If the CPU is the brain of your computer and the GPU is the heart, then the power supply are the muscles, turning those thoughts and feelings into concrete action. Wait, that doesn’t make any sense…
In any case, power supplies are important, mm’kay, and this 550W 80+ Gold modular one from Corsair is discounted here in the UK. Normally you’d expect to pay £78 for this model – and at least £65 for one of this spec from a notable brand – but at Currys you can combine a price reduction with the code FNDDGAMING to get this PSU delivered for only £40.
So what kind of systems is this 550W PSU good for? According to Nvidia, you can run anything up to an RTX 3060 graphics card, and realistically with a modest CPU (basically anything that isn’t a power-hungry Core i9) you should be able to run an RTX 3060 Ti without issues too. On the AMD side of things, the AMD RX 6600 XT works fine even on a 500W system, so this or anything below that in the current stack should also work without issues.
As well as the wattage, the most important spec to look out for when it comes to power supplies is the efficiency rating. This gives you an idea of how much power is drawn from the wall to deliver the stated wattage; an 80+ Gold rating requires 88% efficiency at 20% load, 92% efficiency at 50% load and 88% efficiency at 100% load according to this link.
You’ll also notice this PSU is modular, meaning that every cable can be disconnected if it’s not in use – this means there are fewer cables to hide in your case, aiding your cable routing efforts. For some tips on PSU installation, check out our lovely RPS PSU install guide.
Finally, it’s good to choose a power supply from a good brand. Corsair is quite reliable, and I’ve used this particular line of RMx power supplies in my own machines for many years, so that should count for something. The PSU Tier List, formerly of the LTT Forums, is a great resource to check out and the subject of this article is listed as a ‘Tier A’ choice – nice.
That just about does it; feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll see you tomorrow for more deals!