's weird though, power supplies seem to have the most varied review scores out of all computer components, makes it harder for me to make a choice.

@Joeasis: The cheap power supply I would recommend is a Novatech one - I have an 850W one myself and it is both reliable and quiet. Plus, they come from the same factory as CoolerMaster supplies, so are identical in all but branding and price ;) However I find it hard to recommend for such a low wattage because it's only like £3 cheaper than a Corsair one, which almost certainly is better (although I don't know if it is modular).

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Builder-Series-Watt-CX500/dp/B0092ML0MY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1358018116&sr=8-4&keywords=corsair+power+supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

What are the rest of your computer's specs?

I'd recommend this, personally.

You should absolutely get one from the Corsair CX range. They're cheap, reliable, quiet and are not very likely to explode in your face like off-brand PSUs. http://www.ebuyer.com/429886-corsair-cx-series-cx430m-atx-power-supply-cp-9020058-uk http://www.ebuyer.com/269259-corsair-600w-cx-series-v2-psu-6x-sata-2x-pci-e-cmpsu-600cxv2uk

Slightly out of budget but I'd say worth the extra money.

@believer258: Erm, the rest of my specs are...

An AMD 6 Core... something

16 Gigs with 1TB

And an overclocked HD 7850

Like I said, even though it may sound weird, the power supply I have now which is a WIN+ 500W (with broken English on the label. Yep, I haven't heard of them either) keeps my computer cool and completely stable. It's just the fan that's annoying me. So, a quiet fan is the priority here :P

You don't really want to cheap out on your psu. Since you're upgrading it now you should also consider what you want to be doing with your PC in a year. The gpu is going to be the first thing you'll want to upgrade and the cheapest route will probably be to get the same gpu you have now and run them in sli/crossfire. Make sure the psu you get has the needed wattage and cables to allow you options about upgrading your gpu.

@Chavtheworld:

Hmm. Thanks for the reply. Those look good. Is it super quiet?

I'm guessing Corsair are good for PSUs?

@StarvingGamer: Cheers :)

@Joeasis: It depends what you define as super quiet. I can hear fans, but they're probably my case fans and I barely notice them cause I have pretty quiet case fans. Don't think I've ever heard my PSU.

@Chavtheworld: Not ever hearing your PSU fan is good enough :P

Honestly, I thought about going cheap on the PSU, but I decided to get a Corsair TX650w instead. The thing is SOLID, and super quiet. It's not modular, but it was worth every penny which I think was around $75 U.S. I haven't regretted it once since I bought it. I just realized that 40 pounds is just shy of $75. My bad.

@kgb0515: Hmm. Seems like Corsair is a safe bet. I'll look in to it :)