PSU overkill

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Buttercreamt
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2015 5:20 pm

PSU overkill

Post by Buttercreamt » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:44 am

Hello ladies and gents.

Good to see such a site, hope you can educate me and my eager and inquisitive mind

Here's the question.

What is the deal with specing an oversized hybrid (seasonic platinum 1000w or similar) power supply with the aim of a being able to run high power draws passively to a defined point leaving headroom with regard silence?

Thanks

Butter.

CA_Steve
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Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: PSU overkill

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:23 am

There are some members that fixate on the PSU being passive over the range of encountered loads. In reality, if your PC is consuming 300+ watts, there's going to be a fanned gfx card in there that will mask any noise a decent PSU's fan would make. You are better off:
- Going with an appropriately sized passive PSU if it suits your case/airflow, or;
- Sizing an active PSU so the fan speed/noise level meets your needs at idle/load.

Bearmann
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 8:32 am
Location: Memphis TN, USA

Re: PSU overkill

Post by Bearmann » Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:15 am

CA_Steve wrote:There are some members that fixate on the PSU being passive over the range of encountered loads. In reality, if your PC is consuming 300+ watts, there's going to be a fanned gfx card in there that will mask any noise a decent PSU's fan would make. You are better off:
- Going with an appropriately sized passive PSU if it suits your case/airflow, or;
- Sizing an active PSU so the fan speed/noise level meets your needs at idle/load.
Some of the newer graphic cards are semi-passive too, so the fan won't come on until about 55-60 degrees it is reported. Of course, then your case fans have to remove heat from both the PSU and the graphics card at lower temps. Some of the PSU reviews report at what load the fans start up, but make sure it's not the cold test, but the test that is consistent with the warmer temps of the computer case.

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