Help needed regarding a PSU

Franicelcha · Jul 13, 2014

Hi

I am planning a first build. Non gaming. General use home PC. No video editing. I checked my requirements for a PSU on the Cooler Master website and I get 284Watts.

However, I do not know what the future holds and I vould like to make sure that I will not have to buy another PSU for next 5-7 years (I know, in term of technology, this is a loooooooooong period of time).

The PSU I am looking at is SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM. My concern with it is that right now, if my requirement is 284Watts (52% of capacity), will the fact that the PSU will only be operating at 52% of capacity damage the PSU somehow ?

I would like to buy a good high qualiity PSU once and forget about buying another one for several years to come. A get and forget thing even if a few years down the road my requirements might change.

Thanks

ksham · Jul 13, 2014

Franicelcha :

No. That's usually optimal load. A PSU is less efficient at very low load or very high load.

The PSU that you have is fine. No need to buy a new one.

BradleyJames · Jul 13, 2014

you will not damage a psu from under powering it. hell, i dont think you can damage a psu running it close to max load. i would think that it would last longer not stressing it

fkr · Jul 13, 2014

you are perfectly fine with that unit and seasonic is known as one of the best. you will never damage a unit from under use. you would prefer not to use a unit at above 80% usage so you are fine. the extra wattage is actually good because you will loose a couple percent of capacity every year so 7 years from now you would be down at least 20% of new capacity.

DSzymborski · Jul 13, 2014

Nothing to worry about. Now, in specific cases, it can be very inefficient if you're putting a very minimal load on the PSU, so it's not recommended to, say, buy a gigantic 1000 W supply for a PC that'll never need 300. But that's an excellent PSU and not some outlandish output. If running at a lower percentage of rated power damaged quality power supplies, we'd all have damaged power supplies due to the difference between idle and load wattage!

fkr · Jul 13, 2014

here is the power supply calculator that I use and I think it is one of the best.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

cry0g3n · Jul 13, 2014

The Seasonic G 550 is most efficient at ~50% operating capacity. It is an 80 Plus Gold rated power supply so at 50% load it must be 90% efficient for 115V or 92% efficient for 230V.

It is also a really good quality power supply. You could look at this list of recommended power supplies. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

Franicelcha · Jul 13, 2014

Thank you all folks for your quick and informative answers. Picking a best option solution will be hard as all of you have provided good answers to my question. So, if your answer does not get selected, please do not take it personal.

Regards to all

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