Thinking about replacing my PSU

[Limecat86]

Hi guys,

 

I need some help making a decision.

 

I'm currently using, what I at least think of it, an old Seasonic X-850. I don't know it's exact age because I salvaged it from an old system a few years ago.

It uses the 12pin to 2x 6+2pin PCIe connectors for power delivery and as far as I have seen is that the second gen of that PSU uses 8pin to 6+2pin PCIe connectors. This makes me believe that my PSU is one of a first gen Seasonic X series and could be almost 8.5 years old.

 

Now on very rare occasions I have had that my system wouldn't power up when pressing the power button. I had to turn off the power switch on the PSU for a minute or two and after that my system would boot again as normal. This has happened maybe 2 or 3 times in the last 6 months and I suspect that the age of the PSU could be the cause of that.

 

So, should I replace my PSU? And what would be a worthy replacement? I've been looking at the Seasonic Focus Plus Gold, which seems to be a good candidate.

[LienusLateTips]

It's pretty old. Keep it around if you need to test things or if you build a low end system, but I would replace it.

 

What country are you living in?

[Limecat86]

1 minute ago, JDE said:

It's pretty old. Keep it around if you need to test things or if you build a low end system, but I would replace it.

 

What country are you living in?

The Netherlands. It should be visible under my avatar.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Budget? Under $100 the SeaSonic is a great option. I have the 650w laying around for a build that never came together -  can't wait to use it. The Focus+ Gold, Corsair Rm850x and EVGA G2/3 850W are all excellent units.

[Spotty]

2 minutes ago, Limecat86 said:

So, should I replace my PSU? And what would be a worthy replacement? I've been looking at the Seasonic Focus Plus Gold, which seems to be a good candidate.

The Seasonic Focus is a good PSU, so if you can pick one up locally for a decent price then you should swap out your old unit. As @JDE mentioned, might be worthwhile keeping your old unit as a test unit or for a future budget build.


 

5 minutes ago, Limecat86 said:

Now on very rare occasions I have had that my system wouldn't power up when pressing the power button. I had to turn off the power switch on the PSU for a minute or two and after that my system would boot again as normal. This has happened maybe 2 or 3 times in the last 6 months and I suspect that the age of the PSU could be the cause of that.

Could be PSU related, but could also be related to other factors. Turning the PSU off and on again could be similar to blowing in old Nintendo 64 cartridges to get them to work.
Could be something as simple as a loose power button in the case or a loose cable connecting the PWR button to the motherboard. You'll probably feel if it was the former when you press the power button if it is squishy or doesn't feel right, the other can be checked by opening the side panel and checking the cables.

[LienusLateTips]

9 minutes ago, Limecat86 said:

The Netherlands. It should be visible under my avatar.

Haha - typing from mobile, can't see that. Now on PC, and yes it is there.

 

I'd take the RMx over the Focus any day but it is a good option. The EVGA G2/G3 is also good, same with Straight Power 11.

[dionkoffie]

Friend of mine with a similar setup bought this:

https://www.alternate.nl/Sharkoon/WPM600-Bronze-600-Watt-voeding/html/product/1053693?lk=9530

 

Pretty good PSU. 

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, dionkoffie said:

Friend of mine with a similar setup bought this:

https://www.alternate.nl/Sharkoon/WPM600-Bronze-600-Watt-voeding/html/product/1053693?lk=9530

 

Pretty good PSU. 

No. That thing isn't even competing with products he's looking for, and it's just... terrible.

[dionkoffie]

2 minutes ago, JDE said:

No. That thing isn't even competing with products he's looking for, and it's just... terrible.

It's a good power supply. Known brand and has lots of positive feedback. It's modular too.

I've used one in a build the other day. 

[LienusLateTips]

3 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

It's a good power supply. Known brand and has lots of positive feedback. It's modular too.

I've used one in a build the other day. 

Sharkoon is known brand. Corsair is known brand but makes some shitty PSUs. EVGA makes a ton.

Seasonic (some people call "SafeSonic") makes junky ones.

 

If you don't have a occiloscope you can't make a meaningful performance review. Plus it's in a completely different price range of PSU. 

[dionkoffie]

4 minutes ago, JDE said:

Sharkoon is known brand. Corsair is known brand but makes some shitty PSUs. EVGA makes a ton.

Seasonic (some people call "SafeSonic") makes junky ones.

 

If you don't have a occiloscope you can't make a meaningful performance review. Plus it's in a completely different price range of PSU. 

What do you mean completely different price range?

https://www.alternate.nl/Sharkoon/WPM600-Bronze-600-Watt-voeding/html/product/1053693?lk=9530 60 euros

https://www.alternate.nl/Seasonic/Focus-Plus-Gold-550W-550-Watt-voeding/html/product/1363982?event=search 80 euros

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, dionkoffie said:

What do you mean completely different price range?

https://www.alternate.nl/Sharkoon/WPM600-Bronze-600-Watt-voeding/html/product/1053693?lk=9530 60 euros

https://www.alternate.nl/Seasonic/Focus-Plus-Gold-550W-550-Watt-voeding/html/product/1363982?event=search 80 euros

For PSU, that's a significant price increase. If your CPU you were looking at is $800 and you suggest a lower tier lower performance $600 one, would be same effect.

[dionkoffie]

1 minute ago, JDE said:

For PSU, that's a significant price increase. If your CPU you were looking at is $800 and you suggest a lower tier lower performance $600 one, would be same effect.

completely different would be a $50 and $120 PSU. 20 is nothing.. You just yell at me for finding a (better) cheaper well known PSU. 

[Limecat86]

36 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

Budget? Under $100 the SeaSonic is a great option. I have the 650w laying around for a build that never came together -  can't wait to use it. The Focus+ Gold, Corsair Rm850x and EVGA G2/3 850W are all excellent units.

Budget is somewhere in between 100-150 euro's. More than enough I would say for a good unit.

 

29 minutes ago, Spotty said:

The Seasonic Focus is a good PSU, so if you can pick one up locally for a decent price then you should swap out your old unit. As @JDE mentioned, might be worthwhile keeping your old unit as a test unit or for a future budget build.


 

Could be PSU related, but could also be related to other factors. Turning the PSU off and on again could be similar to blowing in old Nintendo 64 cartridges to get them to work.
Could be something as simple as a loose power button in the case or a loose cable connecting the PWR button to the motherboard. You'll probably feel if it was the former when you press the power button if it is squishy or doesn't feel right, the other can be checked by opening the side panel and checking the cables.

I checked everything of course. All cables were connected properly and the power button on my case works fine. It could also be motherboard related but I really hope it's just the PSU.

 

21 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

It's a good power supply. Known brand and has lots of positive feedback. It's modular too.

I've used one in a build the other day. 

I've OCed my hardware so 600W is a no go. PSU calculater recommends 650W. Also I'm looking for at least a 750W gold rated unit for around 100-150 euro's. 

 

16 minutes ago, JDE said:

Sharkoon is known brand. Corsair is known brand but makes some shitty PSUs. EVGA makes a ton.

Seasonic (some people call "SafeSonic") makes junky ones.

 

If you don't have a occiloscope you can't make a meaningful performance review. Plus it's in a completely different price range of PSU. 

Totally agree with that. You shouldn't look only a wattage and efficiency rating. A gold rated unit could be junk while another bronze rated unit could be fairly good.

 

8 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

completely different would be a $50 and $120 PSU. 20 is nothing.. You just yell at me for finding a (better) cheaper well known PSU. 

I'd rather not cheap out on a PSU. A quality PSU is an investment. If 50 bucks more add 3 more years on it's lifespan I'd gladly pay for that.

[dionkoffie]

2 minutes ago, Limecat86 said:

Budget is somewhere in between 100-150 euro's. More than enough I would say for a good unit.

 

I checked everything of course. All cables were connected properly and the power button on my case works fine. It could also be motherboard related but I really hope it's just the PSU.

 

I've OCed my hardware so 600W is a no go. Also I'm looking for gold rated unit for around 100-150 euro's.

Totally agree with that. You shouldn't look only a wattage and efficiency rating. A gold rated unit could be junk while another bronze rated unit could be fairly good.

 

I'd rather not cheap out on a PSU. A quality PSU is an investment. If 50 bucks more add 3 more years on it's lifespan I'd gladly pay for that.

I don't have any 100-150 euros I can recommend. I personally never look at those.

 

Got an MStech 750 watt psu that I bought for like 40 euros 4 years ago. Still working fine  

[LienusLateTips]

31 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

completely different would be a $50 and $120 PSU. 20 is nothing.. You just yell at me for finding a (better) cheaper well known PSU. 

There are no reviews on it. It's likely not even DC-DC. 

 

@Stefan Payne Probably knows more about this unit.

[seon123]

22 minutes ago, Limecat86 said:

I've OCed my hardware so 600W is a no go. PSU calculater recommends 650W. Also I'm looking for at least a 750W gold rated unit for around 100-150 euro's. 

With a 1080 and an HEDT platform you're looking at closer to 300-350W. Since the PSU calculator recommends 650W, half of that is enough. 

My recommendations:

Focus Gold 450W https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/1117319/seasonic-focus-gold-450w.html

Focus Plus Gold 550W https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/829901/seasonic-focus-plus-550-gold.html

RM550x https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/463791/corsair-rm550x-zwart.html

Whisper M 550W https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/651555/bitfenix-whisper-bwg550m.html

If you discard everything that makes sense, and just want to spend more, in order to get no benefit at all by going for 750W, there's the RM750x https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/1154611/corsair-rm750x-(2018).html

Or the RM650i, so you can see roughly how the power draw is. https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/448553/corsair-rm650i.html

[seon123]

38 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

completely different would be a $50 and $120 PSU. 20 is nothing.. You just yell at me for finding a (better) cheaper well known PSU. 

6 minutes ago, JDE said:

There are no reviews on it. It's likely not even DC-DC. 

Apparently it's based on  the CWT GPK platform, like the B1, old CX and bronze TR2. So a pretty crappy unit, and at €60, it costs about twice as much as it should. 

