How many watts should I be looking for in a PSU

[HephMiner]

I'm trying to see what all I will need for my first gaming build and as parts come and go and everything changes, trying to pin down how many watts I should get, especially since it's my first time, is kinda hard. This is what I'm looking at for a PC at the moment:

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600

MoBo: MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC

GPU: Nvidia RTX 2070 Super

RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4-3600 (2 x 8 GB)

HDD: 1 TB Seagate Barracuda

SSD: 500 GB WD Blue

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L RGB

 

Any recommendation for the wattage of the PSU is greatly appreciated, or just any recommendation on the build in general, thanks. 

[callmejaccob]

Most likely a 750w psu, possibly even 1000w if you can get it. 

[Fasauceome]

your rig would consume like 400 watts, so if you want some potential upgrade room in the future you can go with a 550 watt unit. The Corsair RMx or TXM are good choices.

[Sir0Tek]

If it's a good, modern psu and unless you're going to add a 2nd 2070S in the foreseeable future 450W is enough, you may add 10-20% for convenience.

[Spotty]

Decent 550W PSU would be a good choice here.

 

Do you have a budget in mind that you want to spend on the power supply?

[Bumbummen]

Keep in mind the PSU efficiency curve. Your PSU wont make it long on 100% avg.

[callmejaccob]

1 minute ago, Bumbummen said:

Keep in mind the PSU efficiency curve. Your PSU wont make it long on 100% avg.

That's what I've heard before, hence why I recommended a 750w psu. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/psu-buying-guide,2916-3.html

[Sir0Tek]

Just now, Bumbummen said:

Keep in mind the PSU efficiency curve.

Which is almost a straight line from somewhere in the sub 20% up to over 80%....

[HephMiner]

2 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Decent 550W PSU would be a good choice here.

 

Do you have a budget in mind that you want to spend on the power supply?

I was hoping less than $100 or possibly at if need be.

[Akira Shimazu]

550W CXM or TXM like @Fasauceome. 650W for future upgrade but 550W is enough. 750W above is overkill.

[Bumbummen]

2 minutes ago, Sir0Tek said:

Which is almost a straight line from somewhere in the sub 20% up to over 80%....

Yes, that is why it wont make it long on 100%. As others said give it some room to breathe, +15-25% so 550W should be enough.

[Sir0Tek]

1 minute ago, Bumbummen said:

Yes, that is why it wont make it long on 100%.

The system as described above may touch 400W in a worst-case scenario, and a good psu does survive 100% very well and without losing much of it's efficiency. It's 2020 fgs...

[callmejaccob]

6 minutes ago, HephMiner said:

I was hoping less than $100 or possibly at if need be.

I recommend a 750w psu. Your psu won't really survive fully on near max usage for long. I found a 750w Corsair semi-modular psu here. If you want to know more about psu efficiency, Tom's Hardware has a nice article. Perhaps a 650w will work too (also saves $10 too).

[Bumbummen]

10 hours ago, Sir0Tek said:

The system as described above may touch 400W in a worst-case scenario, and a good psu does survive 100% very well and without losing much of it's efficiency. It's 2020 fgs...

Why cheaping out on the PSU? I mean that's like only 10-15€ (For gold+ at least) diff for 200W and a upgrade perspective.

 

Edit: By "cheaping out" i mean saving up money, nothing offensive. i am not a native speaker.

[SpookyCitrus]

7 minutes ago, callmejaccob said:

I recommend a 750w psu. Your psu won't really survive fully on near max usage for long. I found a 750w Corsair semi-modular psu here. If you want to know more about psu efficiency, Tom's Hardware has a nice article. Perhaps a 650w will work too (also saves $10 too).

750w is overkill, a 550w could handle this PC all day everyday, 650w for future upgrades if necessary. You can even run a 9900k/2080ti system on a 650w. You will only need over a 650w for multi GPU and high end workstation systems.

[Sir0Tek]

@callmejaccob

You've already posted the very link. It doesn't get any better, though, it's from 2016 and I bet my shorts it was already outdated the day it made it on Toms.

[Sir0Tek]

1 minute ago, Bumbummen said:

Why cheaping out on the PSU? I mean that's like only 10-15€ (For gold+ at least) diff for 200W and a upgrade perspective.

It is not cheaping out to buy a good but feasible psu instead of just some psu that just has a high number printed on it.

