It won't be running anything particularly taxing - an MSI P76 board, MSI GTX 460 GPU, I5-2500K CPU, 1 SSD and 1 HDD - and I'd like something inexpensive (sub-£50 preferably) and quiet as the machine is a bedroom machine. Had been tipped off about the XFX Pro550W - anything better for similar (or less...) money?

Thanks!

1st of all - Welcome to SPCR! Hell yeah

2nd, but that's actually more important - have you browsed the site's PSU review section?

3rd - what's your location & what PSUs can you get? Link us to your preferred vendor if you can.

Anyway, your PC will be perfectly OK with a 400W PSU. Even if you OC the OC-friendly CPU. Unless, of course you go brutal with both the CPU and the GPU and raise voltages heavily. Then perhaps a 500W may be a better option.

Thanks for the welcome kater! I have indeed navigated, amongst many others, SPCR's review section, though this site's recommended purchases tend to find themselves well outside my price range unfortunately.

I'm in the UK and Scan is my preferred vendor. As for the models I've been looking at, the XFX Pro550W is the one I'm convinced by, followed by the OCZ StealthXStream 500W and the Corsair HCG-620W. In terms of pricing, the XFX is £49, the OCZ about £2 less expensive and the Corsair tips in at just over £50.

My priorities, like I said, are quiet and reliability but I'd also like something with low power consumption as electricity is hellishly expensive.

I know that some (all?) XFX units are made by Seasonic. Still, I'm not sure they retain Seasonic noise characteristics - Jonny Guru has reviewed a number of XFX, you could browse his site to find at least a hint on noise. AFAIK one of the models was v loud. Yeah, I know, JG is not exactly a site to check db, but if they say it's loud then it is seriously loud.

Ok, so here's one I'd be most willing to get for your PC and with your budget

520W Seasonic S12II-520 Bronze - well, its 60 quid, but hey, buy once & cry once and it sure is a great budget PSU.

Can't seem to find 430W version there, perhaps you could find it elsewhere - this is actually what I can personally recommend as I have one and am v happy with it - it's by no means totally silent, but a v quiet unit at great price. V quiet in idle (100W at the wall for me) and when the PC is stressed my VGA actually drowns out everything else. Don't know how quiet your GTX460 is, but I'd assume you'll first here the card over the PSU.

Not sure how much power you want but I just replaced a dead Antec PSU with a Corsair CX430 V2 which is 80 plus rated it's quiet and surprisingly well made for the price decent cabling all covered nicely. They do a 500/600 watt version as well I believe if you need a bit more grunt. I'll def be sticking to the Corsair builder series for PSU's at this price range decent stuff really.

I bought the Antec NEo eco 520 (still not arrived). According to the users here it is the same as the 520W Seasonic S12II-520, but cheaper. The Corsair CX seams to be louder than those two (according to the test here). Better is VX (according to test)

I see a review for the Corsair CX400W not sure if this is using the same fan as the one I got. Anyway that was a replacement for the Antec Sonata one that died a week ago (380w) earthwatts which really blew up nicely sparks flying out the back!. I'd say it might be the type of PSU you'd look for one a get something half decent replacement PSU front rather than building a quiet new pc from scratch..anyway I never had many complaints about the Antec one and this one seems pretty quiet to my ears. At that price and wattage it's one of the better ones I've used noise wise.

Hi, I used this Rasurbo PSU in a build for a friends the other day and was impressed with it.
80+ certified and only £30 and really rather quiet, I didn't feel the need to mod it not was it a significant noise maker. (92mm CPu fan ~900rpm, 120mm case fan ~600rpm, suspended 7200rpm HDD) so quite quiet PC.
Only asking it to power stock clocked 2500k and onboard graphics so probably ~100w under load.

The addition of GTX460 might make it noisier, although from power perspective even though only 350w it should handle it fine.
[Seasonic 330w will drive my Q9400 + GTX260, both overclocked!]

Seb