Is 1300 watts too much?

[davidst99]

Hi, My friend is shopping for a new PSU. My local Microcenter has the EVGA 1300G2 for about $155 after rebate and Amazon price match and the EVGA 1000G2 for around $140 after rebate and Amazon price match. He has an I7 and GTX 760 so he doesn't need something too big but is it worth paying an extra $15 for 30% more watts? I was thinking maybe it's good to be future proof but it looks like the trend from Intel and NVidia is coming out with new CPUs and GPUs that require less watts. Does waste electricity if he get the larger PSU? Thanks

David

 

[DigDog]

might be;
you want the PSu to run ideally around 50~60% wattage on load, if you go too low you will have a lower efficiency.

check the charts on jonnyguru.com , he's got reviews for both.

 

[davidst99]

might be;
you want the PSu to run ideally around 50~60% wattage on load, if you go too low you will have a lower efficiency.

check the charts on jonnyguru.com , he's got reviews for both.

Thanks for the link!

 

[rflcptr]

In this case, a 1300 watt PSU is vastly overkill.

 

[MongGrel]

If your not running a ton of GPU's or something it would be inefficient and cost you more to run one that large.

 

[TemjinGold]

Your friend isn't paying $15 extra, he's paying ~$100 extra. On that computer, he doesn't need more than a good 450 watt unit, which he can get for $100 less than that thing. I wouldn't worry about the extra he'd pay in electricity from buying that, I'd worry about the extra $100 he's paying for no reason. There is no such thing as futureproof. Get that out of your head. If he's buying a 760, he's not the type of person to ever need this amount of power.

 

[Berliner]

Does waste electricity if he get the larger PSU?

Yes.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Your friend isn't paying $15 extra, he's paying ~$100 extra. On that computer, he doesn't need more than a good 450 watt unit, which he can get for $100 less than that thing. I wouldn't worry about the extra he'd pay in electricity from buying that, I'd worry about the extra $100 he's paying for no reason. There is no such thing as futureproof. Get that out of your head. If he's buying a 760, he's not the type of person to ever need this amount of power.

This. 450W is plenty already but you could get 550W if he's a 'peace of mind' type of guy.

Also, the EVGA 1300W is real noisy.

might be;
you want the PSu to run ideally around 50~60% wattage on load, if you go too low you will have a lower efficiency.

check the charts on jonnyguru.com , he's got reviews for both.

Getting tired of hearing this too. First, his system will use something like 250W during gaming so that's not even 25%. Second, the efficiency curve of modern psu's is much more even across whole load spectrum. Third, any efficiency gain at 50% load is offset by the much worse idle efficiency of oversized psu's.

 

[DigDog]

something something

nah.

you ignore that higher wattage PSUs tend to have better build quality, ergo higher efficiency.

this unit in particular has its best efficiency - 91% - between 250 and 570w.
the efficiency at 10% is 88%; this is when running 130w through it.

thats testing for you or, as they call it, SCIENCE.

i'm sure that 75% efficiency when idle hurts your feelings. so, OP, if you plan to run your PSU with THREE WATTS through it, please dont buy the EVGA 1300.

if on the other hand you actually mean to turn the PC on, even with the huge difference between actual and ideal load, it would still be a good choice considering the outstanding build quality of the unit which, after all, is what we chose a PSU for.

ofc the 1kw G2 is probably the better choice.

(science)

apparently reading is too hard for some people.

92% efficiency at 250w.
75% at 3w.

(reading)

(also, lol@math. a 75% efficient system idling at 3w will burn 1w in heat. SUCH WASTE.)

 

[piasabird]

With a single CPU, one video card and maybe 2 or 3 drives 700 watts is usually enough power.

Also keep in mind whether the Power supply is modular or not. Otherwise you are just buying a big birds nest with all the wiring that will be inside your case connected to the power supply. Some power supplies are so modular that they have a separate line for each specific purpose.

 

[piasabird]

This is a little on the pricey side???

Silverstone Strider fully Modular:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817256087

Flexible Cables:
These are nice for small cases
http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Te...e+power+cables

 

[coffeejunkee]

blah blah

I'm not sure why you are talking about science so much since your own numbers show you are wrong.

Don't you see that that wonderful 92% efficiency is totally offset by the shitty 75% efficiency at the load a system like this will actually idle at? Your argument only (semi-)works for gaming rigs that are used for gaming only and nothing else.

Build quality argument is nonsense too, there are plenty of excellent 400-500W units. They don't get gold and platinum rating for nothing.

Actually, according to your own words you need something like a 500W psu for a system like this. So why are you advising 1000W?

 

[JEDIYoda]

define too much?? Your PSU will use what it needs and that's all........

 

[Smoblikat]

I ran an overclocked I7, 4 HD6970's overclocked, 32gb RAM, 10+ HDD's, an absurdly high end motherboard, 20+ LED fans and a few other misc items, and I used a 1275w PSU for that. Your friend doesnt need either of those PSU's, he needs a good solid 650w, or maybe a 750w if he wants to SLI that 760 some day.