[Bumbummen]

10 minutes ago, Sir0Tek said:

It is not cheaping out to buy a good but feasible psu instead of just some psu that just has a high number printed on it.

It is not about the number,

 

Usage (100% component draw, based on your 400W):

• 450W: 89%
• 650W: 62% (Should be right on top of the efficiency curve)

Upgrade Path:

• 450W: It's e junk basically
• 650W: Can propably handle future GPU or CPU upgrades

Cost:

• 450W: ~55€
• 650W: ~70€ (a huge increase of 15-20€)

Personally i would always choose the second option but that is up to personal preference and financtial possibilites. Imo you pay the most for the casing and cables.

[RonnieOP]

9 minutes ago, Bumbummen said:

Why cheaping out on the PSU? I mean that's like only 10-15€ (For gold+ at least) diff for 200W and a upgrade perspective.

Because the amount of watts it has doesnt mean its better.

 

And if you are on a budget then why spend an extra $20 when it gains you nothing?

 

A good 500-550 watt will be more then enough to run his system. A good 550 watt psu would probably outlive his system tbh.

 

My little brothers rig has a 500 watt running a 6700k and 1080 for the past 3 years with no issues. And I can probably count on my hands how many times that pc has been turned off in that time as well.

[Sir0Tek]

12 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

 

 

A good 500-550 watt will be more then enough to run his system. A good 550 watt psu would probably outlive his system tbh.

 

I agree for the most part but I have to comment this statement: Having a bigger psu doesn't necessarily mean that it will last longer. You can expect however that it may generate less heat by not beeing pushed too hard but there's absolutely no guarantee that it will last any longer than the one with a lower wattage. Or, plain and simple, it doesn't matter if the median load is 25% or 75%, the expected life-span of that psu is 5-10 years.

[Spotty]

34 minutes ago, HephMiner said:

I was hoping less than $100 or possibly at if need be.

In that case I would agree with @Fasauceome earlier suggestions of the TX550M and RM550x.

 

54 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

your rig would consume like 400 watts, so if you want some potential upgrade room in the future you can go with a 550 watt unit. The Corsair RMx or TXM are good choices.

The TX550M is a decent unit with semi-modular cables and 80+ gold efficiency rating, which is actually important if you care about efficiency. If you're the kind to do mail in rebates it's about $75 from Newegg at the moment (after $20 MIR), though for the full $95 it is not worth it.

The Corsair RM550x is currently on Newegg for $90 (normally $110) without the hassle of trying to claim a mail in rebate so it's a pretty good choice and unless you're the coupon cutting person that would definitely go through the hassle of claiming those mail in rebates then it would be a better value choice than the TX550M. Good power supply, 80+ Gold efficiency and fully modular. Step or two up from the TX550M in terms of Corsair's product stack.

 

The EVGA GA 550W also has a MIR from Newegg bringing it down to $65 which is a decent price. It's a new unit from EVGA so there's not many (any?) proper reviews out for it yet which isn't a good sign (not necessarily a bad sign either though!), but at $65 after MIR it's pretty cheap so I thought I'd mention it as an option.

 

If you don't like the hassle of trying to claim money back with Mail in Rebates (and I can't blame you if you don't), or if you aren't eligible to claim them in your location, then other units to consider are the Seasonic Focus Plus, Be Quiet Pure Power 11, Bitfenix Formula, Cooler Master MWE Gold, Phanteks AMP... All should be around the $75-$100 mark if you're in USA.

[Juular]

4 hours ago, Bumbummen said:

I think that the internal electronics simply wear out faster on 100%ish loads compared to 50%ish, but are there any sources to your point (or own observation)? The only general consens i can find and my observation is that it will not last longer compared to being run at 50%ish avg - do not get me wrong, i would love to save a buck but i have seen PSU's dying from being just too "small" planned for builds.

PSU durability doesn't depend on it's efficiency directly. It depends on the components choice and operating temperature. High-end PSUs have A LOT of headroom on components, and even PSU itself has OCP\OPP tripping points 30% up from total rated power, also, good high-end PSUs are 50°C rated, which means that they were designed to run at 50°C outputting 100% rated power and last at least the warranty period which is usually 5-10 years depending on brand. That means that manufacturer are confident that it will be running good in these conditions for this period.