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page2423.htm

Edited April 4, 2018 by seon123
Something something

[Stefan Payne]

59 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

Friend of mine with a similar setup bought this:

https://www.alternate.nl/Sharkoon/WPM600-Bronze-600-Watt-voeding/html/product/1053693?lk=9530

 

Pretty good PSU. 

No, its shit.

Something like the old CX, group regulated entry level CWT thing, not a good unit today.

[seon123]

33 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

Got an MStech 750 watt psu that I bought for like 40 euros 4 years ago. Still working fine  

Since you say it's working fine, I have to assume that you have hooked it up to a load tester to check the voltages under various loads, and that you've checked with an oscilloscope that there isn't enough ripple to kill components over time? Or do you just mean that it powers the system on, and that it hasn't blown up enough for it to be visible from the outside?

[Stefan Payne]

35 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

I don't have any 100-150 euros I can recommend. I personally never look at those.

You don't need to because there are really great PSU under 100€.

Bitfenix Formula and Whisper M for example...

35 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

Got an MStech 750 watt psu that I bought for like 40 euros 4 years ago. Still working fine  

...and wonder why the PC dies from time to time...

 

Those things are so darn overrated, worse than most other companys do it...

59 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

It's a good power supply.

Nope, its not.

59 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

Known brand

Sharkoon is a label from Wave Computer. Better known as Alternate.

So its an in house label from them. 

Like Rosewill in the US.

59 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

and has lots of positive feedback.

...from People who are happy that the PSU didn't explode. Not really something you can rely on.

 

59 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

It's modular too.

Doesn't make it good.

 

59 minutes ago, dionkoffie said:

I've used one in a build the other day. 

Condolences...

 

 

Oh and is that a good PSU?? Because its from Sharkoon and modular.

https://www.computerbase.de/2013-06/sharkoon-sha350m-bronze-350-watt-test/

 

Well, lets not look at it much...

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

1 hour ago, Limecat86 said:

Sniiiiip

Tl;dr get the G3/G2/Focus+/RMX

 

Looking at good-quality 850w 80+ Gold units around $100 US, I see 4 good options. The g2 850W is a great unit - I have it in my rig and it's super quiet and it runs without a hitch, never had a PSU issue in the 6 months since I built it. Super Flower aced it with Leadex. The G3 is very similar, just smaller. The Corsair RMx series are well-reviewed units and relatively inexpensive as far as high wattage 80+ gold PSUs go. If it's cheap in NL, jump on it. Finally the Focus Plus Gold. I have the 650w for a build that never came together and it's amazing. Great build quality, nice and heavy (no steel bricks either) and it's well reviewed and also Seasonic. All of these are great options. My personal pick would be EVGA because brand loyalty but that's just me. They'll all keep your rig going for years to come.

[WkdPaul]

Thread cleaned. Please keep it on-topic and focus on helping the OP.

 

 

1 hour ago, dionkoffie said:

I don't have any 100-150 euros I can recommend. I personally never look at those.

If you can't help, then please don't reply, the only thing your input has done is steer the thread off-topic.

[Limecat86]

Either way if that dodgy PSU works fine or will burn down your house. I'm not going to get one.

8 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

Tl;dr get the G3/G2/Focus+/RMX

 

Looking at good-quality 850w 80+ Gold units around $100 US, I see 4 good options. The g2 850W is a great unit - I have it in my rig and it's super quiet and it runs without a hitch, never had a PSU issue in the 6 months since I built it. Super Flower aced it with Leadex. The G3 is very similar, just smaller. The Corsair RMx series are well-reviewed units and relatively inexpensive as far as high wattage 80+ gold PSUs go. If it's cheap in NL, jump on it. Finally the Focus Plus Gold. I have the 650w for a build that never came together and it's amazing. Great build quality, nice and heavy (no steel bricks either) and it's well reviewed and also Seasonic. All of these are great options. My personal pick would be EVGA because brand loyalty but that's just me. They'll all keep your rig going for years to come.

All good suggestions indeed as others also mentioned here. I will look into to these later tonight when I'm back at home

[LienusLateTips]

1 minute ago, Limecat86 said:

Either way if that dodgy PSU works fine or will burn down your house. I'm not going to get one.

All good suggestions indeed as other also mentioned here. I will look into to these later tonight when I'm back home from work.

A 550/650 will do.

9 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

Tl;dr get the G3/G2/Focus+/RMX

 

Looking at good-quality 850w 80+ Gold units around $100 US, I see 4 good options. The g2 850W is a great unit - I have it in my rig and it's super quiet and it runs without a hitch, never had a PSU issue in the 6 months since I built it. Super Flower aced it with Leadex. The G3 is very similar, just smaller. The Corsair RMx series are well-reviewed units and relatively inexpensive as far as high wattage 80+ gold PSUs go. If it's cheap in NL, jump on it. Finally the Focus Plus Gold. I have the 650w for a build that never came together and it's amazing. Great build quality, nice and heavy (no steel bricks either) and it's well reviewed and also Seasonic. All of these are great options. My personal pick would be EVGA because brand loyalty but that's just me. They'll all keep your rig going for years to come.

PSUs are much more expensive in Europe, especially higher end ones.