High Wattage PSUs Are Stupid

[Marinatall_Ironside]

3 minutes ago, Huskyhunter said:

So I have a 9590, dual XFX 390X's and other things in my computer a EVGA 1300w Supernova isn't over kill is it? I used the Coolermaster PSU Calculator Luke talked about in his video and it said I would be around 1k wattage, so 300w of headroom is good. Right?

Of course it's not super overkill. It's never good to run your power supply close to its rated capacity, as it stresses the components of the power supply, therefore reducing the lifespan of the power supply. Also it's good to have some headroom for overclocking too.

 

Welcome to the forum @Huskyhunter

[Huskyhunter]

1 minute ago, JurunceNK said:

Of course it's not super overkill. It's never good to run your power supply close to its rated capacity, as it stresses the components of the power supply, therefore reducing the lifespan of the power supply. Also it's good to have some headroom for overclocking too.

 

Welcome to the forum @Huskyhunter

Thanks, I just needed validation for my existence!

[atrash]

High Wattage PSUs are NOT stupid IF you have a specific use case scenario where you could/need to have such psu.

 

Clickbait title is stupid.This is one of the reasons why I don't watch their YT videos anymore

[Marinatall_Ironside]

17 minutes ago, atrash said:

High Wattage PSUs are NOT stupid IF you have a specific use case scenario where you could/need to have such psu.

 

Clickbait title is stupid.

I agree. I also made a comment concerning not just the clickbait nature of it, but also how fallacious it is (if you know the definition of the word fallacious that is)

 

2 hours ago, JurunceNK said:

I really feel like this is one of the most fallacious click-baity videos thus far. There's a lot wrong in the "high wattage PSU's are stupid" argument. Of course high wattage PSU's exist for a good reason. If you're building high-powered, high-performance workstations or enthusiast-level powerhouses (mine is going to be the best of both worlds BTW), you're going to more than likely end up needing a PSU with 1 kW+ to power said computer with like; overclocked CPU, two overclocked NVIDIA TITAN X's, a pair of HDD's and SSD's, an M.2 SSD, watercooling, etc. so as to not stress your power supply so much that it's not going to last long. And it's a good thing to have some headroom to play around with.

 

I went with a 1200-watt unit because that's what I have planned in mind, and I don't want to beef up on a power supply because it's either cutting it too close or it's triggering protection circuits because the power draw exceeded the capacity the power supply is rated for.

But then again I digress. For most people they'll be fine with a 520-watt unit. It's just that when you enter that kind of realm, you're going to need a bigger unit.

Edited August 11, 2016 by JurunceNK

[Godlygamer23]

High wattage power supplies are not stupid. They have their place.

 

The real monster are the people who go too high. Don't attack the product stack as they do have their place. Attack the people who buy them when they're not required, and continually educate people on why they may not need such a high capacity power supply, and they'll spread the message even further.

[AraiBob]

Hi, Each person is 'allowed' to choose their components and this includes the power supply. In my case, I buy parts I expect to use in more than one build. E.g., Motherboards change faster than cases and power supplies. Why? Features that I 'need' that are not on the current motherboard. Or perhaps the motherboard has developed problems, even though it has not failed completely.

Currently, I am on my 3rd build in my Silverstone FT04. My 2nd build on my P C Power and Cooling 1200 watt power supply. The Power supply comes with a 7 year warrantee, and I am about 4 years into that. From one combination of motherboard and CPU to the next, I cannot be certain what kind of power I will need. But I do know I will need power to deal with 2 SSDs and 4 large hard drives.

I don't need the latest video card, as I don't do video games. I do videos, whose requirements are not as extreme.

Yes, it is fairly certain I don't need 1200 watts. But this particular PSU has some smarts. The fan won't turn on until I hit over 600 watts of draw. Which has happened seldom. So, the hint is I might get by with 750 watts. For the current configuration. What about the next configuration?

I do believe the power draw of PCs has hit a relatively calm point. And I do expect CPUs to get 'smaller' in size and power draw. But I cannot be certain, and I like having 'reserve' capability. And I live in a nation with notorious power issues. 240 volts? Naw... It comes from the pole at 260+ volts, which my PC's power supply handles easily. Same with my UPS. Both have to deal with high voltages that can dip. So each person has to decide what will be worth the expense.

[Energycore]

The PSU Ranking team approves this video

[Energycore]

1 hour ago, AraiBob said:

Hi, Each person is 'allowed' to choose their components and this includes the power supply. In my case, I buy parts I expect to use in more than one build. E.g., Motherboards change faster than cases and power supplies. Why? Features that I 'need' that are not on the current motherboard. Or perhaps the motherboard has developed problems, even though it has not failed completely.

Currently, I am on my 3rd build in my Silverstone FT04. My 2nd build on my P C Power and Cooling 1200 watt power supply. The Power supply comes with a 7 year warrantee, and I am about 4 years into that. From one combination of motherboard and CPU to the next, I cannot be certain what kind of power I will need. But I do know I will need power to deal with 2 SSDs and 4 large hard drives.

I don't need the latest video card, as I don't do video games. I do videos, whose requirements are not as extreme.

