Especially if you’re weighing an upgrade to a power-hungry Core i9, Ultra 9, or Ryzen 9 CPU within your older motherboard’s socket for a shot of extra performance, a new PSU provides peace of mind now, and it’s something you can carry over to a newer build should parts prices return to saner levels in the next couple of years.
And if you’re thinking about a graphics card upgrade , a new PSU has benefits beyond stability and reliability. If you’re eyeing a used RTX 4070 or RTX 5070 or better graphics card on the Nvidia side, and you don’t want to deal with bulky adapters and cable management challenges, you’ll probably want a brand-new PSU anyway for the native 12V-2×6 cable it’ll include.
The nice thing about a proactive PSU upgrade amid today’s spiraling parts prices is that it remains cheap insurance. Prices on high-end 850W 80 Plus Gold units hover between $115 and $130 right now, and that’s enough capacity for the vast majority of builds these days.
Even if you need to save a few bucks, you can find well-reviewed 850W units from Montech and ASRock for as little as $90. If you need more power, 1000W versions of those units are only a few bucks more.
Check out our list of the best PSUs for more suggestions across a wide range of wattage ratings and form factors. Regardless of the unit you choose, you can rest easier knowing that you’ve reset the clock on a critical point of failure in your system. And be sure to invest in a good surge protector or UPS upstream of your PC to add an extra layer of protection for your increasingly valuable components.
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As the Senior Analyst, Graphics at Tom's Hardware, Jeff Kampman covers everything to do with GPUs, gaming performance, and more. From integrated graphics processors to discrete graphics cards to the hyperscale installations powering our AI future, if it's got a GPU in it, Jeff is on it.\u00a0 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-13/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jeffrey Kampman Senior Analyst, Graphics As the Senior Analyst, Graphics at Tom's Hardware, Jeff Kampman covers everything to do with GPUs, gaming performance, and more. From integrated graphics processors to discrete graphics cards to the hyperscale installations powering our AI future, if it's got a GPU in it, Jeff is on it.
Jabberwocky79 PSU is one component I never cheap out on, and even then you aren't immune to failure. My backup system completely survived 2 PSU failures, and I replaced the 3rd one a few months ago just because. Reply
King_V A little disappointed that a supposedly reputable PSU took out other parts with it rather than protecting the other components while it died. Reply
Jabberwocky79 King_V said: A little disappointed that a supposedly reputable PSU took out other parts with it rather than protecting the other components while it died. Yeah I guess it depends on the type of failure, but agreed. My 15 year old Mobo and CPU endured each of the PSU issues they faced. Both PSUs were 80plus Gold and higher wattage than the system required. Reply
danwat1234 Care to share the make and model of this PSU? So Aris Mpitziopoulos of Hardware Busters can test if this is a trend for this particular design.. Reply
bit_user Sometime around 2000, before there was much of an aftermarket for PSUs, I saw a review of a PC Power & Cooling PSU that used a hacked version of memtest86 to perform the bit fade test over a span of 12 hours, instead of the normal 90 minutes. The reviewer found that the premium PSU model reduced the bit error rate by a factor of 2. I have no idea if modern RAM is susceptible to that. I think probably not DDR5, since it integrates its own PMIC (Power Management IC) and on-die ECC, but perhaps DDR4? Reply
bit_user King_V said: A little disappointed that a supposedly reputable PSU took out other parts with it rather than protecting the other components while it died. Too bad names can't be named. Reply
Shiznizzle I saw the shenanigans with burnt out cables and connectors, so i made sure that my next GPU was not only not powerful enough to require a silly level of watts but that it would also only take a 8 pin at most with 75 watts going through the PCIe slot. Think it is wise to heat with your room with 600 watts, or more, going through gauge 2 wire? I dont. Reply
adybrownz You made a computer for your mate 8 years ago.. and it's connected to a UPS? I'll take things that never happened for £100, cheers Reply
DingusDog I had an EVGA 750W G2 that lived just past it's 10 year warranty which was impressive. I knew it was time to upgrade but when I started getting random blue screens I swapped it for a G7 thankfully the old one didn't fail or damage anything. The G7 has load indication lights that I can see through my mesh case which is a nice touch. Reply
bit_user DingusDog said: I knew it was time to upgrade but when I started getting random blue screens I'm no expert on the subject, but I'd just mention that you can get programs like HWInfo64 that will display the voltages at various points in your system. You can then run a CPU or GPU stress test to create a bit of load, while running it, to see how well the PSU is handling it. I'm not sure how well that would work as a health check for aging PSUs, but it might be better than just waiting until bluescreens/reboots happen or hoping that what caused your reboot was PSU-related. DingusDog said: The G7 has load indication lights that I can see through my mesh case which is a nice touch. That's cool. I wish more PSUs had active monitoring & reporting, like some of Corsair's models. The ones that do require a separate USB connection for that. Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/still-using-or-redeploying-an-older-pc-during-todays-ram-crisis-a-new-power-supply-could-save-you-from-an-insane-repair-bill#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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