PSU and Motherboard advice

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Voltorr

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Can somebody please refer to me or explain the basics on why i need to fork out so much for a PSU. Why not get a cheap case with 450W psu for like R350 instead of paying R500 for a case and another R600 for the psu....... isn't a bit of a waste?

Also any harm in getting a cheap Asus motherboard that has everything i need? R1500 for a motherboard seems a little steep i was thinking maybe R950?

Thanks for the advice guys (:
 
Everything in a PC will only work as long as it is getting the proper voltage and current from the PSU. The cheap PSUs have very poor voltage regulation, and poor efficiency. If the voltage dips below specification, your PC may reset or perform poorly. If it goes over spec, it may fry something. Unlikely, but I've seen a poor PSU take out a motherboard and CPU. What you must ask yourself is this - you spend between R3k-R15k on everything besides the PSU, so what is another R750 to make sure you dont destroy any of those components?
Motherboards are kinda the same story, but you can get away with it more often. R950 for a motherboard is just under the average so it shouldnt be a bad motherboard at all.
 
Yeah totally. And why do you need to spend so much money on 'components' that just do 'stuff' anyway?
 
Voltorr said:
Can somebody please refer to me or explain the basics on why i need to fork out so much for a PSU. Why not get a cheap case with 450W psu for like R350 instead of paying R500 for a case and another R600 for the psu....... isn't a bit of a waste?

Also any harm in getting a cheap Asus motherboard that has everything i need? R1500 for a motherboard seems a little steep i was thinking maybe R950?

Thanks for the advice guys (:
Click to expand...

Yes R1500 is steep for a motherboard:
http://www.prophecy.co.za/gigabyte-gax58aud7-lga1366-triplechannel-ddr3-slicrossfirex-p-62940.html

So is R600 for a power supply:
http://www.prophecy.co.za/thermaltake-evoblue-650w-p-60570.html
 
No I'm busting with sarcasm and I assumed you'd be able to tell the difference.
 
Qwikslver said:
Yes R1500 is steep for a motherboard:
http://www.prophecy.co.za/gigabyte-gax58aud7-lga1366-triplechannel-ddr3-slicrossfirex-p-62940.html

So is R600 for a power supply:
http://www.prophecy.co.za/thermaltake-evoblue-650w-p-60570.html
Click to expand...

Okay i do realise that you can also get cars valued at R150 000 and some valued at over R2 million. My point was more i do not want to have a flashy BMW can i get a nice toyota that preforms the same since i'm not going to be red lining (O.C.) it all the way.
 
Ok my honest advice is don't skimp on a power supply if you intend to do any serious gaming. I blew a 585w Gigabyte recently with nothing more than an overclocked gtx260 - could have taken everything out with it. A motherboard you can go cheaper on, but you'll end up being frustrated because it's cramped and limited. I'm speaking from personal experience on that. It all depends how much use you intend to get out of it doesn't it.
 
cerebus said:
Yeah totally. And why do you need to spend so much money on 'components' that just do 'stuff' anyway?
Click to expand...

Seriously though, do you have any idea about these things? I understand the need for them, was more interested in what more you get from them as price goes up besides watts. Same with the motherboards (much broader i understand) but wouldn't it be easier for ASUS to make one type of motherboard and add on features such as sli, therefore all AM3 boards are equal in terms of the quality of parts.

If you don't have time to explain maybe post a link? If you woke up one morning and the PC was sitting on your desk with a big bow rather ignore this thread.
 
Sigh, I believe I explained this in my original post. To get more technical, on the PSU side, different components are used within the PSU. Better regulators, better caps, better everything. Also, current capacity on the outputs increases. One 500W PSU may output (example only) 10A and the 12V line, another could go up to 30A. They are generally also more efficient, and run cooler.
Motherboards its the same story. And yes, essentially all mobo manufacturers do only make one motherbOArd per socket, and then just add one features. But the individual components used can stilL differ.
 
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cerebus said:
Ok my honest advice is don't skimp on a power supply if you intend to do any serious gaming. I blew a 585w Gigabyte recently with nothing more than an overclocked gtx260 - could have taken everything out with it. A motherboard you can go cheaper on, but you'll end up being frustrated because it's cramped and limited. I'm speaking from personal experience on that. It all depends how much use you intend to get out of it doesn't it.
Click to expand...

thanks mate. I was looking at phenom 945+, 4 gig ram and well for the graphics i would be aiming at 5770...... this is already over my budget and will have to be bought over a couple months so looking to cut corners, eg speakers, keyboard and mouse are going to have to sit tight..... can't get much lower than 1333 and i feel must at least be ddr3. was looking at maybe the Athlon X4 620/630??? PC will be used mostly for Excel, SAS, Matlab and i would like to be able to try any new game on the market for at least 2 years even on the worst graphics level just to play around with.
 
