How Much Power Does a 600W PSU Use?

[Sir Topham Hatt]

Is the 600W PSU rated to be a constant 600W or is it more "up to"?

[francescob]

up to, otherwise some computers would require their own power plant. Buying the wrong PSU can still waste power though.

[philcruicks]

Yeah, 600W is the max it can output to your PC, you'll start to see strange things happening if your PSU isn't providing enough power, I had HDD's disappearing when it happened to me... thought the HDD was iffy, so started playing around with them and noticed it never happened when I had one out. new PSU (up from 400 to 600 at the time several years ago) and all sorted.

 

If you're not sure what to get 600W is a good all rounder for a computer with a half decent CPU, 1 graphics card and a HDD or 2.

if your push up to SLI/Cross-Fire or 5-6 HDD you might need more.

 

you can use something like a PSU calc to try and work it out http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

but its only a guideline.

 

With 30% capacitor aging (as my PSU is a few years old now) on my system (in sig) , it recommends 566W and I have 600W so I'm OK...though come to think of it I am planing a few upgrades to might have to look at a 750W for myself.

[threetonesun]

This is a good read on 80-Plus and, in general, how power supplies deliver power: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus

 

For most users, it's better to have something that runs at a fraction of the total power, very efficiently. 

[Aergan]

Depends on the manufacturer of the PSU. Shuttle & Delta for example quote average rating & high efficiency whereas most retail models quote Max power before fail these days.

 

80-Plus as mentioned is a great thing to have on a PSU.

[Andre S. Veteran]

A power supply delivers power on a need-to basis, i.e. if the computer consumes 200W then the PSU is delivering 200W. It will draw more than 200W, however, since no power supply is 100% efficient. The theoretical power draw would be (delivered power / efficiency), i.e. in this case an 80% efficient PSU would draw 200W / 0.8 = 250W from the wall, the 50W difference gets wasted as heat.

[Shadrack]

Yeah, 600W is the max it can output to your PC, ...<snip>...

 

That basically answers his question in the briefest way possible.  The rest of your post was good too :).

[Mando]

you also have to factor in as the PSU ages (capacitors etc aging) the overall efficiency of the PSU also drops as all the circuitry ages in the PSU.

 

The Watt ratings are the maximum rated output it can provide. TBH I pay more attention to the Ampere rating on each line e.g. 12v rail1, rail2, rail3, 5V rail also. 

 

A 600W cheap ass psu may only push say 10A on a single 12v rail, whereas a branded 550W may push as much as 24A on the 12v rails. The 550W would be a better psu, esp for a games gpu and lots of peripherals using +12v & +5v

 

the cheap 600W would have to work harder to provide the power resulting in higher energy costs due to inferior rail ampage ratings, not because its rated at 600W, but because its having to run at almost 100% to provide the stable current.

 

My Enermax 550W is getting on a bit but has been so stable the last 3 or 4 years. Paying a decent amount of ? for a good branded PSU is worth the extra outlay, usually outlasting most "generic" PSUs.

 

It pushes the following quite happily.

 

Asus X68 mobo

Core i7 2600k @4.8Ghz clocked

4x4Gb PC2133 DDR3

2x 500Gb traditional Hdds in RAID

1x Sata 3 SSD

2xoptical drives

Asus DGX Sound card

various USB peripherals

EVGA 660ti 3Gb

[ShadowMajestic]

A power supply delivers power on a need-to basis, i.e. if the computer consumes 200W then the PSU is delivering 200W. It will draw more than 200W, however, since no power supply is 100% efficient. The theoretical power draw would be (delivered power / efficiency), i.e. in this case an 80% efficient PSU would draw 200W / 0.8 = 250W from the wall, the 50W difference gets wasted as heat.

But if the usage is closer to the max it is, less % of power is wasted. So pick wisely considering the loss in aging.

[+Warwagon MVC]

When in doubt, Just get a 1000 Watt and be done with it :D

[Nagisan]

But if the usage is closer to the max it is, less % of power is wasted. So pick wisely considering the loss in aging.

Not true, each PSU reaches optimal efficiency at different load values. Many of which happen around 50-60% of their max load, though you would need to research the PSU you are looking at to get a more accurate picture.

[threetonesun]

But if the usage is closer to the max it is, less % of power is wasted. So pick wisely considering the loss in aging.

 

Depends on the PSU. If you look at the 80+ certifications, they all are supposed to be most efficient at 50% usage. You'd have to do a lot of testing to figure out what efficiency they actually get at each level of usage. 

 

However, if you need 500 Watts, a 1000-Watt which is anything above base 80+ would be 3% more efficient than a 500 Watt. So, not much. And it's possible a 600 running at 83% load could be just as efficient.

 

Long story short, buy a good PSU, give yourself some overhead.

[Mordkanin]

you also have to factor in as the PSU ages (capacitors etc aging) the overall efficiency of the PSU also drops as all the circuitry ages in the PSU.

 

Capacitors aging can increase the swing on the bus at high loading (Near max), but shouldn't have an appreciable effect on efficiency, especially when the converter isn't fully loaded. Bulk caps are specified to a ripple voltage tolerance at max current. 

 

You might have to derate the power supply after several years by, say, 10%, but the efficiency of it isn't impacted much.

[CrashG]

But if the usage is closer to the max it is, less % of power is wasted. So pick wisely considering the loss in aging.

The closer you run it at it's max, the harder it has to work and that usually equals a shorter lifespan.

[123456789A]

I'm currently using 82W on a 1200W PSU and the efficiency rating is 91%.

[Phouchg]

I'm currently using 82W on a 1200W PSU and the efficiency rating is 91%.

 

I suppose it's because Titans actually *provide* power rather than consume it :p

[123456789A]

I suppose it's because Titans actually *provide* power rather than consume it :p

 

Yes, but if I put both Titans on IRQ5, then we have a Clash of the Titans.

[Phouchg]

Yes, but if I put both Titans on IRQ5, then we have a Clash of the Titans.

 

Do your Titans also work as line printers? O the wonders shall never cease! :woot:

[ShadowMajestic]

Depends on the PSU. If you look at the 80+ certifications, they all are supposed to be most efficient at 50% usage. You'd have to do a lot of testing to figure out what efficiency they actually get at each level of usage. 

 

However, if you need 500 Watts, a 1000-Watt which is anything above base 80+ would be 3% more efficient than a 500 Watt. So, not much. And it's possible a 600 running at 83% load could be just as efficient.

 

Long story short, buy a good PSU, give yourself some overhead.

Ah thanks, I was under the impression most ran most efficient at 80-90%. At least those I've owned do :)

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

When in doubt, Just get a 1000 Watt and be done with it :D

 

And at full load, this would be equal to exactly one kilowatt-hour! 

 

So, if you look at your electricity bill, it should give you the rate and from there it'll be possible to estimate how much a PC actually costs to run.

[the evn show]

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