500W BE QUIET! SYSTEM POWER 9 CM 80+ $85

We’ll say this until we’re blue in the face but get a decent power supply. You don’t have to spend a lot, just buy from a brand you trust, even if it has an 80+ rating, and is non-modular. There are so many dodgy PSUs with subpar components out there that could take your system out, it’s not worth the risk.

Take our faulty RGB controller tripping the entire build. It shot the power supply instantly, but the rest of the rig, the motherboard, the CPU, were all fine—protected by some ingenious engineering from this German manufacturer.

The System Power 9 CM is a fine little unit, with plenty of cables, and modular too. At 500W, it’s got plenty of headroom for our system, and will even support an RTX 3080 (if they’re ever in stock again). Oh, and it’s… quiet. www.bequiet.com