450 gold or 520 bronze?

[7nationarmy]

Hey guys, new member here Been watching Linus' videos but havent joined the forum til now.

 

So I was wondering, would I better off choosing Seasonic 450 Gold (S12G-450) or 520 Bronze (S12II-520)? Both are retailing for the exact same price.

My concern is that from what I know, a larger psu allows quieter operation up to higher wattages (percentage load?). I favor silence a lot, so which one would be more silent in day-to-day operation (lots of word processing, videos, games like moba and bf4, photoshop)?

 

Regarding the specs, the plan is an matx H81 mobo, i5-4570, single 8gb/1600, 120gb ssd, GTX 770. Thanks in advance

[Karumu]

Hey guys, new member here Been watching Linus' videos but havent joined the forum til now.

 

So I was wondering, would I better off choosing Seasonic 450 Gold (S12G-450) or 520 Bronze (S12II-520)? Both are retailing for the exact same price.

My concern is that from what I know, a larger psu allows quieter operation up to higher wattages (percentage load?). I favor silence a lot, so which one would be more silent in day-to-day operation (lots of word processing, videos, games like moba and bf4, photoshop)?

 

Regarding the specs, the plan is an matx H81 mobo, i5-4570, single 8gb/1600, 120gb ssd, GTX 770. Thanks in advance

for the 770 i would recommend 500W+ but personally i wouldn't go with anything less than silver rating if possible i would recommend an RM 550 as they are gold efficiency and not too expensive, also includes zero RPM feature, so the fan doesn't turn on til it's at 40% load

[7nationarmy]

for the 770 i would recommend 500W+ but personally i wouldn't go with anything less than silver rating if possible i would recommend an RM 550 as they are gold efficiency and not too expensive, also includes zero RPM feature, so the fan doesn't turn on til it's at 40% load

I prefer to buy stuff locally here in Singapore and from 5 shops that I checked, no stocks on the RM550. They do have the RM650 but it costs a tad more than 2x the Seasonics here. 

[Valhallatier]

really, get whichever is cheaper. but if its like 10$ margin difference i prefer the Seasonic 450 Gold.
 

[Karumu]

I prefer to buy stuff locally here in Singapore and from 5 shops that I checked, no stocks on the RM550. They do have the RM650 but it costs a tad more than 2x the Seasonics here. 

and there is no way you can afford that? the minimum recommended power supply for the 770 is 600W if you really cannot afford it go for the 520W bronze

[7nationarmy]

really, get whichever is cheaper. but if its like 10$ margin difference i prefer the Seasonic 450 Gold.

 

 

They are actually retailing at the exact same price here.

and there is no way you can afford that? the minimum recommended power supply for the 770 is 600W if you really cannot afford it go for the 520W bronze

Quite tight on the budget, but I might be able to squeeze in a bit more. I think I will just go for Seasonic 550W gold, costs ~12 usd more than the 450 gold/520 bronze. As you say, silver or better. Corsairs are lot more expensive here. Thanks man

[Karumu]

They are actually retailing at the exact same price here.

Quite tight on the budget, but I might be able to squeeze in a bit more. I think I will just go for Seasonic 550W gold, costs ~12 usd more than the 450 gold/520 bronze. As you say, silver or better. Corsairs are lot more expensive here. Thanks man

no problem, in regards as to what valhalleratier said, you do not always want to get the cheapest one, gold provides better efficiency (lower electricity bills) quieter operation because the power supply doesn't have to work as hard to translate the power required, so it doesn't get as hot and the fan doesn't have to work as hard, and cheaper usually means bad build quality, but with seasonic or any named brands, this isn't usually as prominent.

 

but yeah, glad you decided to go with that, seems like a good choice.

[Paralectic]

It requires like 464Watt, I'd go for the 520 bronze but hm, a 550+ would be better.

[squirrl]

Why is everyone saying it requires 600w? 500w? that much? The rig in my spec doesn't use that much under load. (~380w, maybe a bit more pushed to the extreme on full load)

Doesn't mean that you need to get the smallest PSU, but it definitely will run fine off a 450w unless you plan to do a lot of overclocks and run a bunch of other hard drives and run it at 100% load constantly. That would be pushing it a bit.

- Before anyone asks, i got an 850w because i could afford it and because it was cheaper than an entirely passive PSU with no drawbacks which is what i wanted

[RatedBlam]

Don't know about Singapore, but here XFX psus retail under the price of seasonics and corsairs with the same quality

[7nationarmy]

It requires like 464Watt, I'd go for the 520 bronze but hm, a 550+ would be better.

 

 

Why is everyone saying it requires 600w? 500w? that much? The rig in my spec doesn't use that much under load. (~380w, maybe a bit more pushed to the extreme on full load)

Doesn't mean that you need to get the smallest PSU, but it definitely will run fine off a 450w unless you plan to do a lot of overclocks and run a bunch of other hard drives and run it at 100% load constantly. That would be pushing it a bit.

- Before anyone asks, i got an 850w because i could afford it and because it was cheaper than an entirely passive PSU with no drawbacks which is what i wanted

 

Based on psu calculators, it would probably need ~400W but since my concern is silence, I thought operating near full wattage of the psu will push the fan speed more and making it more noisy. So I was wondering whether 450 gold or 520 bronze would be better (and less noisy). But per the posts above, I think i should get a 550 gold to be on the safe side. 

