Electricians and Mathematicians: Worth the extra £££ to go for a Titanium PSU?

[Actual_Criminal]

I'm currently torn between 2 PSU's that are actually in stock and I can buy in the UK. (otherwise I would buy one of the SeaSonic Prime ones.)

 

They are:

EVGA SuperNOVA 1000w T2 Titanium at around £300.

or

Antec Signature 1000w Platinum at around £210.

 

So a price difference of £90.

 

The estimated consumption usage for my build will be 569w according to PC Partpicker. (feel free to round up to 600w).

 

My kW/h is roughly £0.145

 

Over the course of 5 years, let's say i'm using my PC at full load for 4 hours a day, every single day (obviously this will vary, but this is a rough high estimate.) how much money would I actually save using the higher efficiency Titanium PSU?

 

Also, do the above PSU's offer the same protection in terms of power-surge/overload (and alike) because my last Platinum Corsair HX850 killed my PC.

 

NOTE: I know 1000w is overkill; so in before "Hurr-durr get this 650W copper efficiency Chinese PSU instead.", but I would like to futureproof (also a little ePeen). Feel free to also suggest in-stock (or very soon to be released) alternative PSU's but must be Platinum or Titanium rated, offer good warranty and most importantly, surge (and similar) protection.

 

This is technically a math question, so thanks in advance. Extra mark if you show your workings 

[nox_]

No.imo that is.

8 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

"Hurr-durr get this 650W copper efficiency Chinese PSU instead.",

No one in their right mind would say this. Wattage you are going with is silly, but never go for copper as you say Chinese psu, be it 650 or 1000w.

[Actual_Criminal]

4 minutes ago, nox_ said:

No.imo that is.

No one in their right mind would say this. Wattage you are going with is silly, but never go for copper as you say Chinese psu, be it 650 or 1000w.

I read that PSU's operate best when at 50% of their rated capacity. So I think a 1000W PSU for a build rated at 600W is reasonable in my opinion, especially when taking in account future proofing and ePeen.

 

Also, my main focus is safety and reliability. I would rather have a PSU that has room to spare in 5 years time rather than a ticking copper PSU timebomb.

[nox_]

10 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

I read that PSU's operate best when at 50% of their rated capacity.

Not exactly true.

 

10 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

especially when taking in account future proofing and ePeen.

Mostly ePeen, except if you are planning to do actual hard work on your pc or powering multiple gpu's. But at least you admitted it So that's nice.

 

10 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

rather than a ticking copper PSU timebomb.

No one is suggesting that.

 

@Juular@LukeSavenije Can anyone of you weigh in on this?

[Senzelian]

600w/h x 4 hours a day = 2400w/h
0.145 / 10 = 0.0145
0.0145 x 24 = £0.348/day

 

0.348 x 5 years (1825) = £635,10 after 5 years.

 

Platinum = 94% (at 50% load)

Titanium = 96% (at 50% load)

 

£635,10 / 0.94 = £675,64 (Platinum)

£635,10 / 0.96 = £661,56 (Titanium)

 

With the Titanium PSU you'd save around £14.

Yay! (if my math is correct lol)

 

 

The £300 you listed is a complete ripoff for the T2. They usually go for around £200 - 250, but its a good PSU.

The Seasonic TX-1000 is also a good choice, but seemingly unavailable in the UK. 

 

[Senzelian]

Oops. Double-post.

[boggy77]

11 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

I read that PSU's operate best when at 50% of their rated capacity. So I think a 1000W PSU for a build rated at 600W is reasonable in my opinion

those 600W are uber peak load when running prime 95 and furmark at the same time. in normal gaming/work scenarios, you'll likely be closer to 400W, which means a 850W psu might be better for you . So here I stand, hurr-durring about getting a smaller capacity psu.

having said that, here are my recommendations:

Corsair HX Platinum

SeaSonic FOCUS PX

Corsair HXi

Asus ROG Thor 850

 

 

 

[LukeSavenije]

16 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

I read that PSU's operate best when at 50% of their rated capacity. So I think a 1000W PSU for a build rated at 600W is reasonable in my opinion, especially when taking in account future proofing and ePeen.

you're doing two things wrong here

1: the "50% is most efficient" myth comes from the 80+ certification. since they only do 3-4 loads, being 10%, 20%, 50% and 100%, 50% comes out as the most efficient. When looking at a test that does it per 10% instead you'll see that the efficiency curve actually peaks before or after that point generally, not on the exact load of 50%. You can check the many, many reviews of various PSUs for this, or look at a certification like Cybenetics' ETA

2: are you planning to go with a X299/TR dual GPU system any time soon? if not, you really don't need any kind of that wattage, with parts getting more efficient and the expected launch of ATX 12VO your PSU will be obselite in a couple years anyways.

