Is 1300 watts too much?

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davidst95

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Apr 4, 2008
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Hi, I'm 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. I have a I7 and GTX 760 so I don'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. Do I waste electricity if I get the larger PSU? Thanks

David
 
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capt_taco
Unless you have more than one graphics card (and really more like 3 or 4), you need nowhere near that much power. Half that would be more than enough.

No, you're not "wasting" electricity with a larger PSU. That's just its maximum load; it's not pulling that much from the wall at all times, just what it needs to operate the machine.
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capt_taco

capt_taco

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Unless you have more than one graphics card (and really more like 3 or 4), you need nowhere near that much power. Half that would be more than enough.

No, you're not "wasting" electricity with a larger PSU. That's just its maximum load; it's not pulling that much from the wall at all times, just what it needs to operate the machine.
 
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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Jan 10, 2006
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you'll waste a bit as it'll be less efficient if it is barely loaded. your setup needs 400-450W realistically, so a good 600W practically would be good. 1300 is therefore overkill in my opinion. If you are not sure what you are going to do in the future then consider 750-850W so you can SLI.
 
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ronintexas

ronintexas

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Dec 10, 2012
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The PSU only pulls the current required by the load plus the inefficiency of the PSU - example - if you have a 500W load, and it is an 80% efficient supply, you would be pulling about 600W in the power supply (500W X 20% = 100W). It doesn't matter if you have a 500W power supply or a 1500W power supply - it is simply the load + the inefficiency.

The decision really comes down to price - paying $200 for a 1500W power supply when a 600W power supply can be purchased for $120, you are throwing away $80.
 
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terroralpha

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Jun 23, 2009
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while i agree with the premise of what you are saying, your math is a little off. easiest way to calculate power draw (ignore the dots, they are for spacing):

500W (power used by system) = 80% (efficiency)
. X (power draw from wall) . . . . 100% (total pull)

X = 625
 
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