Don't know about Singapore, but here XFX psus retail under the price of seasonics and corsairs with the same quality

Hmm I heard good stuff about them, but cant find them at the stores I checked

[squirrl]

Based on psu calculators, it would probably need ~400W but since my concern is silence, I thought operating near full wattage of the psu will push the fan speed more and making it more noisy. So I was wondering whether 450 gold or 520 bronze would be better (and less noisy). But per the posts above, I think i should get a 550 gold to be on the safe side. 

Hmm I heard good stuff about them, but cant find them at the stores I checked

It  really depends on the actual PSU as to which power/heat levels the fan turns off. The 550 should be fine though, i was just pointing out that it doesn't specifically require that wattage as a minimum.

[7nationarmy]

It  really depends on the actual PSU as to which power/heat levels the fan turns off. The 550 should be fine though, i was just pointing out that it doesn't specifically require that wattage as a minimum.

Ah i see what u mean. Yeah I think the setup would not require that much wattage to run. I was looking more at how much it required to run quietly.

[RatedBlam]

Based on psu calculators, it would probably need ~400W but since my concern is silence, I thought operating near full wattage of the psu will push the fan speed more and making it more noisy. So I was wondering whether 450 gold or 520 bronze would be better (and less noisy). But per the posts above, I think i should get a 550 gold to be on the safe side.

Hmm I heard good stuff about them, but cant find them at the stores I checked

Too bad as I just picked up a xfx 550w fully modular 80+ gold psu, that even has a fan less mode, for cheaper than any other competitor.And I even managed to review it here .

But if you want silence the efficiency usually helps keep it silent, but so do does the extra wattage, to a certain point obviously. I don't know for certain but a 550e gold unit should be pretty silent.

[quan289]

Hey guys, new member here Been watching Linus' videos but havent joined the forum til now.

 

So I was wondering, would I better off choosing Seasonic 450 Gold (S12G-450) or 520 Bronze (S12II-520)? Both are retailing for the exact same price.

My concern is that from what I know, a larger psu allows quieter operation up to higher wattages (percentage load?). I favor silence a lot, so which one would be more silent in day-to-day operation (lots of word processing, videos, games like moba and bf4, photoshop)?

 

Regarding the specs, the plan is an matx H81 mobo, i5-4570, single 8gb/1600, 120gb ssd, GTX 770. Thanks in advance

 

Due to design, the 520w won't really provide more usable power than the S12G 450w. Being a group-regulated design, the 520w would offer poorer voltage stability, especially when you get closer to its rated capacity in actual practice.

 

Based on psu calculators, it would probably need ~400W but since my concern is silence, I thought operating near full wattage of the psu will push the fan speed more and making it more noisy. So I was wondering whether 450 gold or 520 bronze would be better (and less noisy). But per the posts above, I think i should get a 550 gold to be on the safe side. 

Hmm I heard good stuff about them, but cant find them at the stores I checked

 

That really depends on the unit. You need to be wary as a higher wattage unit will generate more heat than a lower wattage unit at full load (assuming the same efficiency) and due to this, the higher wattage unit may need a more powerful fan that will operate at a higher RPM. In this case, they both used the same ball bearing fan from ADDA (AD1212MB-A70GL). Being a Gold rated power supply, the S12G will waste less energy to heat, in which it isn't require for the fan to spin up as hard as stated.

 

A 450w may set some limits on your overclocks, but seeing how you are getting a non-K i5 with that motherboard, I'm assuming you don't have any plans to do so, which the S12G 450w would power your system and is a better quality PSU than what you are lookng at.

[7nationarmy]

Due to design, the 520w won't really provide more usable power than the S12G 450w. Being a group-regulated design, the 520w would offer poorer voltage stability, especially when you get closer to its rated capacity in actual practice.

 

 

That really depends on the unit. You need to be wary as a higher wattage unit will generate more heat than a lower wattage unit at full load (assuming the same efficiency) and due to this, the higher wattage unit may need a more powerful fan that will operate at a higher RPM. In this case, they both used the same ball bearing fan from ADDA (AD1212MB-A70GL). Being a Gold rated power supply, the S12G will waste less energy to heat, in which it isn't require for the fan to spin up as hard as stated.

 

A 450w may set some limits on your overclocks, but seeing how you are getting a non-K i5 with that motherboard, I'm assuming you don't have any plans to do so, which the S12G 450w would power your system and is a better quality PSU than what you are lookng at.

Yeah I decided to go for a gold rated 550w (S12G-550). I figure 550 w would be a more future-proof choice for upgrades and it only costs a tad more than the 450. thanks a bunch ppl

[WoodenMarker]

Based on psu calculators, it would probably need ~400W but since my concern is silence, I thought operating near full wattage of the psu will push the fan speed more and making it more noisy. So I was wondering whether 450 gold or 520 bronze would be better (and less noisy). But per the posts above, I think i should get a 550 gold to be on the safe side. 

Hmm I heard good stuff about them, but cant find them at the stores I checked

Psu calculators for the most part are highly inaccurate. Your system should barely even hit 350w at 100% load and should generally stay below that.

[nexusmaniac]

For reference... My EVGA SC GTX 780 THAT'S OC'd by 200MHz, and an i5 4670k @ 4.6GHz only pills 420w from the wall whilst playing BF4 so you can get away with the 450 gold

[Jumper118]

Might as well get the 520w bronze. It gives you more ocing headroom and you can upgrade things in the future. Unless you are mining 80+ gold psus are not worth it at all.