The list of components i've compiled is as follows:
-A corsair 4000D airflow case
-Ryzen 5 3600 (might be a slight bottleneck, but i have a 3900X, which is basically the same but double the cores and it barely gets any load during gaming)
-BeQuiet Pure Rock 2 cooler
-Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2x8gb 3600mhz
-BeQuiet System Power 9 CM 600W
-ASUS Prime B550-M A
-3060 TI, manufacturer doesn't really matter
-2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD (haven't decided on a manufacturer yet, but likely to be crucial, corsair or WD)
for context, she's going to be using a 1440p 144hz monitor and she's planning to play games like Warzone or some of the newer CoD games
i have built multiple PCs roughly in this region of performance before, and they've run great so far.
appreciate any suggestions!
What issues can come from buying a cheaper PSU?
It's just gotta supply power and that's it, innit? The PSU seems like a great place to shave some bucks off the total cost
All it has to do is supply power. But when it goes bad it can go BAD.
Best case scenario it just stops working. Worst case is an actual fire. If you’re pushing the limits of the PSU (transient spike count too) can cause it to fail In smaller ways (low voltage that cause odd hard to trace behavior) or for the power supply to shut off for “no reason”.
I think gamers nexus did the video on the gigabyte PSU that would explode every time they pushed its limits in a specific way.
That makes sense! I usually give myself some power "headroom" when picking a PSU in case I upgrade to more demanding parts in the future, but I also never alter the voltage limits on a build. I know that's more important with overclocking and such, so that might be a very useful concern for users who are planning on doing that.
The more expensive PSU are rated on terms of efficiency. Meaning more electricity goes to your components and less to heat. A cheaper PSU means higher heats (therefore less performance of CPU/gpu), higher fan noise, and higher operating costs.
Are those operating costs substantial over the lifetime of the product? Or are the effects of the heat efficiency?
While more efficient products are technically better, I'm skeptical the differences are significant enough to splurge on a better PSU. At least if budget it a concern, it seems like a safe place to trim a little fat.
Depends on how long you are going to keep that PSU and how much power you're working with, and the climate you're in.
More to my point: It gets fucking hot in my room in summer with the comp running, even in a mild climate, and I don't want the computer shooting out 5% more heat and making it more uncomfortable
Depends on your price per kilowatt hour.
A PC pulling 300w with a 600w bronze PSU (~85% efficient) will be pulling ~350w from the wall. With a gold PSU (~90% efficient) will be pulling ~330w from the wall.
So, for every hour of playing, you're saving 20 watt hours. Thats 50 hours of playing to save a single kWh. Assuming a 25 hr gaming week for a moderate player (full time job, gaming after work and on weekends), that would save you 26 kWh a year.
Depending on your energy costs, and how you expect them to change in the future (almost always going to go up), you can probably expect the PSU upgrade to pay for itself in ~3-5 years if you have a moderately high cost per kWh (like 30 cents or more?).
High efficiency PSUs are gonna pay for themselves faster the more you use them. If it's a one time thing for someone that's only going to play 2 hrs a day, bronze is probably the better option (but you still want a quality bronze one from a known good manufacturer). If you're gonna move your PSU in between builds it's more of a decade long purchase and will continue to save you in the long run. It all just depends on the situation.
If you're just building this for a colleague that doesn't play much, give them a quality bronze PSU and (and maybe upgrade it if you can find a quality gold for another $10-15).
A bad power supply can get every other component in the system. You don't have to go top end, but a reputable mid tier is highly recommended.
I've always wondered this... I run a cheap PSU that came with my rig and I've never had issues with it
The theory is cheap PSUs don't always have the same guardrails against surging during a failure, or external power event. You don't want your power supply to take your motherboard/CPU/GPU with it when it dies.
My logic would be it's a component you shouldn't need to upgrade. Whereas the motherboard and everything attached + hard drive can all be updated as better components are made.
So since it's one of the few "lifetime" components, might as well get a nice one that lasts.