High Wattage PSUs Are Stupid

[ThinkWithPortals]

1 minute ago, zMeul said:

you are missing the point by a fucking galaxy

the point of high wattage PSUs is that they exists to serve a purpose - even if that purpose is to build a crazy ass rig

Linus even points out that the EVGA 1500W was the only one at that power, and they absolutely needed it

Yes, they absolutely needed it -  for building a PC with two Xeons, seven R9 Nanos, 256GB of RAM, 8TB of SSD storage and a custom loop.

 

How many fucking people do you think are doing that? 

Just now, dams3 said:

its the exact opposite. If a 1600w psu can power 7 freaking gamers at once then you get an idea of how overkill it is and that no one will ever need it

^^^

[dams3]

1 minute ago, zMeul said:

you are missing the point by a fucking galaxy

the point of high wattage PSUs is that they exists to serve a purpose - even if that purpose is to build a crazy ass rig

Linus even points out that the EVGA 1500W was the only one at that power, and they absolutely needed it

let me spell it out so you understand it. THE BUILD WAS STUPIDLY OVERKILL. THUS THE POWERSUPPLY THEY USED WAS STUPIDLY OVERKILL

[zMeul]

Just now, ThinkWithPortals said:

How many fucking people do you think are doing that? 

who the fuck even cares how many people do that - what the shit!?

are you the wattage police?!

if someone(s) want to build a super power hungry PC, you know there are PSUs out there that can power it

[zMeul]

Just now, dams3 said:

let me spell it out so you understand it. THE BUILD WAS STUPIDLY OVERKILL. THUS THE POWERSUPPLY THEY USED WAS STUPIDLY OVERKILL

maybe you should use bold too - you're still missing the point

[dams3]

Just now, zMeul said:

who the fuck even cares how many people do that - what the shit!?

are you the wattage police?!

if someone(s) want to build a super power hungry PC, you know there are PSUs out there that can power it

yes but that doesnt mean that they are not stupid, because they are

 

[ThinkWithPortals]

1 minute ago, zMeul said:

if someone(s) want to build a super power hungry PC, you know there are PSUs out there that can power it

Which no-one should ever buy, because super high wattage PSUs are as stupid an investment as the super power hungry PCs they power.

[zMeul]

Just now, dams3 said:

yes but that doesnt mean that they are not stupid, because they are

really!? how exactly are they stupid? because Luke said so, or you have a though of your own

enlighten me

[Lays]

Completely depends on what you're doing what your system, a good PSU unit can last boatloads of PC upgrades, and basically any scenario you may find yourself in.   I agree for the average user it makes almost zero sense to go past ~550-750w, as most systems will be in the ~300w range.

 

I bought my 1000 P2 for about $200 like 3 years ago, originally it was for a 5 ghz 3930k and 2 BIOS modded 780's with a full custom watercooling loop, sure I may have only been using ~750-850, but $200 on a PSU that will last me in any scenario is fine with me.  I have the freedom to do whatever I want with my system basically, and never have to worry about it.

 

Now that I have a less power hungry GPU setup and CPU setup, I may not "need" it, but recently I had a 980 TI matrix that I put on dry ice and took up to 1800 mhz on the core, and 8900 mhz on the memory. According to some readings K|NP|N did on his website, an 1800 mhz 980 ti at 1.65v draws upwards of 1000w by itself, I was at 1.565v during the benchmarks, so I was probably in the ~800-1000w range.  I also had my 6700k at 5.7 ghz 1.7v during this, and had no issues whatsoever with OCP or any other power related issues. 

[Sakkura]

3 hours ago, zMeul said:

why does this video exist?

just 7 months ago Linus did this:

 

the power draw at the wall was 1.5+KW

WTF!

Meaning the power draw at the power supply was 1350W or less.

[GeneralLol]

The only place you need a 1200W power supply is a particle accelerator. That's how I talk people out of buying those kind of much-more-than-redundant PSUs. 

[mhx47]

What if I have 3~5 HDD in my PC?

My PC sometimes did not start up when I was playing and adding HDDs.

I was told when PC is booting up, HDD takes almost 100W and so I need stronger PSU to start system. Once it is running, it takes much less power.

But when I check PSU calculator on the internet, it adds only around 10W per HDD.

Where is truth?

 

(and yes, after I removed 1 HDD I had no problem to start system again)

[scottyseng]

5 hours ago, RezidentSeagull said:

I bought a gently used AX860i a few months ago, and I think I'm on that cusp of sensible/insensible PSU buys, as I only have an FX-8320 and a GTX 970 in my system.

 

In my defence though, I jumped from an EVGA 600B, and I upgraded in large part for the efficiency and the modular cables, and the fact that I got it for like $150ish CAD

I'm on the same bandwagon with the AX860i. I have a 2500K (overclocked) and a meager FirePro V7900 and I'm using like 150watts under normal load (I use more CPU than GPU though). I think the highest I've ever gotten is 300 watts with Furmark, Prime 95, and all fans at full speed (I have three delta fans). I got it refurbished for $99 USD. 