With power supplies wattage isn't as important as stability. A 550w huntkey and a 550w Thermaltake for example will have completely different capabilities. One will underperform relative to its wattage - the rating is at peak rather than continuous - and its 12v rails will pull significantly less than they should - whereas the other will outperform relative to its wattage - components will be higher density, 12v rails will have higher ratings, etc etc. In the end what you want is to be able to pull as much of a load as possible continuously without blowing up - and as with all things you get what you pay for. Then you have extra features like lights, efficiency, size of fan, noise output and so forth - it all adds up.

With motherboards what you're describing is basically what happens. AMD/Intel releases a chipset eg 680 or 790gx, and the manufacturers take the spec and build a series of boards from lesser to greater based on that. I don't see what the problem is here.

Archer is pretty much spot on as well.

Ok to be brief: Don't skimp on a psu - r600 should be a minimum you can spend, and even then you won't get very much. You can skimp on a mobo though if you don't intend to push your pc very far.
 
Archer said:
Sigh, I believe I explained this in my original post. To get more technical, on the PSU side, different components are used within the PSU. Better regulators, better caps, better everything. Also, current capacity on the outputs increases. One 500W PSU may output (example only) 10A and the 12V line, another could go up to 30A. They are generally also more efficient, and run cooler.
Motherboards its the same story. And yes, essentially all mobo manufacturers do only make one motherbaord per socket, and then just add one features. But the individual components used can stil differ.
Click to expand...

thanks Archer.
 
Voltorr said:
thanks mate. I was looking at phenom 945+, 4 gig ram and well for the graphics i would be aiming at 5770...... this is already over my budget and will have to be bought over a couple months so looking to cut corners, eg speakers, keyboard and mouse are going to have to sit tight..... can't get much lower than 1333 and i feel must at least be ddr3. was looking at maybe the Athlon X4 620/630??? PC will be used mostly for Excel, SAS, Matlab and i would like to be able to try any new game on the market for at least 2 years even on the worst graphics level just to play around with.
Click to expand...

You'll be fine with that rig if you want it to hold for 2 years. And you can happily go down to 1066mhz RAM, it really makes no discernible real world difference. Having said that, I also went for 1333 RAM :D One more thing, I tend to buy a PSU to last 5 years, hence I have a 750W PSU. Over time, the caps age, and max output goes down. Over 5 years my PSU will prob only give out 650W, maybe even only 600W. But it will still be usable, unlike anything else (unless it goes kablam of course).
 
Matlab?
What are you doing in life? This actually matters, as your Matlab use could influence your PC choice.

As for the PSU - you're already going to have to wait a month or so more than you wanted. A too small PSU could really blow components (MB, CPU, GPU...) as it will try it's best to deliver the required current at the correct voltage. If it can't, the voltage could drop, with unknown, but potentially hazardous consequences to the rest of the PC. A larger PSU gives you added efficiency (though it will take a loooong time to recover the higher PSU cost in elec bills) and, more importantly, more safety for the rest of your PC.

Also, flexibility. I recently bought a pretty 22" screen, only to realize that my 8600 is a bit too little GPU for the screen. So I upgraded to a 9800GTX+, only to realize that my skimpy PSU might become a hazard with the new card. In the final countdown my pretty 22" screen cost me more than double the box price, mostly because of my own lack of foresight.
 
The uses the OP wants the pc for a Athlon II 630 makes beautiful sense.
 
Tacet said:
Matlab?
What are you doing in life? This actually matters, as your Matlab use could influence your PC choice.
Click to expand...

You know a little population modeling, maybe some fluid dynamics... been a couple years but seems to be the only program i can use :P

SAS is what we use at work and i would just so love quad processor. It really "gets to me" that every time i try run a script or some excel calculations i can't even open solitaire!

I want be able to run SAS and excel at the same time and while they are doing what they do best, have some music playing or a movie. I can't even have an antivirus in the background while using SAS at the moment (i know there's probably a setting somewhere).

Wow, looking at some productivity benchmarks the i5 seems to run circles around the AMD 955! But the Athlon II is sooooo cheap, do you think it would limit my gaming experience substantially?
 
The Athlons have very little cache, so I would say that yes, you will take a performance hit.

Also yes, in non gaming tasks, the i5 750 is the better buy. AFAIK it costs roughly the same as a 965 in SA, its only the 1156 motherboard that will cost a bit more (compared to the AMD equivalent). I still stay with you cant go wrong with either, but I would lean towards the i5 750 if you are doing 90% productivity programs.
 
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