PSU Overload?

[09mlb86]

I Know its not good to push your PSU. However, my recent build Pulls a little more power than I expected. I was wondering what other people thought about weather I should get a bigger PSU and save this as a backup or if yall think im fine.

I Have the Seasonic 860W Platinum PSU, rated for 860W Continuous output at 50*C

My Kill-a-Watt Meter is reading 750W from the wall under full load... I have no exact way of knowing how efficient its running to know how much is load and how much is power loss so I figured I would as yall.

 

[Temile]

Slightly lower load, but this guy is running it 24/7: http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9156

I've also got a similar setup (almost identical to that poster) and draw at most 600w.

750w from the wall at 90% efficiency translates to 675w output from the psu which is about 80% load. A good psu should be great at 80% and though with some brands, you might be in trouble, that one will be fine. Anandtech found it ran at 91% efficiency even under 110% load.

I don't claim to be an expert in capacitor aging, but psus can lose as much as 30% of their rating over the years, so in a few years things might not be as good.

 

[Temile]

If you don't mind, I'm curious about your system specs. That's a lot of power.

 

[Rugger]

@OP: Please cancel one of the two threads with the exact same question.

 

[djscribbles]

+1 to temile. The power drawn from the wall is not what the 860W rating of the PSU is measuring. It will output 860W to your components, which isn't a 100% efficiency conversion.

If you are still concerned, you can post your build details to have a second look.

 

[blackhawk1928]

If its designed for 860 and you are using 750 then its fine. Good manufacturers most probably include their own safe overhead of power output on top of the advertised rating anyway.

 

[4745454b]

Scribbles, he handled it correctly. A kill a watt measures between the wall and the PSU. If the kill a watt says 750W, then that is what the PSU is pulling. As Temile correctly computed its not what the PSU is giving the computer.

You have a seasonic and it can output 860W. If you are only using 80% max then you are fine. I'm not as worried about Cap aging as most, though I agree that if you use this thing at 80% for many years then you probably want to change it out eventually. I've been using my computer for nearly 7 or 8 years now and I'm on my third PSU. (Antec SP 450, Antec EA500, Antec 750W Green.) Seeing as I upgrade about every three years cap aging isn't a concern.

 

[djscribbles]

Scribbles, he handled it correctly. A kill a watt measures between the wall and the PSU. If the kill a watt says 750W, then that is what the PSU is pulling. As Temile correctly computed its not what the PSU is giving the computer.

Maybe post is poorly worded, but I was agreeing with him.
I was attempting to restate that an 860W PSU at 100% load will output 860W to the components in the PC, and pull more than 860W of power from the wall. The reading on a kill-a-watt isn't directly translatable to the output rating on the PSU, the kill-a-watt will read higher based on how efficiently the power supply converts AC to regulated DC.

Or do I have that wrong? (just double checking that I do actually know what I think I do)

 

[4745454b]

an 860W PSU at 100% load will output 860W to the components in the PC, and pull more than 860W of power from the wall.

This is correct.