Firefox1701 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Hi, Can anyone please help me as I'm drawing a complete blank elsewhere? I need a replacement for a TX850W psu. The two current models that seem to be the closest match are the TX850M or the RM850, of which, from what I can tell, the RM850 seems like the better bet. Can anyone weigh in on this? All help gratefully received, as I badly need to be using the computer! As a matter of interest, the cheapest prices I've found for the above are £125 for the RM850 and £150 for the TX850M ... anyone tell me if that seems about right or if there's anywhere else I should be looking other than Amazon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee jonnyguru Posted July 17, 2020 Corsair Employee Share Posted July 17, 2020 Why does the PSU have to "closely match" your old TX? What hardware are you powering with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox1701 Posted July 18, 2020 Author Share Posted July 18, 2020 What hardware are you powering with this? Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I'm not that clued up about computer hardware. My son built the machine for me ten years ago, and he can no more remember which bits of hardware went into it than he can remember what he had for breakfast that day. For what it's worth, which may not be much, I can tell you there's two hard drives ( I think, both 1TB, but I haven't fired the computer up since I moved four years ago and I'm not 100% certain ); a motherboard, graphics card, sound card ... I'm realising as I type that basically I'm just listing the components of virtually any computer, but that, to be honest, is as much as I know about it. Normally if I was asked that question - for example, if I was asked it about the computer I'm using to write this - I would check the spec out in the Control Panel, but of course I can't do that without the computer being on, and this is where we came in ... Why does the PSU have to "closely match" your old TX? For the same reason that if you were replacing a car battery and knew nothing at all about the workings of the car, you'd most likely just look for an identical or as-near-identical-as-possible battery. My son has told me that I should definitely stick with an 850w PSU, preferably a modular one, and since he built the computer, I'm taking his word for it; that in itself narrows the field considerably. Given some of the horror stories you hear ( not least in this forum ...! ), at the very least I want to give myself the best chance of getting it right first time - particularly since they cost an arm and a leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee jonnyguru Posted July 18, 2020 Corsair Employee Share Posted July 18, 2020 Ok. I hadn't realized that you hadn't built the PC and didn't know what was in it. The car battery analogy is not a good one. Because different cars have different batteries. DIY computers, on the other hand, mostly follow a standard governed by Intel called "ATX12V" (successor to the original "ATX", which replaced "AT"). You have an ATX case, that fits and ATX motherboard and is powered by an ATX power supply. Now, although the physical mounting size would be the same from one PSU to the next, sometimes the depth varies. That can be an issue when you have a smaller case because you might not have enough room to feed the cables through. But those are very corner cases (cases). As for the power: 850W is a lot of power for a PC. Like, having two graphics cards kind of power. But if your son, who built it, insists that's what you need. So be it. :D So any of the Corsair PSUs will fit (except the SF, which is not ATX form factor, but a smaller SFX form factor... so it would fit with an adapter bracket, but now we're getting into the weeds). A CX850M, TX850M, RM850, RM850x, RM850i, AX850, AX860i... doesn't matter. They're all ATX and they'll all fit. Here's the official design guide from Intel I was talking about: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/power-supply-design-guide-june.pdf So if the car world were like the PC world, you could go into any store and buy any battery and it would fit. :D Just pick how many amps you want. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox1701 Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 Thank you for that informative explanation. The car battery analogy was one I grabbed at on the quick, but I take your point. I do remember my son mentioning that the replacement would need to be what he called 'full ATX', and I now understand what that refers to. I can see that physical dimensions are a consideration; I don't know if there's a proper name for it, but the cases of both my computers basically come under the heading of 'pretty big'. If anything, specifically as regards the dimensions, I was more concerned either that the mountings wouldn't fit ( which from your message I gather would not be an issue ) or that it would potentially sit loose in the case and wobble about - not, admittedly, that the machine is ever likely to be moved except for repairs. As I say, I can't comment on the 850w thing except that my son felt it was appropriate when he built it, and since his knowledge of the hardware was greater than mine, I bowed to it. The TX850W is modular, as you know, so I suppose it would make reasonable sense to replace it with another modular one. Aside from physical dimensions, obviously the other major consideration is cost, given that all of the possibilities are relatively expensive; at the same time, I don't want to have to 'buy cheap and buy twice', particularly to the potential detriment of other components in the machine. I guess in my case the question of how simple the job of installing the new PSU would be, is also worth taking into account. Having said all of the above, and taking your own observations into account, Russell, I suppose really I should re-phrase my original question. Let me put it this way: given that ( I now know ) any of the alternatives you've mentioned would do the job equally well, what is there to choose between them? - or to put it another way, if you were in my shoes, which of those alternatives would you choose, and if I may ask, why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee jonnyguru Posted July 19, 2020 Corsair Employee Share Posted July 19, 2020 So, the difference between all of the different "series" of Corsair PSUs is just grade of quality (Corsair makes some cheaper units and goes all the way up to units you would use in a 3D rendering workstation), efficiency (how much AC it uses to convert to DC) and feature set (degree of modular cables, quietness, etc.) Once you have your wattage and budget figured out, which series based on degree of importance of all other factors is the final step. There are so many series that I actually made a quick "cheat sheet" that gives a high level run down of what makes each one different: http://www.jongerow.com/Corsair_PSU_hierarchy/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox1701 Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 Thank you once again for the information. As mentioned in the newer thread, it seems like the RM850 would be the best bet, although so far I haven't had any luck sourcing one at any kind of sensible price. Still not completely clear on the difference ( in layman's terms ) between the RM850 and the RM850X and RM850i, but from what I can see it seems like any of them would do the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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