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Are there any disadvantages in having an excessively powerful PSU?

1K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  shilka 
#1 ·
I have the Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro 1200W, which is completely unnecessary for my ordinary build. It was a hastily made decision that wasn't thought through.
But I can't go back and buy a power supply at a wattage more suited for my needs so I'm wondering if there's any detrimental effects of me keeping and using the power supply.
 
#2 ·
The main disadvantage i would say is at the lower power consumption levels of the PSU it is less efficient. @Shilka Would be more suited to expand on this and to answer any other PSU questions.
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaeturOfelia View Post

I have the Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro 1200W, which is completely unnecessary for my ordinary build. It was a hastily made decision that wasn't thought through.
But I can't go back and buy a power supply at a wattage more suited for my needs so I'm wondering if there's any detrimental effects of me keeping and using the power supply.
The only major detrimental effect is the opportunity cost... you spent money that could be used for other things.

It might run slightly less efficiently at lower loads but this should not be a big effect.
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieHo View Post

The only major detrimental effect is the opportunity cost... you spent money that could be used for other things.

It might run slightly less efficiently at lower loads but this should not be a big effect.
I see, at least that's good news. Could you please explain the efficiency part? Does it simply mean that it uses more electricity than if I had used a lower wattage PSU? Also, do PSUs consume a constant amount of electricity when in use or does it vary according to load?

Thanks!
 
#5 ·
Efficiency is simply the ratio of watts out to watts in: the transformers and such in the power supply don't have a perfect conversion from the 120V AC coming in from the wall to the lower voltage DC that goes to your various components.

There is a curve to this, and the efficiency peaks in the middle of the power supply's range and drops off severely at very low percentage loads. What this means is that if you're operating at very low power, it's not doing a very good job of transforming the power. But that won't hurt the power supply, it just hurts your electric bill. Note that running higher power is worse for your electric bill...because you're running higher power. The difference in efficiency doesn't outweigh the increased draw.

Your power supply is totally fine. You won't hurt it (or anything else in your system) by running it below its max. Efficiency is something you really don't need to worry about given your usage.

The biggest downside is that you spent money on more capacity that you're not using. But given that it would cost you even more money to reduce capacity, just stick with the one you have. And later when you want to go multi-GPU, you're already set on power.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mand12 View Post

Efficiency is simply the ratio of watts out to watts in: the transformers and such in the power supply don't have a perfect conversion from the 120V AC coming in from the wall to the lower voltage DC that goes to your various components.

There is a curve to this, and the efficiency peaks in the middle of the power supply's range and drops off severely at very low percentage loads. What this means is that if you're operating at very low power, it's not doing a very good job of transforming the power. But that won't hurt the power supply, it just hurts your electric bill. Note that running higher power is worse for your electric bill...because you're running higher power. The difference in efficiency doesn't outweigh the increased draw.

Your power supply is totally fine. You won't hurt it (or anything else in your system) by running it below its max. Efficiency is something you really don't need to worry about given your usage.

The biggest downside is that you spent money on more capacity that you're not using. But given that it would cost you even more money to reduce capacity, just stick with the one you have. And later when you want to go multi-GPU, you're already set on power.
Another option is to always try to get a few extra bucks for said lower PSU then recover the cost by selling his 1200W
 
#7 ·
Sadly you should not keep your Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro as its ripple suppression is piss poor, both the 5v the 3,3v are right on the limit of being outside of ATX specifications as they are around 50mv and the 12v is around 90-100mv which is also just barely within ATX specifications.
You should not keep it as its terrible and flatout bad.
 
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#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by shilka View Post

Sadly you should not keep your Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro as its ripple suppression is piss poor, both the 5v the 3,3v are right on the limit of being outside of ATX specifications as they are around 50mv and the 12v is around 90-100mv which is also just barely within ATX specifications.
You should not keep it as its terrible and flatout bad.
Would one of those evga 750 G2 units be better for them?
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by XanderTheGoober View Post

Would one of those evga 750 G2 units be better for them?
Light years better as ripple is 6 to 7 times better then the Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro, hell its hard to find anything thats worse then the Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro maybe like if you buy a Coolmax or a Diablotek.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by shilka View Post

Light years better as ripple is 6 to 7 times better then the Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro, hell its hard to find anything thats worse then the Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro maybe like if you buy a Coolmax or a Diablotek.
I shutter at the diablotek name.
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by shilka View Post

Sadly you should not keep your Coolermaster Silent Gold Pro as its ripple suppression is piss poor, both the 5v the 3,3v are right on the limit of being outside of ATX specifications as they are around 50mv and the 12v is around 90-100mv which is also just barely within ATX specifications.
You should not keep it as its terrible and flatout bad.
:/ I went to bed thinking it wasn't an issue.
I searched a little about ripple suppression and it seems it causes long term damage on hardware components, therefore since I've been using this PSU for at least 2 years now... It's already caused SOME damage?

