Downside To Having A PSU That Exceeds What You Need in Wattage?

[Ashino]

As the title says I want to know is there a downside to having a psu that exceeds what you need in wattage? I have to upgrade my psu that I bought about 6 or 7 years ago (Corsair TX 850w V2) since I want to upgrade from a 1080TI to a 3080 and I can't keep my PSU if I want to do that because of it's running age. However, I don't want to just buy another 850w psu and it would be nice if I got a power supply with more wattage so i could have more headroom in the future, but I'm wondering if having a psu with more power than you need could maybe cause harm to your components or exhaust the components in the long run and decrease its performance until it damage them. I posted a forum post earlier asking whether or not I should upgrade my PSU in the first place and came to the conclusion that I'll have to, but forgot to ask about whether buying 1000w or a 1200w psu (which is way more than I need) with my setup could actually hurt my components.

 

i7 8700k

EVGA GTX 1080TI SC2

16gb ddr4 corsair vengeance ram,

Aorus gaming 7 z370 motherboard

Corsair TX850w psu 

[Prodigy_Smit]

No it cant hurt. The components only use how much power they need. Only way its bad is that you are over spending besides that nothing.

[boggy77]

only hurts your wallet.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Ashino said:

As the title says I want to know is there a downside to having a psu that exceeds what you need in wattage? I have to upgrade my psu that I bought about 6 or 7 years ago (Corsair TX 850w V2) since I want to upgrade from a 1080TI to a 3080 and I can't keep my PSU if I want to do that because of it's running age. However, I don't want to just buy another 850w psu and it would be nice if I got a power supply with more wattage so i could have more headroom in the future, but I'm wondering if having a psu with more power than you need could maybe cause harm to your components or exhaust the components in the long run and decrease its performance until it damage them. I posted a forum post earlier asking whether or not I should upgrade my PSU in the first place and came to the conclusion that I'll have to, but forgot to ask about whether buying 1000w or a 1200w psu (which is way more than I need) with my setup could actually hurt my components.

 

i7 8700k

EVGA GTX 1080TI SC2

16gb ddr4 corsair vengeance ram,

Aorus gaming 7 z370 motherboard

Corsair TX850w psu 

1. You can even run a 3090 with a 850w psu. Going any larger is just pointless

2. Power consumption. The larger the psu the less efficient it is at lower wattages thus it consumes more at idle.

 

Other than that nothing happens. What tx850 is this btw?

[Samfisher]

It hurts your wallet in 2 ways.  First you're spending more for a unit you don't need, and secondly, PSUs are less efficient at lower power loads so your PC power load will always be on the lower side on the PSU efficiency curve.

[Bad5ector]

It's all about efficiency. The more wattage is better (usually) because it will allow you to run your system at the PSUs peak efficiency.  Going too big however will just be a waste of money and can even ruin efficiency, if you are outside of the PSUs efficiency curve.

[Moonzy]

in addition to other's points, cost and low wattage efficiency,

size, higher wattage psu can be longer, which may be a problem in some cases_heh, especially when it's a modular unit.

less cable management room.

[Ashino]

Alright then I really do have to just get another 850w psu I guess. Kinda feels like a waste just going from an 850w psu that still works and buying another 850w psu, but I guess that's what I have to do if I really want that GPU upgrade. Thanks guys.

[SupaKomputa]

Question exactly like this just pop out litterally a day ago.

[Samfisher]

8 minutes ago, Ashino said:

Alright then I guess I really do have to just get another 850w psu I guess. Kinda feels like a waste just going from an 850w psu that still works and buying another 850w psu, but I guess that's what I have to do if I really want that GPU upgrade. Thanks guys.

TBH you won't ever hit 850w ever if you're just a regular consumer.  You can't even SLI the 3080 to justify the added power headroom.

[Bad5ector]

You can totally go for a 1000watt. Not sure why you feel the need to stick with 850? Will you pull 1000watts with what you have (unlikely) but your PSU fans will spin up less and it will generate less heat overall.  And again, depending on the efficiency curve, you might be able to be able to stay in that sweet spot while under a load. 

[Ashino]

No I actually wanted to buy a 1000w or 1200w since the 1000w PSU I wanted is only like $20 more expensive than the 850w version, but if its going to be way less efficient because I have a power supply that way exceeds what I actually need then there is no point of going over 850w like what everyone else said.

13 minutes ago, Bad5ector said:

You can totally go for a 1000watt. Not sure why you feel the need to stick with 850? Will you pull 1000watts with what you have (unlikely) but your PSU fans will spin up less and it will generate less heat overall.  And again, depending on the efficiency curve, you might be able to be able to stay in that sweet spot while under a load. 

 

P.S. this is the 1000w PSU I was looking at https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Power-Supply-Units/hxi-series-2017-config/p/CP-9020139-NA but I just went ahead and bought this one https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Power-Supply-Units/hxi-series-2017-config/p/CP-9020138-NA. 

[Bad5ector]

Well I guess if you feel that within the next 10 years (length of the PSUs warranty) your power requirements won't increase, then I guess???  If it were me I would have dropped the extra 20bux.

 

EDIT: Don't get me wrong. Solid purchase none-the-less.

[quan289]

20 minutes ago, Ashino said:

Kinda feels like a waste just going from an 850w psu that still works and buying another 850w psu.

 

3 minutes ago, Ashino said:

I just went ahead and bought this one https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Power-Supply-Units/hxi-series-2017-config/p/CP-9020138-NA. 

You went from using a decent mainstream unit from it's time to an excellent, high-end unit of today. That's an improvement, not a waste.

[Aditya Dighe]

As others have quoted... The efficiency of these PSUs is highest when they are at about 80% load.  If the current one is working good so far, would recommend to continue using it  rather than generating the E-waste.

[Ankerson]

4 hours ago, Aditya Dighe said:

The efficiency of these PSUs is highest when they are at about 80% load

 

 

That's 40% to 65% load range depending on PSU, not 80%....

[Aditya Dighe]

1 hour ago, Ankerson said:

 

 

That's 40% to 65% load range depending on PSU, not 80%....

I am sorry , the 80plus certified are 80% efficient and not at 80% load but drops below 60% for idle loads. Thanks for the correction @Ankerson