Power Supply Units Price Comparison 2026
Compare 1,234 power supply units from be quiet!, Corsair, Seasonic and more — find the best price across top UK retailers in one place.
Choosing a power supply unit is one of those decisions that's easy to get wrong — and the consequences of getting it wrong are rarely subtle. An underpowered or poorly regulated PSU doesn't just throttle performance; it can destabilise an entire system or, in the worst cases, damage components downstream. Our catalogue spans 1,234 products, from compact industrial DIN-rail units by Phoenix Contact to high-wattage ATX behemoths from Corsair and be quiet!, with prices ranging from 25 £ to well beyond 163 £ for server-grade hardware.
The consumer PC segment is where most buyers land, and it's genuinely competitive. be quiet! leads the catalogue by volume with 85 references averaging around 109 £, making it the most accessible premium brand on the market. Seasonic, long regarded as the benchmark for build quality and voltage stability, commands a slight premium but consistently earns it. Corsair sits in a similar bracket — strong brand recognition, solid Gold and Platinum-certified options, and wide availability across Currys, Amazon.co.uk, and Scan Computers. What's worth noting is that Cooler Master's average price sits considerably higher than the others, largely driven by its industrial and server-oriented lines rather than its consumer ATX range.
For PC builders specifically, the 80 Plus efficiency rating is the single most useful shorthand when comparing models at a glance. Bronze gets the job done at entry level, but Gold has become the de facto standard for any build above budget tier — the energy savings over three to five years genuinely offset the price difference. If you're running a high-end GPU like an RTX 5080 or RX 9070 XT, look hard at PCIe 5.0-ready units with a native 12VHPWR connector; retrofitting adapters introduces unnecessary risk. The Uninterruptible Power Supplies category is worth a look if uptime is critical, whilst those building compact or portable setups may find relevant options in Portable Power Stations.
Industrial buyers — integrators specifying Phoenix Contact QUINT or Wago units for control panels — are dealing with an entirely different set of requirements: DIN-rail mounting, 3-phase AC input, and MTBF figures that need to hold up in 24/7 environments. These units sit at the upper end of the price range and are priced accordingly. For everything else, the sweet spot in this catalogue sits between 72 £ and 109 £, where you'll find the bulk of well-specified consumer and prosumer ATX units. If you also need to manage power distribution across a rack or workstation setup, our Power Distribution Units section covers that ground.
How to Choose the Right Power Supply Unit
A PSU is the one component that touches everything else in your system — yet it's routinely under-budgeted. Our data shows the market splits sharply between sub-72 £ consumer units and industrial-grade hardware pushing well past 163 £. Here's how to navigate it without overspending or cutting corners where it matters.
Wattage: size it right, not just big
The most common mistake is buying too much wattage 'just in case'. A 1000W PSU running a mid-range gaming PC at 30% load is less efficient than a correctly sized 650W unit at 60% load — and it costs more upfront. As a practical rule: add up your CPU and GPU TDP, add 100–150W for the rest of the system, then round up to the next standard wattage tier. For a Core i7 + RTX 4070 build, 750W is the sweet spot. RTX 4090 or dual-GPU workstations genuinely need 850W–1000W. Don't size down to save £20 — an unstable PSU under load is a false economy.
80 Plus efficiency rating: where to draw the line
80 Plus Bronze (80% efficiency) is the minimum worth considering for any new build — anything below that is false economy on your electricity bill. Gold (90%) is the current sweet spot for mainstream builds and is now widely available without a significant price premium. Platinum (92%) and Titanium (94%) make sense for workstations running 8+ hours a day, where the energy savings compound meaningfully over time. For a gaming PC used a few hours an evening, the jump from Gold to Platinum rarely pays back within the PSU's lifespan. Silver is largely a transitional rating — you'll rarely see it in current catalogues.
Modular vs non-modular: it's about airflow, not aesthetics
Fully modular PSUs let you attach only the cables you need, which genuinely improves airflow inside the chassis — not just tidiness. In a mid-tower or ITX build, this can make a measurable difference to CPU and GPU temperatures. Semi-modular is a reasonable compromise: the 24-pin ATX and EPS CPU cables are fixed (you'll always need them), whilst PCIe and SATA cables are detachable. Non-modular units are cheaper and perfectly functional, but the cable bundle becomes a management headache in smaller cases. If your case has a PSU shroud, non-modular is more forgivable.
