Power supply buyers guide

Introduction

As with all other computer components, PSU's are constantly evolving. The strain on PSU's keeps increasing with new processors, graphics cards, etc. At the moment of writing this article the most powerful PSU in the Hardware.info product database is 700W, however models with 1000W and over have already been announced. Setups with Crossfire and SLI are becoming more popular, which means that power demands for PSU's for enthusiasts and the high-end market keep increasing. At the same time a lot of users demand a quieter PC, and as the PSU is one of the loudest components in a PC, a quiet PSU will make a lot of difference. Last but not least the efficiency of a PSU is an important factor, energy prices keep rising and nobody likes to waste energy.