4 things to keep in mind before buying a power supply for your PC make you wish the price you knew earlier

Among the computer’s components, the PC power supply (or PSU – short for Power Supply Unit) plays an extremely important role. If the PSU operates stably and provides adequate power, the system will operate more smoothly and enduringly. On the contrary, if you choose a PSU with poor quality, it is very likely that the components will ‘die unexpectedly’.

However, choosing a quality source and suitable for the system is not a simple task, especially for users with little technology knowledge. The following article will suggest 4 important things to know before buying a PSU.

How much power is enough for the computer power supply?

You need to calculate how much power your PC will use in order to avoid ‘mistakenly buying’ over / over power supplies with the system. Fortunately, a variety of computer power manufacturers offer a total power consumption calculation toolkit to help you choose the power supply that is most suitable.

Here, you can use the OuterVision toolkit at http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator . Please enter your computer’s configuration in the corresponding boxes, including the CPU code name, the amount of RAM of the system, the code name of the video card, the HDD & SSD, etc. so that the tool can calculate and give suggestions. Note that the power supply has the most suitable capacity. It should be noted that you can completely choose a PSU with a larger capacity than suggested by OuterVision if you intend to upgrade in the future, or if you need to overclock CPU / VGA.

Rated source quality according to 80 Plus standards

When selecting any power supply, select the power supplies with the 80 Plus logo printed on the box. If you don’t know, this is a technology standard launched in 2004 that standardizes the quality of power supplies, helping to classify and validate the performance of the PSU.

To be rated 80 Plus qualified, the power supply must be able to maintain a minimum 80% or better performance across all load levels, including 10% load. Currently, there are a total of 6 80 Plus standards from low to high for users to choose, including White (or 80 Plus usually), Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium.

Although the 80 Plus was born to classify the performance of the source, we can also refer to this standard to evaluate the ‘genuine’ of the source. Put simply, to achieve conversion performance of 80 Plus or above standards, source manufacturers will have to use good quality components, as well as apply the latest technologies.

Of course, the higher the 80 Plus standard, the more expensive the PSU is. If owning a PC that costs 10-15 million VND, PSUs that meet the 80 Plus or 80 Plus Bronze standards are a reasonable choice. For gamers who have mid-range or higher-end PCs, choose PSU models that meet the 80 Plus Gold or Platinum standard.

Research the power cord connection carefully before buying

There are 3 series of power cord connections, including Full Modular, Semi Modular and Non Modular, each with its own pros and cons.

With Full Modular model, all power cords are permanently attached to the PSU board, making it impossible to remove unnecessary power cords. This implicitly makes the work of ‘wiring’ (neatly arranging wires in the case) becomes more difficult. At the same time, the power cord can block the cooling air flow inside the case, affecting the ability of the system to dissipate heat.

In contrast, the PSU uses a Non Modular (cable) type that allows users to disassemble the entire power cord, or just install the necessary series of power cords, making your PC look much cleaner. Full Modular sources usually have a higher cost than Non Modular sources.

With Semi Modular source, some power cords are pre-soldered to the circuit board such as 24-pin wire or 8-pin wire. However, the rest of the power cord can be easily disassembled just like Full Modular power.

Also, make sure that your power supply has all the necessary power cords available. Some power supplies often do not include a sufficient number of 6 pin / 8 pin auxiliary power cord or SATA power cord. Meanwhile, these power cords are especially needed if you want to install discrete graphics card models that need extra power, or install multiple HDD / SSD SATA drives at the same time.

Select only reputable brands & read review carefully!

Before buying any source, try to consult as much as possible from different review articles to get the most accurate information. Typically, experts will base on criteria such as circuit design, DC current stability, protection standards, power factor and operating temperature etc., to classify the quality. The source is based on “tier”.

In Vietnam, you can refer to the PSU quality ranking posted by expert f14 on the Voz technology forum here. In addition, you can also refer to the source quality rankings posted on the foreign tech forum Linustechtips here.

Finally, remember to choose PSU from well-known manufacturers such as Seasonic, FSP, Antec, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, Corsair, Superflower, Xigmatek and Andyson etc., and absolutely avoid floating, unknown brands. origin in the market ./.