awZomePIG

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Oct 24, 2012
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10,510
Hey! This is my first post, so any practical orientation/information would be appreciated ;)

- Well, I've been geeking PC components for half a year, planning my first custom gaming rig. This question is about the PSU: Does it harm anything to have too many watts? My plans so far is just a single GPU (custom watercooled), and I've figured I am going for a 850W fully modular PSU. But I am from Norway, and we don't have any Norwegian websites (good ones) who sells custom watercooling parts, so I'll order from frozencpu.com . Then I saw I could get a 1200W PSU there for the price of the 850W version in Norway (as it's far more expencive here :| ) - about 270$ . Is it a problem to have way too many watts? I'm hoping the PSU can stay alive for a while, and I am guessing future components will require more wattage. I really don't want to get a whole new PSU every time I upgrade my GPU(s) or something like that.. :) As mentioned, it's a 1200W psu instead of 850W for the same price, same brand (SilverPower), so even if there's a tiny performance-increase on the 1200W version I'll go for it. However my friend told me the other components might take damage from way too many watts. 80% efficiency if it matters..

I see it's become a wall of boring ***, but I'll appreciate serious responce! :)

The 1200W PSU http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7232/psu-356/SilverStone_Strider_ST1200_1200W_Modular_Power_Supply_-_SLI_Ready_SST-ST1200.html?tl=g11c26s213

awZomePIG
f.o. PIGware
 

jay_nar2012

Distinguished
Your computer only draws how much it needs from the PSU.

What are your specs, 850W and 1200W are usually used for people who have multiple cards in SLI/Crossfire and have a overclocked 125W CPU.
 
Future components will draw less power, actually.

It's not a huge problem in that it won't break anything, but it doesn't make any sense either. If you're going for a single GPU setup 550W is all you ever need.
 

awZomePIG

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Oct 24, 2012
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10,510
1st fact was really interesting, thank you ;)
To reformulate my point: if one day i want to upgrade my graphics, for example add another card, and there is a chance that i will EVER need 850W, then ill go for the 1200w psu as its the same price, and there's no negative things about too many watts.. :) or?
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
The highest-powered overclocked CPU+GPU combos currently in existence draw less than 450W measured at the wall so unless you plan to SLI/CFX, you are better off with a QUALITY 500-550W PSU than a random 850-1500W PSU.

There should be absolutely no performance advantage between a quality 500W PSU and a 1200W PSU. As long as the system power is within the PSU's abilities to deliver reliable power, the computer will run exactly the same.

As pointed above, most electronics manufacturers are heavily emphasizing power-efficiency. As such, power drain from CPU, GPU, chipsets, etc. has been dropping rather than increasing for the past many years and will continue doing so for the foreseeable future. The P4/Netburst era where AMD, Intel, ATI and Nvidia were all pushing clocks and performance regardless of power are long gone and unlikely to ever come back.
 

awZomePIG

Honorable
Oct 24, 2012
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10,510
1st: I used a certified PSU watt requirement-calculator, and with a single GPU I ended up with a suggestion of 700W (inserting numbers for overclocking, fans and pump for the liquid loop, and i said i'd like to use it for several years..) - and i want to suppose that i'm upgrading to sli in the nearest future, and secure enough watts.. so i will go with 850+ unless someone proves that its a totally waste even with sli. The question in the beginning was if 1200W is a problem ;)

2nd: As far as i have seen (forums, reviews etc.) silverstone is a good PSU brand, but are there big differences on Silverstones PSUs? Link to the 1200W psu above. It costs $220, so i thought it was a safe choice.. ?

Thank you for replying, allready helped me alot