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#1
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Power Supply question
I'm planning on building a new computer but I have a quick question
about the power supply. Comparing a 300W power supply with a 400w power supply, does that automatically mean the electrical bill will be increased by 25%? Or does this instead mean the power supply is capable of 'producing' up to 400w of power when the load requires it? If this is the case, what are the disadvantages of buying a psu that is rated too high for what I actually require (besides initial cost)? |
#2
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On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 20:56:32 -0400, John Smith
wrote: I'm planning on building a new computer but I have a quick question about the power supply. Comparing a 300W power supply with a 400w power supply, does that automatically mean the electrical bill will be increased by 25%? No, switching power supplies only consume the amount of power needed. There is a very tiny/trivial increase in efficiency as these power supplies supply nearer and nearer max capacity, but not significant and would result in shorter lifespan. Or does this instead mean the power supply is capable of 'producing' up to 400w of power when the load requires it? If this is the case, what are the disadvantages of buying a psu that is rated too high for what I actually require (besides initial cost)? Cost is the only significant disadvantage. Buy name-brand quality, and 400W should suffice for anything but the most power hungry P4 with over half a dozen hard drives and a dozen fans, etc. If using a small case with no possability for a lot of drives 400W isn't even needed, so long as you buy a name-brand with a capacity rating you can trust (which excludes Enermax, BTW). Dave |
#3
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It will only draw the wattage that it needs. And it just costs more. But
get a good quality PSU (Antec, etc.) because the cheap ones do NOT produce their rated power. -- DaveW "John Smith" wrote in message ... I'm planning on building a new computer but I have a quick question about the power supply. Comparing a 300W power supply with a 400w power supply, does that automatically mean the electrical bill will be increased by 25%? Or does this instead mean the power supply is capable of 'producing' up to 400w of power when the load requires it? If this is the case, what are the disadvantages of buying a psu that is rated too high for what I actually require (besides initial cost)? |
#4
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On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 22:42:05 GMT, "El Jerid"
wrote: "kony" wrote in message .. . On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 20:56:32 -0400, John Smith wrote: I'm planning on building a new computer but I have a quick question about the power supply. Comparing a 300W power supply with a 400w power supply, does that automatically mean the electrical bill will be increased by 25%? No, switching power supplies only consume the amount of power needed. There is a very tiny/trivial increase in efficiency as these power supplies supply nearer and nearer max capacity, but not significant and would result in shorter lifespan. Or does this instead mean the power supply is capable of 'producing' up to 400w of power when the load requires it? If this is the case, what are the disadvantages of buying a psu that is rated too high for what I actually require (besides initial cost)? Cost is the only significant disadvantage. Buy name-brand quality, and 400W should suffice for anything but the most power hungry P4 with over half a dozen hard drives and a dozen fans, etc. If using a small case with no possability for a lot of drives 400W isn't even needed, so long as you buy a name-brand with a capacity rating you can trust (which excludes Enermax, BTW). Don' t underestime the required power, nor your future upgrades. The link hereafter will give you a good and easy calculation of your required power. http://www.challenge-my.com/goopsulator/ That calculator is technically flawed in several ways. Using it will cause a needless waste of money on a higher wattage than necessary, which is part of the reason some people end up with "budget" generic power supplies that claim 500W but can't do 300W with a tailwind, since a good name-brand 500W PSU is big bucks, but the more affordable generic 500W is often worse than a name-brand 300W. For example, I just entered the numbers for one of the systems I have here, which it claimed needed almost 500W even though it drastically underestimated the o'c CPU and the o'c video card. IF that calculator had taken these two items into account on th3e same measure as the other items, it would've probably claimed 600W needed. That system has ran fine for over a year on a 300W power supply, zero problems. Granted it's a very good 300W power supply (Liteon server), if I were to replace it I'd get a 400W Sparkle. Dave |
#5
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That calculator is technically flawed in several ways. Using it will cause a needless waste of money on a higher wattage than necessary, which is part of the reason some people end up with "budget" generic power supplies that claim 500W but can't do 300W with a tailwind, since a good name-brand 500W PSU is big bucks, but the more affordable generic 500W is often worse than a name-brand 300W. For example, I just entered the numbers for one of the systems I have here, which it claimed needed almost 500W even though it drastically underestimated the o'c CPU and the o'c video card. IF that calculator had taken these two items into account on th3e same measure as the other items, it would've probably claimed 600W needed. That system has ran fine for over a year on a 300W power supply, zero problems. Granted it's a very good 300W power supply (Liteon server), if I were to replace it I'd get a 400W Sparkle. I used the calculator for my personal PC (heavy video editing). When looking at the total rail power (light blue), I get 340 Watts . Because this is at 100 % load, I don' t need the default adjustments of 80 %. For security reasons I could take 90 %, which gives a recommanded power of 380 Watts. I think that for the system I have, this value is very realistic. Of course, this does not exclude the fact that some PSU's can better "hold" the power than others. And that's where the adjustments come in. If you have an Antec or Enermax (that's mine), no need to adjust. |
#6
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On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 20:56:32 -0400, John Smith
wrote: Comparing a 300W power supply with a 400w power supply, does that automatically mean the electrical bill will be increased by 25%? No. |
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