PCIe 5.0 readiness and connector compatibility
If you're pairing your PSU with an RTX 40-series or newer GPU, check for a native 12VHPWR (16-pin) connector rather than relying on an adapter daisy-chaining two 8-pin cables. Adapters work, but they've been linked to connector melt issues under sustained load — it's a risk not worth taking when PCIe 5.0-native units are now widely available at competitive prices. The MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 and MSI MPG A850GS PCIE5 in our catalogue are good examples of units built with this in mind from the ground up.
Industrial PSUs: DIN-rail, input voltage, and MTBF
If you're specifying a PSU for an industrial control panel, the consumer ATX criteria above are largely irrelevant. What matters here is input voltage range (single-phase 100–240V AC or 3-phase 380–480V AC), output voltage (typically 24V DC for automation systems), DIN-rail mounting compatibility, and MTBF — ideally 200,000 hours or above for continuous-duty applications. Phoenix Contact's QUINT series and Wago's 787 range are the benchmark options in this catalogue. Expect to pay a significant premium over consumer units: the engineering tolerances, protection features (OVP, OCP, SCP), and support infrastructure justify the cost in professional installations.
Fan size and noise: matters more than the spec sheet suggests
A 120mm fan runs faster and louder than a 140mm fan delivering the same airflow. For a living room HTPC or a quiet office workstation, this is worth paying attention to. Many premium units — be quiet!'s Dark Power range, Seasonic's Focus series — offer a hybrid passive mode that cuts the fan entirely at low loads, dropping noise to zero. Under gaming loads the fan kicks in, but at much lower RPMs than a standard unit. If silence is a priority, look for hybrid passive mode explicitly in the spec sheet rather than trusting marketing language like 'ultra-quiet'.
- Entry level (From 25 £ to 72 £) : Mostly non-modular units with 80 Plus Bronze certification — MSI's MAG A650BN and be quiet!'s Pure Power 12 550W sit here. Adequate for budget gaming builds or secondary systems, but don't expect Gold efficiency or premium cable management. Industrial DIN-rail units from Phoenix Contact's UNO range also appear at this level.
- The sweet spot (From 72 £ to 109 £) : Where the best value lives for mainstream PC builders. Expect 80 Plus Gold certification, semi-modular or fully modular designs, and 750W–850W capacity from brands like Corsair (RM750e), be quiet! (Power Zone 2), and MSI (MAG A750GL PCIE5). This is the range we'd recommend for the majority of gaming and workstation builds.
- Prosumer and high-wattage (From 109 £ to 163 £) : Fully modular Gold and Platinum units at 850W–1200W, plus entry-level industrial PSUs. ASUS ROG Strix and MSI MPG lines feature here, alongside Seasonic's Focus Platinum range. Suitable for high-end gaming rigs with RTX 4090-class GPUs, content creation workstations, or small server builds.
- Industrial and server-grade (Over 163 £) : HPE server PSUs, Phoenix Contact QUINT 3-phase units, and Wago industrial supplies dominate this tier. Not relevant for consumer PC builds — these are specified by systems integrators and IT infrastructure teams. HPE's average price in our catalogue sits well above the consumer segment, reflecting the engineering and support infrastructure behind these products.
Top products
- Corsair RM750e power supply unit 750 W 24-pin ATX ATX Black (Corsair) : One of the most sensible buys in the catalogue — 750W, fully modular, and Gold-certified at a price that undercuts most of the competition. The go-to recommendation for mainstream gaming builds.
- be quiet! PURE POWER 12 750W power supply unit 20+4 pin ATX ATX Black (be quiet!) : Solid, quiet, and well-priced — be quiet!'s entry into the 750W segment delivers on its name. Not the most feature-rich option, but reliability and low noise make it a strong choice for office or living room builds.
- MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 power supply unit 750 W 20+4 pin ATX ATX Black (MSI) : The standout pick for anyone pairing with an RTX 40-series or newer GPU — native PCIe 5.0 connector eliminates the adapter risk entirely. Gold-certified and competitively priced; the smarter long-term choice over adapter-dependent alternatives.