 

51 minutes ago, mhx47 said:

What if I have 3~5 HDD in my PC?

My PC sometimes did not start up when I was playing and adding HDDs.

I was told when PC is booting up, HDD takes almost 100W and so I need stronger PSU to start system. Once it is running, it takes much less power.

But when I check PSU calculator on the internet, it adds only around 10W per HDD.

Where is truth?

 

(and yes, after I removed 1 HDD I had no problem to start system again)

What hard drives do you have and power supply do you have? The lower RPM ones use less start up power. You are right that a lot of hard drives do pull a lot of watts to get started. For example, my server with six 4TB WD Reds and eight 4TB WD Re drives idles at 250-300 watts. However, when initially powered on, it pulls 400-450 watts according to the UPS unit then drops to idle after about 2-5 seconds.

 

My PC just pulls a meager 120 watts apparently with a SSD and a single hard drive.

[Urishima]

5 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

wayl I have 1600 watts cuz futureproofing.

Seriously, futureproofing against WHAT exactly?

[uareseven]

According to the Canadian Electric Code, you cannot have more than pull more than 12 amps off of a regular 15 amp circuit. So 120V at 12A is 1440W. Therefore you cannot legally use a 1500W powersupply in Canada. You have to use even less, because monitors can use a lot of power as well. 

[OddsCrazyStuff]

5930 OC and 980Ti SLI OC on water, I draw around 1100 watts at full usage, if http://www.coolermaster.com/power-supply-calculator/ is correct.

So high end systems still needs high watt PSUs.

[iDeFecZx]

6 hours ago, RezidentSeagull said:

I bought a gently used AX860i a few months ago, and I think I'm on that cusp of sensible/insensible PSU buys, as I only have an FX-8320 and a GTX 970 in my system.

 

In my defence though, I jumped from an EVGA 600B, and I upgraded in large part for the efficiency and the modular cables, and the fact that I got it for like $150ish CAD

I went from an EVGA 500W 80+ White to my Ax860. Only running an i5 and a 960 lol. But hey, it was £80 cheaper than it should have been and only £15 more than the RM550x I was looking at buying so I said fk it and bought it.

[ThinkWithPortals]

I just thought I I'd drop this here.

I went onto the CM PSU calculator and had a play around, tried to create the most power hungry system I could (8x FX-9590s, 4x R9 295X2s, etc.) and found a nice little Easter Egg in the system: if you try to calculate an absurdly high-wattage PC, in the "Suggested PSU" section it comes up with a replica Arc Reactor from Iron Man on Amazon!

 

 

[Addramyr]

Some people say having massive PSU is a waste but its completely dependant on your system build.

 

This is one of those reasons why i have a Corsair AX1500i

 

Granted my system is still a socket LGA 1150 using a i7-4790k cooled by a H100i, but its also got 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 memory, 4 hard drives and two Sapphire R9 295x2's

 

When I originally used the PSU calculator it recommend minimum of 1300w so in my case 1500w was perfect.

 

Expensive yes, but does whats needed.

 

 

[byalexandr]

Unless you're like me and have an overclocked 290 running on 400W.

 

But it's all good, now my overclocked 290X Lightning is running on 650W.

 

It's fairly obvious that 1200W is overkill but that doesn't mean you should get a 400W or 500W PSU. Something is missing from this video and I can't really put my finger on it. Maybe it's just the fact that it's too generalized and only based on efficient Pascal cards, doesn't account for stuff like Hawaii cards or a Fury X or something. With those you do want a nice high quality PSU, a higher wattage is just extra insurance.

[maxtch]

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.

[Lays]

5 hours ago, OddsCrazyStuff said:

5930 OC and 980Ti SLI OC on water, I draw around 1100 watts at full usage, if http://www.coolermaster.com/power-supply-calculator/ is correct.

So high end systems still needs high watt PSUs.

That calculator isn't right, overclocked 980 ti's are ~250-325 ish, a 5930k oc'd will be in the 175-250 range, and that's only going to be under like prime95 + furmark loads.

 

Actual gaming loads, you'd probably be looking at like 400-600w.

[OddsCrazyStuff]

19 minutes ago, Lays said:

That calculator isn't right, overclocked 980 ti's are ~250-325 ish, a 5930k oc'd will be in the 175-250 range, and that's only going to be under like prime95 + furmark loads.

 

Actual gaming loads, you'd probably be looking at like 400-600w.

You still need to get a PSU that can handle the max load. Since if nothing else, so will you use benchmarks to dial in the overclock when its built.

[DildorTheDecent]

7 hours ago, uareseven said:

According to the Canadian Electric Code, you cannot have more than pull more than 12 amps off of a regular 15 amp circuit. So 120V at 12A is 1440W. Therefore you cannot legally use a 1500W powersupply in Canada. You have to use even less, because monitors can use a lot of power as well. 

1440W is weak

 

Imagine getting cautioned for using a 1500W+ unit. 

[Marinatall_Ironside]

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.

Edited August 11, 2016 by JurunceNK

[Huskyhunter]

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?