Is overkilling necessarily bad?

[deguzi]

I have a mATX system with a mid range card (evga 650 superclock) and a phenom ii 1045t mildly OC'd @ 3.3. A psu calculator recommends at least a 400 watt psu. 

 

Now my question is, will an overkill psu necessarily be bad for a system? I inherited a seasonic 750watt 80+ gold from a friend a while back who i did some car work on, and it still has close to 6 years of warranty left on it. I have been using it since then (about 3 months now) because my older psu was a very cheap brand (a logysis 480 watt-came free with my case) and i didnt want to risk ruining my system  since i have a mild overlcock and do a lot of important work on it + gaming. 

 

I've just been concerned if, since my system doesn't draw a lot of power, will it harm my psu in the long run? I hear some say that it may be inefficient, especially at low idle, but Seasonic claims that (with 80+ gold)  it will be 88% efficient at anywhere from 20-80% load.

 

I just want to know if there are any negative side affects i should be worried about since i'm using this system with a very higher wattage psu everyday now. 

 

[Glenwing]

It won't cause anything bad to happen, it is just not optimum because you lose a slight amount of efficiency and for new builds I don't recommend it because it is basically wasting money, but an overkill SeaSonic gold is 4.6 million times better than a Logisys.

[deguzi]

It is not optimum because you lose a slight amount of efficiency, and for new builds I don't recommend it because it is basically wasting money, but an overkill SeaSonic gold is 4.6 million times better than a Logisys.

how much efficiency are we talking? cost efficient in pennies? 

Luckily i didn't spend a dime on it, just sweat and elbow grease working on his car, but is efficiency the only side affect?

What about it's status in the long run? will it be degrading in any way due to the constant low wattage usage?

[Emkryan]

Throw the Logsys PSU in the trash, Keep the SS. Yes it's overkill and you loose a little bit of efficiency but it;s better than having a shitty psu

[Glenwing]

how much efficiency are we talking? cost efficient in pennies? 

Luckily i didn't spend a dime on it, just sweat and elbow grease working on his car, but is efficiency the only side affect?

What about it's status in the long run? will it be degrading in any way due to the constant low wattage usage?

 

Not much, pennies.  It won't be degrading; the power rating is basically just a measure of how much it can safely handle, not like they are specifically designed to deliver only a certain amount of power.  So it is better to think of it as "up to 750W".

[coen113]

It won't cause anything bad to happen, it is just not optimum because you lose a slight amount of efficiency and for new builds I don't recommend it because it is basically wasting money, but an overkill SeaSonic gold is 4.6 million times better than a Logisys.

you could possibly, but it wont be that much on a yearly basis, if noticeable. and overkill for PSU is not bad, as long as its a proper psu. and not a thortech(TTL's video about the worst psu ever)

[Mooshi]

Let's use realistic real world logic. Factor in the energy savings cost per year, the cost of brand new decent wattage 80+ gold psu and the fact you get a 750w 80+ PSU for free. Any inefficiencies from not being in the optimum wattage zone are negated completely. The energy savings "lost" is so low when you factor in everything that I wouldn't begin to worry. Just enjoy your nice PSU.

[deguzi]

Let's use realistic real world logic. Factor in the energy savings cost per year, the cost of brand new decent wattage 80+ gold psu and the fact you get a 750w 80+ PSU for free. Any inefficiencies from not being in the optimum wattage zone are negated completely. The energy savings "lost" is so low when you factor in everything that I wouldn't begin to worry. Just enjoy your nice PSU.

awesome, thanks for the insight

[deguzi]

Not much, pennies.  It won't be degrading; the power rating is basically just a measure of how much it can safely handle, not like they are specifically designed to deliver only a certain amount of power.  So it is better to think of it as "up to 750W".

that's much better to understand. thank you!