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The trend is clear - with SLI and dual-core CPUs – power demand in a PC is only going one way, and that’s up rather than down. As such, 500W PSUs are becoming the norm. Most of us don’t yet need this level of power though and 400-450W should be more than enough even if you’ve got a pretty high-end gaming PC. It's more important to get a good quality power supply and we were glad to see that the overall standard of the PSUs on test was high. That said, none of the unit's blew us away, neither figuratively or literally.

Picking a winner in a group test is always tough. Aside from test results these things always comes down to personal needs as well as cost. However, winners have to be picked and based on several factors the Seasonic S12-600 comes out on top. Not only is it very power efficient, but it also has plenty of connectors and produced some very good test results. If you need a high-end PSU for a gaming system this one hits the spot.

If the Seasonic is too expensive for your wallet and don’t need a power supply that is ready to take on two graphics cards then the Cooler Master RealPower RS-550-ACLY is one of the best alternatives.

On the budget end of the scale the Silver Power SP-400P1B is a really good buy for the money, but it is pretty basic compared to the more expensive PSUs on test.

Though not an award winner, if you really fancy a modular PSU then the Tagan EasyCon TG530-U15 is a good choice - it might not have the very best test results, but it has the best cables and connectors of the modular PSUs on test.

Overall there was only one really rotten apple in the barrel, indicating that the quality of power supplies is generally improving, which has got to be good news.

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