So now one of my priorities is to get a new power supply, could you recommend some specific models that would suit my needs please?
And what should I go about doing with my current PSU, can I sell it? And what price would be fair after 2 years of decent usage?
 
#12 ·
heres a decent PSU i have seen shilka and two cables recommend before.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438017&cm_re=evga_750_g2-_-17-438-017-_-Product
It is a little more pricey for a 700W psu but well worth it. one hell of a warranty and you can probably recover almost if not more than 100% of the cost of it from selling your old one. I cant give you any prices on what your psu is worth, all i can tell you is look on ebay and filter by sold listings and try to get an average of what it may sell for. throw it up on craigslist and hope for the best. the 750 even probably has enough for 2 graphics cards down the road.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingCry View Post

I want to ask about the Kingwin Lazer 850W 80+ Bronze should I be worried about it powering my 2 overclocked GTX 770's
Shilka can probably tell you more about it with an exact model number.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by XanderTheGoober View Post

Shilka can probably tell you more about it with an exact model number.
Ah yes, we shall wait for the esteemed prophet to return xD.

I'm in Australia, so I'll probably have a harder time selling it. My original thought in getting this PSU was the high wattage, I wanted to future-proof myself for any upgrades. Although I highly doubt I'll ever need over 750w, but what would be the limit to what the EVGA 750WG2 could run?
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingCry View Post

KINGWIN Lazer LZ-850 850W Modular 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC

This is the link from Newegg on it. Its about 2 years old now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121067
Its an older Super Flower made unit thats multi rail and its 12v ripple suppression is not much better at 80mv so you should replace it if you can, 5v rail goes out of ATX spec when the unit is crossloaded but thats not something you should worry about unless you are going to have 25 things hooked up via USB.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaeturOfelia View Post

Ah yes, we shall wait for the esteemed prophet to return xD.

I'm in Australia, so I'll probably have a harder time selling it. My original thought in getting this PSU was the high wattage, I wanted to future-proof myself for any upgrades. Although I highly doubt I'll ever need over 750w, but what would be the limit to what the EVGA 750WG2 could run?
You can run 2x GTX 980 cards on a 650 watts so you if there is a GTX 980 Ti later you should be able to run 2 of those on a 750 watts, i bought a G2 750 watts myself as it was the best option for money and so far i am have not had any problems with it.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaeturOfelia View Post

Sweet, thanks. I'll see what I can do about selling my existing psu and getting a new one. You were a great help Shilka! Xander, you too.
Dont think you need to be that worried about damaged to your hardware since the PSU was never loaded that high the ripple never got high enough to cause any damage, if you had started to add more hardware you would had it loaded it higher and the ripple would have gone up.

Its still not a very good PSU.
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by shilka View Post

Its an older Super Flower made unit thats multi rail and its 12v ripple suppression is not much better at 80mv so you should replace it if you can, 5v rail goes out of ATX spec when the unit is crossloaded but thats not something you should worry about unless you are going to have 25 things hooked up via USB.
You can run 2x GTX 980 cards on a 650 watts so you if there is a GTX 980 Ti later you should be able to run 2 of those on a 750 watts, i bought a G2 750 watts myself as it was the best option for money and so far i am have not had any problems with it.
Thank you very much for the answer on it, who is carrying Super Flower based PSU's now? I know EVGA is but is there any others?
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by KingCry View Post

Thank you very much for the answer on it, who is carrying Super Flower based PSU's now? I know EVGA is but is there any others?
Golden Green and Golden King have a ton of rebrands but i dont know how many of those you can still find.
EVGA SuperNova B2 is a downgraded Golden Green and the G2/P2 are rebranded Leadex, no one else has a rebrand of the Leadex i think EVGA paid a ton of money to make sure they are the only ones that can sell a Leadex rebrand.
 
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