a psu question

[applesuxD]

a psu is best at 20,50 and 80-90 percent load

does it make a benefit to buy a higher wattage psu to run at 50 percent load max?

for example like a 1200w - 1500w psu to run a r9 290x xfire at load? (600w-850w)

[Jaybird]

no. gpu are overstated on their rating to give a worse case scenario for your psu. anything around 500w for a single gpu will be fine. 

[Enderman]

peak efficiency is at about 50% load, and buying a higher wattage PSU means that it will be quieter because the fan doesnt need to spin much when your PC is under load

but the money you will save on power is not going to make up the cost of a 1200W PSU

[applesuxD]

peak efficiency is at about 50% load, and buying a higher wattage PSU means that it will be quieter because the fan doesnt need to spin much when your PC is under load

but the money you will save on power is not going to make up the cost of a 1200W PSU

sound matters to me

[Enderman]

sound matters to me

Then if you get a high end PSU that has the 0db fan mode (like corsair) then a higher wattage PSU means you will need to pull a lot more power before the fan starts spinning, making much less noise.

[applesuxD]

Then if you get a high end PSU that has the 0db fan mode (like corsair) then a higher wattage PSU means you will need to pull a lot more power before the fan starts spinning, making much less noise.

what about evga 1200w platinum?

[Enderman]

what about evga 1200w platinum?

that ones good too but idk if its has 0 rpm fan mode

it probably does though, its very high quality

[applesuxD]

that ones good too but idk if its has 0 rpm fan mode

it probably does though, its very high quality

cosair psu seems overpriced sometimes

[quan289]

what about evga 1200w platinum?

 

EVGA Supernova 1200 P2 is a semi-passive unit or has "Zero-RPM" mode.

As for a larger unit being quieter than a smaller unit...it isn't always that simple.

Supernova 1000w P2

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/SuperNOVA_P2_1000/6.html

 

Supernova 1200w P2

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/SuperNOVA_P2_1200/6.html

 

The fan on the larger unit shows that it spun later, so it can be "quieter" in those situation, but if you are running a 290x CFX setup, the fan is going to be spinning anyways (unless you are on idled which both will be fanless). As you can see, in those graphs, when the fan started to spin, the 1200w unit is louder than the 1000w unit. Because of the higher heat output of a higher wattage unit at full load, the 1200w used a higher RPM fan. During TPU testing, the fan revved up to 1180RPM, while the 1000w unit revved up to 864RPM. At full load, the 1200w unit went up to 2000RPM, while the 1000w stayed under ~1600RPM.

[WoodenMarker]

Unless the system spends most of its time at 100%, that point doesn't apply.