PSU Tier List
It’s important to select an appropriate power supply for your gaming PC. There is a lot of different factors and specifications to consider, but we’ll walk you through using these resources to make the best selection.
How much wattage will you need?
The amount of wattage you need will depends on the components in your build. A higher-end graphics card will require more power than a budget card.
A good place to start is using PC Part Picker’s estimated wattage calculator. Here, you can add the components of your build and it will give you a suggest PSU wattage. This is a good starting point, but in most cases you’ll want to go higher than this suggestion so that you have headroom for upgrading and/or overclocking, as well as hitting the peak efficiency.
The Tier List
Once you have an idea of the wattage requirement for your build, you can use this PSU Tier List to compare brands and models. This list was created by expert PSU reviewers and it’s safe to trust their judgement. Tier A is the best. In general, these are the guidelines that you’ll want to follow for choosing the correct tier:
- Budget Gaming PCs (Less than $750) – Use Tier C, B, or A
- Mid Range Gaming PCs ($750-$1500) – Use Tier B or A
- High End Gaming PCs ($1500+) – Use Tier A
Additional Factors
Along with the wattage and tier requirements, here are some additional factors to consider when purchasing a power supply:
- What form factor power supply do you need? (Typically ATX or SFX)
- Does your GPU need a 12VHPWR connector? (For RTX 4000 series GPUs)
- Do you prefer fully modular, semi modular, or non modular units?
- Does power efficiency matter much to you? (Use the 80+ Rating system)