Yes, it is fairly certain I don't need 1200 watts. But this particular PSU has some smarts. The fan won't turn on until I hit over 600 watts of draw. Which has happened seldom. So, the hint is I might get by with 750 watts. For the current configuration. What about the next configuration?

I do believe the power draw of PCs has hit a relatively calm point. And I do expect CPUs to get 'smaller' in size and power draw. But I cannot be certain, and I like having 'reserve' capability. And I live in a nation with notorious power issues. 240 volts? Naw... It comes from the pole at 260+ volts, which my PC's power supply handles easily. Same with my UPS. Both have to deal with high voltages that can dip. So each person has to decide what will be worth the expense.

The thing is, many 550W units today are fanless up to 400+W (not to mention some literally don't have a fan), come with 7-10 year warranties (EVGA G2, Corsair RMx for instance), and since 1200W units of the same performance cost three to four times as much, it ends up being cheaper to just buy the big freaking PSU if you ever feel like doing 4-way SLI Titan Xs or Quadfire 295x2s, and stay on 550-750W for your not overkill gaming tower.

 

For some people, the difference between a $80 EVGA G2 and a $400 AX1500i is negligible. If you're one of those people, be my guest. But most consumers and even professionals have a set budget and a 1200W PSU that will never be loaded over 400W is a waste especially since 33% load is certainly not its most efficient load.

[Marinatall_Ironside]

2 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

High wattage power supplies are not stupid. They have their place.

 

The real monster are the people who go too high. Don't attack the product stack as they do have their place. Attack the people who buy them when they're not required, and continually educate people on why they may not need such a high capacity power supply, and they'll spread the message even further.

I totally agree. Did you read my un-quoted comment as well? I feel like you did.

 

And I'll say it again: Most people are fine with a 520-watt power supply (with at least 80 Plus Bronze for electric bill savings). Bigger power supplies exist for those who are building one of two things: High-powered, high-performance workstations, or enthusiast-grade powerhouses. That's all there is to it.

 

I also saw someone who said that in terms of power consumption, it's not going to go down enough because as components get more energy efficient, those parts will perform much faster than the last generation. I agree. Look at the GTX 1080 and the Nvidia Titan X, those two GPU's have much better performance-per-watt due to architecture changes and node shrinkage, but they consume just as much, if not, more power than Maxwell, a certain price to pay for.

 

The moral of the story is, it's fallacious and you should take what Luke said with a grain of salt.

Edited August 12, 2016 by JurunceNK

[Energycore]

7 hours ago, maxtch said:

I think that there is one specific scenario where a grossly overrated power supply can be justified: high-reliability 24/7 servers and workstations.

 

I gave my NASter machine, a less-than-300W machine built with entirely server-grade components, a 550W power supply. This 50% derating allows me to run this machine 24/7 with an expected service life of 8-10 years. That machine is used as my home router, NAS file server, Wi-Fi authentication server and development server, so I definitely want it to stay stable at all times.

Not grossly overrated, this is more like intelligently overrated. But in general getting a higher-certified PSU will give it better efficiency than tweaking its power consumption. Also keep in mind not all units of a single model will have their efficiency curves be the same as advertised or even as the review unit.

 

My recommendation to anyone who wants the most efficient unit for a NAS / 350W ish server is a fanless unit that doesn't waste power by powering a fan, there's the Seasonic X-Fanless and the Silverstone Nightjar, both impressive units and Platinum-certified.

[FPS-Russia]

I got Corsair RM750X replacing my Seasonic that burned and flames.

Will power i7 6800k, RX 480 and 4 SSD 960GB Crucial.

I feel good about my purchase.

[maxtch]

42 minutes ago, Thread212 said:

it is stupid.. for your gaming RIG..
it only make sense if u are planning on 7 gamer in one rig..

Or if your machine is a 24/7 server with a literal ton of hard drives and RAID controllers in it.

[AraiBob]

I see a lot of 'almost' flaming here. I thought such things had become out of 'flavor' and considered rude, too.

 

If I did like most PC builders, I would be building with all new parts. case, motherboard, drives, etc. And if I expected that I would NEVER upgrade any component, etc, then limiting the power supply, and other parts to 'just enough' would make sense. But as an old-timer mainframe programmer of 37 years, I don't do things like that. I buy quality [expensive] components I expect will last me years. Far longer than a single build. This means the actual cost per build is comparable. And I mistyped my case, a FT02 Silverstone case... As usual, your mileage will vary. and for anyone to tell someone else they made a mistake is what I consider 'rude'.

Besides, how do you learn? By making mistakes. And a lot of mistakes can be skipped by asking someone a bit more 'expert' than you and then considering what they said against your purposes.

[zMeul]

3 hours ago, Thread212 said:

it is stupid.. for your gaming RIG..
it only make sense if u are planning on 7 gamer in one rig..

I'm sorry, why would you buy a 1500W PSU if your build only draws ~300-400W at the wall?

do you have money and dunno what to do with it?! OK

 

but, that wasn't the title of the video

not even the main theme of the video

[zMeul]

Just now, Thread212 said:

-

I already said everything I had to say related to this

the video is stupid, not the existence of hi wattage PSUs

[NumLock21]

I go with whats on deal 1k cost same as a 750w. I go with 1k.

