Decent Power Supply under $20 ?

[The Day Dreamer]

I am short on budget for a desktop that I am building with i5 4560.

Any recommendations for power supply in 20 bucks or so?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am short on budget for a desktop that I am building with i5 4560.

Any recommendations for power supply in 20 bucks or so?

If there were any PSUs for $20 available, I don't believe most of the forum veterans would recommend it for anything.

It has got to be one of the most, if not THE most -- important components you can get. The only thing you could scrimp on -- penny-pinch -- is the actual rated wattage. You have to have enough wattage to cover the most extreme cases of actual PC power-consumption. If you only plan using a single graphics card, you can add up your devices by full-output wattage and look for something between 350 and 500W.

But if you get a reliable product of quality true to its specs, I'd plan on spending at least $50.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you don't need a lot of power, the Corsair CX430 is occasionally seen at 20-----after a 20 rebate.

Like right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

If you don't want to deal with rebates and you have a hard limit of 20, I'd pretty much flip a coin. That's bottom of the barrel territory and all you will hear is anecdotes anyway.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If you don't need a lot of power, the Corsair CX430 is occasionally seen at 20-----after a 20 rebate.

Like right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

If you don't want to deal with rebates and you have a hard limit of 20, I'd pretty much flip a coin. That's bottom of the barrel territory and all you will hear is anecdotes anyway.

Maybe for me Mom's computer, if she continues to stick with the LGA-775 C2D. But if she succumbs to my pressure for -- at least -- an i3 IB and a Z77 board, I'd search for better.

3 year warranty is "brief." Could I guess the unit is light enough to put on a string and fly like a kite in the March winds?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

3 year warranty is "brief." Could I guess the unit is light enough to put on a string and fly like a kite in the March winds?

I've never owned a Corsair PSU and wouldn't own that one.

BUT: I have seen it mentioned on other forums as a tolerably good cheapo unit (when at 20 with a rebate) for those who simply aren't going to spend more.

It's a Channel Well product.

Can your kite hoist 4.44 pounds? Haven't flown one recently.

Here's the conclusion page on the only review I can find right now:

http://translate.google.com/transla...teile/2013/test-corsair-builder-series-cx430/

 

[john3850]

A decent power supply for under $20 is not going to happen.

 

[Charlie98]

I've got 2 CX430s in general purpose builds and they work very well; the one in my HTPC currently has a GTX560Ti in it, too, along with 4 drives, and I've never had a problem with it. I don't beat it to death running benchmarks or gaming on it, however.

I also had a CX430M (modular) that I had an i5 and the aforementioned GTX560Ti... and I DID punish it with both LinX (CPU, ) and 3D Mark and Valley (GPU) benches... and it never cried uncle once.

The CX430 is a reasonable budget PSU for a general purpose machine, I wouldn't recommend it for any sort of gaming PC, etc... you simply need better quality power. If all the OP is doing is running an i5 desktop PC, I think the CX430 would be a fair choice, given the budget.

That's bottom of the barrel territory and all you will hear is anecdotes anyway.

True that, and my evidence is worth exactly what the OP paid for it...

 

[JEDIYoda]

You get what you pay for....or what you don`t pay for......
$20.00?? Why would you scrimp on the most important component in your computer???

 

[TemjinGold]

Corsair CX430 is your best bet.

 

[MongGrel]

A decent power supply for under $20 is not going to happen.

I'll vote this.

The PSU is one of the last things I'd spend only $20 on.

 

[crashtech]

The reason veteran builders stay away from cheap-ass PSUs is because most of us have seen what havok they can wreak when they fail. For those of us who have, never again if we can help it.

 

[MongGrel]

This is the lowest I'd go, personally ATM, as far as reliability.

Antec VP-450 450 Watt Energy Star Certified Power Supply

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-VP-450-...s=Antec+VP-450+450W+ATX+12V+v2.3+Power+Supply

They botched the write up obviously, is a 120 not a 20 for a fan.

 

[MongGrel]

Antec TruePower Classic series TP-550C 550W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371071


used that the last one I built from scratch, appears not to be around nymore there, and was a larger rebate etc att,

 

[Blain]

Decent Power Supply under $20?

Any recommendations for power supply in 20 bucks or so?

Absolutely not. That's false economy.

 

[VirtualLarry]

This is the lowest I'd go, personally ATM, as far as reliability.

Antec VP-450 450 Watt Energy Star Certified Power Supply

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-VP-450-...s=Antec+VP-450+450W+ATX+12V+v2.3+Power+Supply

They botched the write up obviously, is a 120 not a 20 for a fan.

I've used those for my Core2Quad Q9300 OCed rigs. They hold up pretty well. Not APFC (at least not the models I have, from 4-5 years ago), and only one 6-pin PCI-E power cable, but stable, for the most part.