 

with that said, if you're actually looking for a reliable unit and you want to get the most efficiency out of it, don't go with a high wattage unit. grab something reasonable in wattage and run it somewhere in the region of 30-80% load, and don't expect the peak wattage to be 24/7 unless you run furmark+prime95 for fun. State your system you want to combine it with and if you actually do want the math to be precise... maybe your electronics cost?

[Actual_Criminal]

1 hour ago, boggy77 said:

---QUOTE---

59 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

---QUOTE---

Haha, alright i'll take a look at some 850W PSU's then.

 

My concern is though that GPU's like the 3090 are taking up soo much juice that if I wanted to upgrade the GPU in 2-5 years time and the power delivery for the 4080 or whatever in combination with a 5yo 850W PSU won't be enough.

 

Specs are here (I have changed a couple things since yesterday though so list is not 100% accurate.) :

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1267620-high-end-pc-£3000-budget-buying-final-parts-this-month/?tab=comments#comment-14199179

 

[boggy77]

3 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

Haha, alright i'll take a look at some 850W PSU's then.

 

My concern is though that GPU's like the 3090 are taking up soo much juice that if I wanted to upgrade the GPU in 2-5 years time and the power delivery for the 4080 or whatever in combination with a 850W won't be enough.

 

Specs are here (I have changed a couple things since yesterday though so list is not 100% accurate.) :

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1267620-high-end-pc-£3000-budget-buying-final-parts-this-month/?tab=comments#comment-14199179

 

even the 4090 titan ti RTX+++ won't draw more than 500W, which a 850W psu can deal with comfortably.

[LukeSavenije]

19 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

My concern is though that GPU's like the 3090 are taking up soo much juice that if I wanted to upgrade the GPU in 2-5 years time and the power delivery for the 4080 or whatever in combination with a 850W won't be enough.

you're fine with a 750-850w here, and that would even leave you a ton of headroom regardless. systems like these could run on a good 650w if needed without any problem

 

some options would include

- Fractal Design ION+

- Seasonic Focus PX
- Corsair HX(i)
- Seasonic Prime PX/TX
- Corsair AX
- BeQuiet Straight Power 11 platinum

- Enermax Maxtytan

- BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11

- Cooler Master V-platinum
- FSP Hydro PTM

 

amongst others

[Actual_Criminal]

21 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

even the 4090 titan ti RTX+++ won't draw more than 500W, which a 850W psu can deal with comfortably.

There is another thread in this sub-forum where a guy is asking about a RTX 3090 and they are telling him to get a 1000W PSU... 

 

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1267820-is-rm750x-enough-for-rtx-3090-with-500w-bios/

 

[boggy77]

7 minutes ago, Actual_Criminal said:

There is another thread in this sub-forum where a guy is asking about a RTX 3090 and they are telling him to get a 1000W PSU... 

 

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1267820-is-rm750x-enough-for-rtx-3090-with-500w-bios/

 

well, I don't necessariy agree with them, I think 850W would be enough in that case, and they are talking about a card with a modified bios

[Ankerson]

1 hour ago, LukeSavenije said:

1: the "50% is most efficient" myth comes from the 80+ certification. since they only do 3-4 loads, being 10%, 20%, 50% and 100%, 50% comes out as the most efficient.

 

The reason they do the 10% load test is for 80%+ Titanium.

 

There is a difference between Platinum, Gold and Titanium at 10% or around that.

 

And that's generally normal use and or idle which most PC are at most of the time.

 

I have two machines now with an HXI (Platinum) and AXI(Titanium).

 

The Platinum (HXI) sits around 85% at idle.

 

The Titanium (AXI) sits around 92% at idle.

[Ankerson]

1 hour ago, LukeSavenije said:

systems like these could run on a good 650w if needed without any problem

 

Not really...

 

My gaming load can and will exceed 650W with the 450W 3080 FTW3 Ultra.

 

I have seen it pull 470W just from the 3x 8 Pin.

 

#8, #9 and #10 are the GPU, that's 39A or 468W.