What power supply should I select?
What power supply should I select?
I am just starting out with PC builds and now I’m putting my own together. For gaming, game creation, and graphics work, which option would suit you better between the Corsair RM850i and Asus ROG STRIX 850w? My current setup includes: CPU – AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Cooler – ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 A-RGB, Motherboard – Asus PRIME X870-P WIFI, GPU – Gigabyte WINDFORCE MAX OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, RAM – 4x Corsair Vengeance RGB 16 GB DDR5-6000 CL30, Storage – Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 (planning to add more), Case – Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower.
Finding technical details on power supplies can be quite challenging. Most recommendations come from various sources, but many are simply re-posts of marketing content. Some lesser-known firms often spread misinformation. The manufacturing process can also change components while keeping the same part number, which adds confusion. There are numerous models and submodels with similar names, making it hard to identify the right one. It seems neither company really produces products in-house; Corsair is more recognized than Asus, but Asus likely has its own design team. One thing that stands out is your interest in liquid cooling. Recent reviews of air coolers show significant improvements over the past five years. Unless you opt for a 360 AIO, there are many affordable air coolers that outperform 240 AIOs at a lower cost. The main issue with AIOs is that they can fail eventually, even if only due to coolant evaporation through the lines—there’s no way to replenish it.
do you already have the components ready at home or are you planning to purchase them now?
first of all, avoid buying four 16gb memory sticks; instead, opt for combinations like two 32gb or two 24gb or two 48gb units (depending on your needs).
it’s not recommended to fill all four slots completely, as this can cause problems with the motherboard’s memory controller and may lead to performance issues from the multiple RAM modules.
9800X3D is excellent for gaming but less so for other tasks.
your choice should depend on how serious you are about your work or how much time you invest in development and graphics design—perhaps a different CPU would be better.
both power supplies are solid: the ROG Strix by Seasonic is ATX 3.0 certified, making it well-suited for modern graphics cards.
this unit, however, tends to be quite expensive in most areas.
the RM850i from CWT is an older model—so it doesn’t meet ATX 3.0 or 3.1 certification standards—and I wouldn’t recommend buying it new.
if you prefer Corsair, look for the RMx 3.1 (2024) revision or at least RMe (2025).
where are you located?
what is your budget?
I'm just looking at this carefully. It seems you're suggesting not purchasing four DRAM sticks if your plan involves running 6000 units. You also mention checking out Hardware Busters for testing and hardware details: https://hwbusters.com/best_picks/best-at...busters/4/