If you missed my other thread - I haven't been a gamer since the late 1970s so I don't know anything about this stuff.

I'm going to buy an Alienware Aurora R16 next week. The only PSU options seem to be 500W or 1000W. The PSU is proprietary. I'm going to buy my PC from one of the following...

  1. New from dell.com. Both PSU options are available.

  2. Refurbished from Amazon Renewed. There are no power supply details. That's even true if I use plain old amazon.com and look at new models.

  3. Refurbished from outlet.us.dell.com. Both PSU options are available.

Amazon Renewed might be cheaper but it annoys me they won't give the info. Even if 500W is fine for me - I'll like to have that "in writing" before I buy anything.

I'm going a PC at least this powerful...

  • Processor: Intel Core i7 14700F (61 MB cache, 20 cores, up to 5.4 GHz Turbo)

  • Videocard: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12GB GDDR6X

  • Memory: 32 GB: 2 x 16 GB, DDR5, 5600 MT/s

  • Harddrive: 2 TB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD

I don't know if I'll ever upgrade. Is 500W good enough?

  • Findom_DeLuise [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    2 days ago

    Seconding the "don't buy a prebuilt, and definitely don't buy an Alienware" sentiment, if you can avoid it. Otherwise, err on the side of a higher-wattage PSU. The AC filter capacitors in the power supply lose their efficiency over time, which will reduce the PSU's maximum output below the manufacturer's rated wattage and thus introduce potential for other component failures, if not an outright fire hazard when the magic smoke escapes. This takes longer on a higher-wattage PSU because there are beefier filter capacitors in there; loss of capacitance matters a lot less if your usage patterns are well below peak capacity. The tradeoff being that if it's not an 80 Plus certified PSU (preferably Gold or higher), you're using more electricity to do the same amount of "work." With Dell/Alienware parts? I'd be shocked if it's even 80 Plus Bronze. Pun not intended unlimited-power

    Regarding the specs list, Intel has some serious quality control issues on the 12th, 13th, and 14th generation CPUs, but I can't remember if that was strictly the i9 or K-series SKUs -- even setting aside BDS, I don't recommend them because of this.

    Finally, with AMD bowing out of the higher-end GPU market, NVidia may be a necessary evil... That being said, you can probably score a hell of a deal on a Radeon 7900 XT or XTX nowadays. Failing that, a 7800 XT should be comparable to the 4070 Super.