(I did have a freeze issue twice with my main Q9300 @ 3.0 rig (400FSB), which I eventually clocked back down to stock 2.5. I haven't tried replacing the 4-5 year old PSUs to see if that was the problem, or the mobo or CPU degrading was the problem.) They only have a 2 or 3 year warranty, so I've exceeded that by a bit. Antec PSUs are generally very reliable, even their budget models.

 

[BFG10K]

I am short on budget for a desktop that I am building with i5 4560.

Any recommendations for power supply in 20 bucks or so?

[ ] decent.
[ ] under $20.

You may tick only one.

 

[Bearmann]

450 Watt Corsair CS450M 80 Plus Gold Certified Semi-Modular Active PFC PSU (CP-9020075-NA)

$59.99 - $3 w/ code EMCASNT58 - $30 rebate = $26.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139058&cm_re=CS450M-_-17-139-058-_-Product


Addendum:

So here is the review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9343/the-corsair-cs450m-psu-review

 

[RockNRule]

Folks like to scare you by claiming so and so wont' hold up, yadda yadda. But like a dentist that insists you pull that tooth, how do you know if he's got a clue if you do what he says. Once the tooth is gone.....

Unless you can cite cite high failure rate or poor power performance, why bash a product just because it's inexpensive?



My ps of 5 years croaked , and I picked up a Corsair CX430 , which , despite the crack made about weight, is hefty enough, quiet, and I expect it will run my modest system 18 hours a day for the next few years at least.

If not, I'll have to go for another $20 bill.

(I ran for a few days with a REALLY cheap ass psu, weighed about 3 ounces, that I'd gotten for free after rebate. Ran fine, but didn't want to run long term with that)

 

[crashtech]

Folks like to scare you by claiming so and so wont' hold up, yadda yadda. But like a dentist that insists you pull that tooth, how do you know if he's got a clue if you do what he says. Once the tooth is gone.....

Unless you can cite cite high failure rate or poor power performance, why bash a product just because it's inexpensive?



My ps of 5 years croaked , and I picked up a Corsair CX430 , which , despite the crack made about weight, is hefty enough, quiet, and I expect it will run my modest system 18 hours a day for the next few years at least.

If not, I'll have to go for another $20 bill.

(I ran for a few days with a REALLY cheap ass psu, weighed about 3 ounces, that I'd gotten for free after rebate. Ran fine, but didn't want to run long term with that)

Are you kidding? Telling everyone posting here that they are full of crap, then asserting that you should judge a PSU based solely on its heft?

 

[RockNRule]

Never said everyone here was full of crap, let the shoe fit.

I read 10 different reviews by respected sites before deciding the CX430 was more than sufficient for my needs. The suggestion that you have to spend $75 or you're getting a piece of junk is absurd, and elitist.

Dentists also get mad when you tell them to leave the tooth alone.

 

[bononos]

Folks like to scare you by claiming so and so wont' hold up, yadda yadda. But like a dentist that insists you pull that tooth, how do you know if he's got a clue if you do what he says. Once the tooth is gone.....
Unless you can cite cite high failure rate or poor power performance, why bash a product just because it's inexpensive?
....

$20 psus are junk unless it was a decent brand that gave a hefty rebate. Nobody posted above was scaring him by telling him stay away from the likes of powmax and huntkey. Maybe you should cite some examples of good $20 psus that wasn't discounted.

 

[spat55]

$20 psus are junk unless it was a decent brand that gave a hefty rebate. Nobody posted above was scaring him by telling him stay away from the likes of powmax and huntkey. Maybe you should cite some examples of good $20 psus that wasn't discounted.

Also only having 20 posts and insulting people isn't a great way to start here

 

[Ketchup]

This is the lowest I'd go, personally ATM, as far as reliability.

Antec VP-450 450 Watt Energy Star Certified Power Supply

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-VP-450-...s=Antec+VP-450+450W+ATX+12V+v2.3+Power+Supply

They botched the write up obviously, is a 120 not a 20 for a fan.

Another vote for this one. I have done a few builds with these are they are holding up well.

 

[RockNRule]

I made it clear I was talking about the CX430.

The price you actually pay, before or after rebate, means nothing, it is what it is.

Prev posters talked about the fact that there was frequently a rebate on this ps.

Yeah, a ps that lists for 14.99 is probably/certainly junk but who doesn't know that?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

CX430 or (ocassionally) CX500 goes on sale for that cheap after a small (~$15-20) rebate and/or coupon code.
No complaints about the CX series, certainly way ahead of the curve compared to Coolmax/Powmax/bluelight special.
Couple of CX500s and CX600s were powering my BTC mining rigs way back in the day without issues.