What percentage of your wattage should you target?

StarKillerX

New member
I don't remember when or where, but I picked up the idea that when selecting a PS you should buy one that your system only uses 60-70% of the available wattage since that is the sweet spot for efficiency.

I picked this up years ago and have no idea if this is, or was, true so I thought I would ask and see what everyone here has to say about it.
 
Go based off the total watts and the rated efficiency. The sweet spot is 50%. Although if you get a Gold rated or better PSU then it won't matter as much. However depending on what you decide to get in your other thread, Anything from 750/850watts would be ideal.
 
Choosing a good quality branded PSU is far more important in respect of efficiency and "clean" power delivery. New PSU's are many times more efficient at higher load values than anything previously released. Personally I would aim for anywhere from 50 - 75 % load. Obviously if you are looking at building a quiet rig that doesn't sound like a jet engine every time you load up anything mildly demanding, the lower load you can put on the PSU the less cooling requirement there will be.
Also you should consider that new components are currently going through a huge power requirement drop. Efficiency is the new power at the moment, so future upgrades will likely reduce your power consumption.
 
Choosing a good quality branded PSU is far more important in respect of efficiency and "clean" power delivery. New PSU's are many times more efficient at higher load values than anything previously released. Personally I would aim for anywhere from 50 - 75 % load. Obviously if you are looking at building a quiet rig that doesn't sound like a jet engine every time you load up anything mildly demanding, the lower load you can put on the PSU the less cooling requirement there will be.
Also you should consider that new components are currently going through a huge power requirement drop. Efficiency is the new power at the moment, so future upgrades will likely reduce your power consumption.

My first VoodooPC had 14 fans in it of various sizes, including a 120mm blowhole on top. It was a total beast BUT noise was obviously not a consideration when it was built, when you turned it on you swore it was going to take flight and then it sounded like an air cleaner. :eek:

Good news, bad news. The bad news is that after years of loud music, time at the rifle/grenade/LAW ranges my hearing absolutely sucks. The good news is because of that, in general fan noise doesn't really bother me. :D
 
My first VoodooPC had 14 fans in it of various sizes, including a 120mm blowhole on top. It was a total beast BUT noise was obviously not a consideration when it was built, when you turned it on you swore it was going to take flight and then it sounded like an air cleaner. :eek:

Good news, bad news. The bad news is that after years of loud music, time at the rifle/grenade/LAW ranges my hearing absolutely sucks. The good news is because of that, in general fan noise doesn't really bother me. :D

Just go with a Seasonic, Superflower, EVGA G2 series(made by superflower). Nothing lower than gold rated from Seasonic and Superflower and you are golden. I only recommend these 3 basically because they are the most reliable brands. Corsair AXI/RMI are also great but not on the level of engineering the other 3 are from a reliability standpoint.
 
I just can't recommend the Superflower Leadex PSU's enough I never hear the Fan on it spin up on eco mode and thats with an R9 290X and a hefty overclock on my CPU
 
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