Overkill PSUs

WuMyster

WuMyster

WuMyster

Associate
Joined
28 Feb 2012
Posts
1,851
Location
London, UK
Well I got the general consensus in the watercooling area saying theres no such thing as overkill but with PSUs im hearing the problem of efficiency etc.

What im wondering is if people can confirm if you can overkill on PSUs. My thoughts are just "future proofing" on the PSU department so that If i ever do go for quad titans or whatever it will be, then ill be set.

If a raise in my electricity bill and I bare say it, contributing to the greenhouse gases then im fine with that. Just wondering whether or not by running a PSU with more than enough wattage will damage itself or the components will not draw efficient amounts of wattage.
 
Ah, so this "will up your electricity bill" is a shambles?
No component or PSU damage by running it at lower watts?
 
Right. Thats good to know. Ill go research into this more. Looking to get a 1000W as ill definitely do a quad gpu setup, just not this generation or the next!
 
Found an answer and ill post it here if anyone is in the same thought process as me!

Will using a 1000W power supply on my low-end system fry anything?
No. A power supply will only deliver as much power as the system needs, and no more. If you plug a system that needs 100W into a 1000W PSU, the PSU will deliver 100W and no more. PSU performance does drop off somewhat at very low percentages of its total wattage, so you may get poor efficiency, but your system will not be harmed.
 
So basically, as its not efficient, then im just wasting money on my electricity bill right?
If so, im completely fine with that :P
 
Thats exactly my approach. I dont wanna buy a 750W now to drive 7950's and then have to buy a 1000W later down the line for quad cards.
1000w PSUs (80+ plats) arent that expensive IMO. Ill definitely look for ones with long warranty. Corsairs customer support is superb but Im doubting their new AX series.
 
No doubt is a cheap 1000w PSU bad let alone a 100W one. Ill only be looking at the popular Corsair, Silverstone, XFX and Enermax ones.
As im reading all your helpful posts, im seeing that its all about efficiency. Not pulling enough wattage from the PSU will cause in a lower efficiency. Is this just about wasted wattage I will be taking?
 
olivier renault said:
Seasonic / XFX / Corsair / Enermax platinum series. If you gonna do Quad-SLI or whatever, you might as well get the best PSU you can get.
Click to expand...

Exactly what i listed. Ill get a 1KW PSU from them. It seems that the only downside to a overkill PSU is efficiency and if that just draws more power and costs me money then im not bothered at all!
 
Oh wow. I see. Im on the hunt for a platinum so with a lower wattage my system uses it looks like the PSU will still be efficient?
 
I have no doubts at all that I will be going for the 4 gpus approach.
You say ill only be at 250W max load but after using a few PSU calculators, theyre showing me 600W of usage and recommending a 750W PSU. Adding two more 7950's would get me close to 1KW.
Not worried about efficiency at all really.
Ill most likely go with a semi fanless unit.
 
2 right now. Not sure if ill go quad with the 7950's but I will in the next generation.
Do bare in mind that I am running 6 HDs and ive heard that at some points when they start to seek, they can take up to 50W each. Im running 4 in RAID 0.
This is for a full WC loop if that provides anymore info.
 
Any coil whine on your Corsair? Im hearing that the digital series arent rebranded SeaSonics anymore which is what puts me off.
 
I have 2 7950's but I doubt ill be running four of them. Im wondering about getting a 1KW now because I know for a fact I will run 4 gpus in the future (1 or 2 generations).
Ive currently got the two 7950's at 1GHz core clock but i cant remember the memory clock. Dont remember the voltage off of the top of my head. Was something like 1.15 i believe.
Always plan on OCing my CPU. I did have my 3770K at 4.5.
 
Of course! Which is why I would get the PSU now so that I dont need to get one down the line and have wasted a perfectly good 750 - 850W PSU
 
spixelspixel said:
You'll probably need more than a 1000w for 4 high end cards with a 2011 cpu (and overclocking). Are you really sure you're going to get 4? Not many people do even if they think they will :D
Click to expand...

True. Actually read somewhere that titans alone will need 1000W and with a 2011 it would be safe to go with 1600W.
I have the money to go quad 680 but I have to sort out my "aesthetics" of my build which is why ill do it in the next generation or two.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom