Power Supply Myths

[PuddinPop]

So, I've been seeing a lot of people looking at power supplies or worrying whether or not their computer can handle a lower Wattage. Along with this usually comes the recommendation for some huge power supply that is completely unnecessary. So, I'm giving you an article from anandtech which goes through the power supply purchasing process. The parts are slightly dated but still very applicable.

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3413&p=1

I thought it was rather interesting that higher rated power supplies actually take a rather large efficiency hit if you aren't drawing enough from them.

 

[DragonD]

Interesting.

 

[mrcool]

Too bad it's about 9 months old. Newegg has a power supply calculator, but Newegg's is even older > http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

 

[J-Wall]

Yeah I'm always amused seeing 1000-watt power supplies in rigs that only need 500-600 at most.

 

[PuddinPop]

Too bad it's about 9 months old. Newegg has a power supply calculator, but Newegg's is even older > http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

The age has nothing to do with the article. The article is to teach others how to shop responsibly for power supplies. Individual parts can be researched and calculated separately.

 

[Arn0t]

Yeah, i believe it is a very good article, and should answer lots of peoples questions, if they choose to look at this

 

[iGreen]

Very useful, I'm still using a power supply from my original system build and was looking for something new, so that helps a lot.

Would probably have gone for something around the 550W+ mark, gets kinda expensive up there as well, glad i saw this first tho.

 

[The Icon]

aww that calculator doesn't have the video card Nvidia GeForce 250

 

[Rogue Sniper]

I have a 600 watt PSU thats 2.5 years old probably isnt maxed out, but it does the job. Efficiently or not... But its pretty weird that to stay efficient you need to keep it pretty much maxed out if its a higher rated psu...


For an usually up to date PSU calculator:

http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/

Thats what I usually use for builds + 100watts for safety or additional later add-ins/ons

 

[Ryken]

i always over purchase on power supply so it works for my next build. I feel that it is one part of a computer that won't change much, you'll just need more of it.

That being said, I have a 650-700W (can't remember) running a athlon 6400 and a 9600GT, and I consider it to be overkill. When I go quad core and a newer card in another year or two, the PS will be reused.

His chart says my chipset, card, and processor necessitate 307W. That plus hard drive, fans, optical, etc. keeps me way under.

I think we'll see a decrease in need for bigger and bigger power supplies as manufacturers make their stuff more and more efficient. We'll up the wattage, but at a slower rate.