- be quiet! POWER ZONE 2 850W power supply unit 20+4 pin ATX ATX Black (be quiet!) : The right unit for high-end gaming rigs and content creation workstations. 850W with be quiet!'s characteristic low-noise operation — a step up from the Pure Power range with better build quality and more headroom.
- MSI MPG A850GS PCIE5 power supply unit 850 W 24-pin ATX ATX Black (MSI) : MSI's premium 850W offering with full PCIe 5.0 support — a well-rounded unit for demanding builds. Slightly pricier than the be quiet! equivalent, but the native 12VHPWR connector and Gold certification make it worth considering for RTX 4090 or 5080 builds.
Related categories
Frequently Asked Questions
How much wattage do I actually need for a gaming PC?
For most gaming builds, 650W–850W is the right range. A system with a mid-range CPU and an RTX 4070 or RX 7800 XT will rarely exceed 400W under load — a 650W Gold unit gives you comfortable headroom. Step up to 850W if you're running an RTX 4080 or 4090, or if you plan to overclock. Going beyond 1000W for a single-GPU consumer build is rarely justified and pushes you into a less efficient operating range.
Is 80 Plus Gold worth the extra cost over Bronze?
Yes, for most builds — the price gap between Bronze and Gold has narrowed considerably, and the efficiency difference (80% vs 90%) translates to real savings on your electricity bill over time. A PC running 6 hours a day for three years will consume meaningfully less power with a Gold unit. Bronze is acceptable for a budget build you'll use occasionally; for anything that runs daily, Gold is the sensible choice.
What's the difference between fully modular and semi-modular PSUs?
A fully modular PSU lets you detach every cable, including the 24-pin ATX and EPS CPU cables — useful for the cleanest possible builds. Semi-modular keeps those essential cables fixed but allows you to leave unused PCIe and SATA cables out of the case. In practice, semi-modular is the better value proposition for most builders: you'll always need the fixed cables anyway, and the cost saving over fully modular is real. Fully modular makes most sense in small form-factor or showcase builds where every centimetre of cable routing matters.
Do I need a PCIe 5.0 PSU for an RTX 40-series or RTX 50-series GPU?
Not strictly required, but strongly recommended. RTX 40-series and newer GPUs use a 16-pin 12VHPWR connector, and many PSUs supply this via an adapter from two 8-pin cables. These adapters have a documented history of connector damage under sustained load. A PSU with a native 12VHPWR output — labelled PCIe 5.0 ready — eliminates that risk entirely. Given that PCIe 5.0-native units are now available from 72 £ upwards, there's little reason to accept the adapter compromise on a new build.
Are cheap no-name PSUs worth the risk?
No — a substandard PSU is the one component that can take everything else with it when it fails. Unlike a slow hard drive or a mediocre GPU, a PSU that fails catastrophically can damage your motherboard, CPU, and storage simultaneously. Stick to brands with a credible track record: be quiet!, Seasonic, Corsair, and MSI all have established RMA processes and consistent quality control. The saving on a no-name unit rarely exceeds £15–20 compared to a reputable entry-level option, and the risk profile is entirely different.
What does MTBF mean on an industrial PSU, and should I trust it?
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) is a statistical reliability figure, not a guarantee of lifespan — a unit rated at 200,000 hours MTBF won't necessarily run for 22 years. It's a comparative metric: higher MTBF indicates better component selection and design margins. For industrial applications running 24/7, look for MTBF figures of 200,000 hours or above, as found in Phoenix Contact's QUINT series. For consumer PC PSUs, warranty length (5–10 years from brands like Seasonic and be quiet!) is a more practical reliability indicator.
How do I know if my PSU is causing system instability or crashes?
Random reboots, blue screens under load, and system crashes that don't correlate with software issues are classic PSU warning signs. The most reliable test is to run a stress tool like Prime95 combined with a GPU load (FurMark) whilst monitoring voltages with HWiNFO64 — the 12V rail should stay within ±5% of 12V. Significant voltage sag or ripple above 100mV under load points to a failing or undersized PSU. If your system is stable at idle but crashes during gaming, the PSU is the first thing to investigate before replacing other components.