 

But back to efficiency, it's a function of PSU components, and the more efficient it is the less power are lost as heat, so operating temperature will be lower, but that's a consequence, not cause of high quality, and you can't just grab a random 80+ Gold, Platinum, Titanium, whatever unit and call it a day, not all of them made equal. Also, if you see, most modern high-efficiency PSUs have semi-fanless mode and OTP tripping point are generally set 100-150°C which is another sign that manufacturer are confident in it.

 

Generally speaking, don't look at the brand or efficiency, look at the unit itself, it's reviews, the performance.

 

Same with warranty, it's a function of PSU quality, not the other way around, don't choose the PSU just based on the warranty, for example, for whatever reasons, high-end-ish be quiet! units still have 5 years warranty in comparison with 10 years from Corsair and Seasonic, which is a shame, but those units are perfectly good otherwise.

 

Speaking of wattage, as you might've noticed, i'm trying to say that you don't need to get the wattage twice of what your PC would consume, it's pointless, don't choose a PSU based on wattage, look at quality and performance, any desktop CPU based, single-GPU rig would be good with 650W, even 550W if it's strictly for gaming or it's not so high-end (OP's build qualifies for that), 450W if it's smth as low power draw as R5 2600\3600 + GTX1660 Ti and you don't need a headroom for upgrades, 750\850W if it's based on workstation-level CPU (Intel X-series, AMD Threadripper, 300-400W high core count ones), 1000\1200W if it's multi-GPU with modern ones. Buying 1000W PSU for gaming rig, especially with R5 3600 and RTX2070 Super are complete waste of money.

 

Of course all that applies only if PSU are already high-quality, aka relatively modern, preferably LLC-resonant topology, 50°C rated (at least 40°C if we're talking about mid-end unit) with good performance (look at reviews), complete protections set, better multi-rail if the rig warrants a PSU with more than 850W, despite most 'reputable' brands still manufacture only single-rail 1000W+ units (looking at you Seasonic). If you've seen EVGA 30°C (FFS EVGA, stop selling that crap) rated units fail that doesn't mean that high-quality PSUs will fail under 100% load, they're designed to run this way.

[Beerzerker]

6 hours ago, RonnieOP said:

Because the amount of watts it has doesnt mean its better.

 

And if you are on a budget then why spend an extra $20 when it gains you nothing?

 

A good 500-550 watt will be more then enough to run his system. A good 550 watt psu would probably outlive his system tbh.

 

My little brothers rig has a 500 watt running a 6700k and 1080 for the past 3 years with no issues. And I can probably count on my hands how many times that pc has been turned off in that time as well.

The root of alot of confusion about PSU's in that people for some reason think if it's rated for X wattage, it's throwing out that amount period to the system - Which it's NOT.

 

All it's rating means is what the unit is capable of at it's max output if the power demand is there.

A PSU doesn't just cram xxx wattage into a unit, it only supplies what it needs based on the demand for power at any given moment.

 

I believe for the OP at least a 650 to a 750W is fine, no need to go any larger with the setup proposed here.

Yes, you'd want it to have little headroom to accomidate the unexpected and to keep the PSU from screaming at or near 100% all the time - It's not a matter of efficiency but in not working the unit to death.

About an 80% sustained load on the unit is nominal for it anyway so I personally believe the suggestion I made is fine for this build.

 

 

[Juular]

For the OP, generally this looks good, other than make sure that it's WD Blue 3D SSD, not the non-3D variety, and you don't need an AIO for this CPU, get some low\mid-end air cooler if you're worried about noise (smth like CM Hyper 212, up to Scythe Fuma 2). About the PSU, @Fasauceome already recommended a couple units, stick to 550\650W versions, but without knowing your country it's hard to recommend anything specific.

[GoldenLag]

7 hours ago, Bumbummen said:

Upgrade Path:

• 450W: It's e junk basically

Actually you can run most systems now, and most future systems in 450w. 

 

550w covering most upgrade paths for gaming workload.

 

8 hours ago, callmejaccob said:

recommend a 750w psu. Your psu won't really survive fully on near max usage for long. I found a 750w Corsair semi-modular psu here

Just a note. That PSU is prone to wining and is rather overkill for the system.

 

In other words, there are better option withoit spending money on meaningless wattage. 

8 hours ago, Bumbummen said:

Why cheaping out on the PSU? I mean that's like only 10-15€ (For gold+ at least) diff for 200W and a upgrade perspective.

There is a difference between cheaping out, and buying adequate wattage and quality. 

 

And usually if you have 15-20€ extra to spend, you spend it elsewhere, or get a better quality PSU.