Is 80+ bronze enough?

[Wolf ~ IRONI]

So I will be buying a PC with a 1060 in it as gpu and a ryzen 1600 qs cpu. For €50 I can get a CX450M from corsair. For €20 more I can get a 80 Plus silver PSU with 500 watts. For about €85 I can get a Corsair rm550x 80 plus gold PSU. Will the CX 450 M be good enough? Or should I just spend an extra money on Silver or gold

[STRMfrmXMN]

5 minutes ago, Wolfiowww said:

So I will be buying a PC with a 1060 in it as gpu and a ryzen 1600 qs cpu. For €50 I can get a CX450M from corsair. For €20 more I can get a 80 Plus silver PSU with 500 watts. For about €85 I can get a Corsair rm550x 80 plus gold PSU. Will the CX 450 M be good enough? Or should I just spend an extra money on Silver or gold

The CX450 is perfect for that.

[Wolf ~ IRONI]

Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

The CX450 is perfect for that.

So may i ask, if bronze 80+ is good enough.. why does 80+ gold exist? (Talking about the gold psus under 100 euro.) Is it alot better?

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 minute ago, Wolfiowww said:

So may i ask, if bronze 80+ is good enough.. why does 80+ gold exist? (Talking about the gold psus under 100 euro.) Is it alot better?

It's a step above Bronze, but I'm not exactly sure how much more efficient it is. I usually have my computer folding 24/7(I use a CX550M) and haven't had any problems with power usage, so I'd say Bronze is really all the general user needs.

[seon123]

1 minute ago, Wolfiowww said:

So may i ask, if bronze 80+ is good enough.. why does 80+ gold exist? (Talking about the gold psus under 100 euro.) Is it alot better?

Yes, they are often significantly better. Besides the efficiency, you also get a better output, better protections, a better fan and a longer warranty. Assuming it's an actually good PSU, like the RMx

[manikyath]

80+ only talks about the efficency, but generally speaking the higher quality units have better ratings on them too.

 

its not a matter of bronze being bad, its a matter of the amount of engineering required to hit them, and how much cost that translates into.

 

i have an 80+ titanium power supply in my server, it cut the power bill in half over the bronze unit that was in there before, not because bronze was terrible, but because bronze was REALLY not the right pick for the specific use case. in a gaming rig the amount of money saved on the power is rather neglible compared to options that dont cost money.

 

past all that, dont assume a gold unit is "by default" better than a bronze unit, to reiterate: its only a measure of efficiency

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Wolfiowww said:

So may i ask, if bronze 80+ is good enough.. why does 80+ gold exist? (Talking about the gold psus under 100 euro.) Is it alot better?

Good enough for what?

 

Are you mistaking the 80 PLUS ratings for quality?  If so, that's a SERIOUS mistake.  80 PLUS has NOTHING to do with quality.

 

[johnukguy]

An 80+ bronze PSU built with quality components is often better than an 80+ gold built with substandard components. You should be fine with the cheaper, 80+ bronze unit.

[Wolf ~ IRONI]

1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

Good enough for what?

 

Are you mistaking the 80 PLUS ratings for quality?  If so, that's a SERIOUS mistake.  80 PLUS has NOTHING to do with quality.

 

I am asking because I don't know

[awesomegamer919]

35 minutes ago, Wolfiowww said:

I am asking because I don't know

Whilst there is a general trend of better rating = better quality, it is not a good basis to go on because there are a multitude of exceptions, ranging from gold units being equivalent to platinum ones all the way up to bronze units being better than gold units (and having better performance from a reviewing perspective than some Titanium units!!!)

 

Some good examples of these are the EVGA NEXG/G1, an older Gold rated PSU which is far worse than a modern Corsair CX/CXm or Coolermaster Masterwatt Maker (BeQuiet Pure Power 10 is also better, but is rated at silver efficiency) and the Silverstone Strider Titanium which are perhaps the worst Titanium PSUs out there (they are still fine units), worse in many ways than a Corsair RMx/Seasonic FOCUS Plus Gold or equivalent.