PC Newbie needs help buiding his first rig? parts listed

[Garcian Smith]

WilliamWatts said:

I thought the motherboard was the most important component in a system? Wait? Oh we're not talking about motherboards so therefore the PSU is suddenly the most important now.

The OCZ PSU has a ripple of under 3%, how the hell is that not good enough? Add that to beefed up enthusiast parts and you've got extreme over-engineering on every level with your typical enthusiast PC. If you're not overclocking then you're not requiring an uber expensive PSU.

Besides anything else a PSU has to last about 3-4 years and thats about it. By the time the next Intel platform comes out your current over engineered PSU will be useless because they will once again change the power delivery. PC parts don't stay current for 5+ years, not even the PSU.

An equivalent "over-engineered" PSU is like twenty bucks more than a cheap-o one. We're not talking anywhere near Radeon 5770 vs 5970 levels of overcompensation here. For most enthusiasts, the guaranteed stability of an "over-engineered" PSU is worth that twenty bucks because it carries less risk of frying the several hundred dollars' worth of other components in your system. Basically, think of the extra money spent as insurance on your computer.

For others, that $20 saved on a second-rate PSU seems like a good deal... until the first time it dies and takes your mobo with it.

If you want to take that chance, then by all means, do so. But that's objectively speaking a very small price to pay for additional guarantee as to the stability of your system.