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So I bought a Kill A Watt power meter...

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  • Power Supplies
  • Power
  • Components
Last response: in Components
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Anonymous
a b ) Power supply
March 22, 2011 12:34:37 PM

to see how much power my computers use...

My core i7-870 setup uses about 68w idle and about 150w under load - I imagine with my setup it would probably never exceed 200w (I've only got 1 hard drive and an ATI 4670 graphics card installed). I'm using a 700w Rosewill 80+ bronze psu...which seems like overkill after seeing the killawatt readings.

My question is: Since I seem to be using less than 20% of the PSU's output, should I swap the 700w rosewill that's currently in the system for an older 400w psu I have lying around. The older psu is a corsair that doesn't have 80+ certification.

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a b ) Power supply
March 22, 2011 7:23:39 PM

No, it won't consume less, even more because of the lower efficiency.
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a c 275 ) Power supply
March 23, 2011 2:23:32 AM

^+1 exactly! the efficiency rating is how much power is converted effectively by the psu from the wall without loss.
Obviously the higher the efficiency rating = less wasted energy.
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Anonymous
a b ) Power supply
March 23, 2011 12:14:38 PM

Best answer selected by jm0990.
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a b ) Power supply
March 23, 2011 3:46:48 PM

May, or may not.
Normally the 80% eff would be lower total, However if that 80% is at say 50% load and you are at 21% of load the eff may be less and infact may be more than your 400 W with a lower eff rating as you would be at the 38% loaded.

Easy enough to tell since you have both PSUs. You already have the readings for the 700 W PSU. Install the 400 W corsair and get the values, use the one that gives the lowest power consumpution.
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