[Progressor]

What is the point of this video?

Firstly, the clickbite and just terrible title, disliked the video for it, please LMG you're better than that, don't become a tech buzzfeed channel.

Secondly, the content itself, it's obvious for your average joe viewer that then don't need a 1000W PSU. You call high wattage PSU's stupid yet you recommend your viewers not cheeping out and you mention that buying a higher wattage rated than what your system needs PSU results in it being more reliable, quieter and more energy efficient. So what exactly are you trying to say here? You say it's stupid but you prove it's not? To make a car analogy this was like a car guy telling me "18 wheeler trucks are stupid, you only need a car for your daily driving but not a too cheap one, cuz really cheap ones are probably shit", no shit, Sherlock. The whole video felt like filler video you just made to fill your "video per day" quota. It would have been much more useful if you made a PSU buying guide explaining the different classes of PSUs and their uses.. or a video where you test if buying a higher wattage PSU than what your system needs so the PSU runs on maximum efficiency would be cheaper(saving from the power bill) in the long term than just buying a cheaper PSU that just meets your PCs power requirement. 
 

[Savage.exe]

On 8/11/2016 at 2:37 AM, Name Taken said:

8 x 280X mining would trip my 110V/15A breaker so I moved 2 cards to a separate rig for reliable 24/7 operation.

 

  Hide contents

LOL I wonder why?

[Savage.exe]

 

6 minutes ago, Name Taken said:

It would have been fine if I just mined Ethereum but dual mining Siacoin requires quite a bit more power per card; but on the plus side Siacoin pays for all the electricity so the mined Ethereum is pure profit.

Ah nice, I didn't know that there was a {null} that paid for your electricity. How do you go about telling them your power usage?

[Quad Damage]

Disappointing to see that the LTT channel has been full of clickbaity content-lite videos recently.
 

Reasons to buy a high wattage power supply:

1. Efficiency under load. High wattage 80 PLUS Titanium PSUs are generally still as efficient if not more than lower wattage PSUs under gaming loads.
2. Inefficiency at idle doesn't matter. Even if your high wattage power supply is 10-20% less efficient than an "optimally" sized PSU for your build based on its efficiency curve, that only works out to be single digit differences in power consumption now that hardware is so efficient. It's high loads where efficiency really matters for a desktop system.
3. Higher wattage power supplies are built to stricter standards and use better components for maximum efficiency and lifespan. If we stick with Corsair, the high-end (high wattage) ones are warrantied for 10 years.
4. High wattage PSUs can remain fanless under higher loads. An AX1500i is fanless up to ~525W. An RM650i is only fanless up to 260W. Keep in mind that these are ratings for 25℃ - the fan will kick in sooner if things heat up, or after prolonged load.

Do you need more than a 650W power supply for a typical modern single-GPU build today? No, not at all.
Are higher wattage power supplies stupid? Definitely not.
 
My AX850 is nearing the end of its 7 year warranty at which point I'll be replacing it - and likely doing a complete new build.
If anything, I'm thinking that I will be going up in wattage, not down - if only to keep the PSU running fanless most if not all the time.
 
Personally I'd never recommend a passively cooled power supply.
I'd much rather that the PSU included a fan and was able to regulate its temperature if necessary (e.g. prolonged gaming loads on a hot summers day) than running hot/inefficient because it can't do anything about it. Better to keep the components at a stable temperature for longevity.

[Nena Trinity]

I am happy with 550w to 650w!

[AshleyAshes]

53 minutes ago, Quad Damage said:

1. Higher wattage power supplies are built to stricter standards and use better components for maximum efficiency and lifespan. If we stick with Corsair, the high-end (high wattage) ones are warrantied for 10 years.

It seems pretty foolish to blindly believe this.  While in -general terms- the build quality of a PSUs goes up as cost goes up, this is not necessarily true of any given PSU and it's ignorant to assert it as some kind of rule or as the basis for argument.  Let's go with the EVGA Supernova P2 series it ranges from 650w to 1600w and JohnnyGURU reviews place every unit in that series as remarkably well built and excellent performers.  There is no improvement in quality as you go up from 650, they are just all great.  More over, since most PSUs aren't actually built by the company selling them, different PSUs in a series can potentially be an entirely different platform than it's series branded different wattage cousin, and a higher wattage unit could be inferior to the lower wattage unit of the same series.  To outright say 'Higher wattage power supplies are built to stricter standards' is dangerous and it's the kind of words that makes uneducated consumers who will believe 'Higher wattage = Better Built' rather than relying on actual reviews of individual products.

[BuckGup]

On 8/11/2016 at 2:19 AM, Morgan MLGman said:

I'd say anything up to 850W is not overkill. Beyond that? Of course.

Unless you have 4 GTX480s which pull upwards of 1500W

[FPS-Russia]

On 13/08/2016 at 1:26 AM, NumLock21 said:

I go with whats on deal 1k cost same as a 750w. I go with 1k.

I like this man i will now follow this man.

[Jumper118]

lies