Power Supply - Does it make a difference?

[SidekickUBT 11]

Community,

Building out my PC with 4090, Intel Core i9-13900KS (6.0 GHz Turbo) with 64GB DDR5 6000MHz. The lowest power supply I'm allowed to order is 1000W.

Would it make a difference if I went to 1500W?

Tim

[anden145 2,285]

 Sounds like quite a beefy system. 😮

You could use this Power Supply Calculator to get an idea of what you need.

 

[stans 703]

Probably not, unless you are going to add a whole lot of hard drives and a massive CPU overclock.

[Biggles2010 343]

1 hour ago, SidekickUBT said:

Building out my PC with 4090, Intel Core i9-13900KS (6.0 GHz Turbo) with 64GB DDR5 6000MHz. The lowest power supply I'm allowed to order is 1000W.

Would it make a difference if I went to 1500W?

The first important factor is the quality of the PSU.  A good one delivers its power more efficiently and will provide more stable voltages under load, right up to the full power rating.  A cheaper  PSU  will often be well short of the claimed output.  Considering your other hardware choices I assume you are likely to go for a high end PSU.

In that case a quality brand of PSU rated at 1000W would cover the demands of your hardware under load.  However a second factor is that a PSU delivers its power most efficiently when not fully loaded. The efficiency factors quoted for any PSU usually show the peak efficiency at around two thirds of total rated power output.  Users may choose a higher rated PSU than is needed for power demand, to achieve lower overall usage of expensive electricity. The downside is that bigger capacity PSUs are notably more expensive to buy.

[G-RFRY 1,712]

Enjoy.

[rickjake 243]

7 hours ago, SidekickUBT said:

Community,

Building out my PC with 4090, Intel Core i9-13900KS (6.0 GHz Turbo) with 64GB DDR5 6000MHz. The lowest power supply I'm allowed to order is 1000W.

Would it make a difference if I went to 1500W?

Tim

I use a 1000W 80+ Gold power supply with a similar setup. I also run 1 HDD plus 4 SDD, 1 DVD-Blu-ray optical read/write drive. My Spec's are in the footer. 

I have no issues and don't even come close to using a 1000 watts of power while running MSFS. Usually using less then 80% of max load of 1000 watts. However, I do have my motherboard settings for the CPU not to exceed intel's spec voltages.  If I let my motherboard (ASUS) set the recommended CPU settings, It uses quite a bit more CPU power and heat for very little gain in speed. But even with the ASUS settings, My wattage use does not come close to 1000W. 

I agree with the above, a 1000w high quality power supply will be better then a cheap 1500w one. 

[TheFamilyMan 280]

After having two successive budget PSUs fail years ago in my first custom build, I've only used known high quality PSUs, of which none have ever failed and with some used for a succeeding build.  I also agree with the above recommendations, though if considering a 1500w PSU, look into the PSU specs roadmap to make sure it'll be future proof. 

[G-RFRY 1,712]

If it gets to needing a 2000w PSU some governments will step in. The EU has already warned the TV manufacturers of smart 8K TVs on power usage. Electrical goods must meet certain power usage, or they cannot be sold in the EU.

[stans 703]

11 hours ago, G-RFRY said:

If it gets to needing a 2000w PSU some governments will step in. The EU has already warned the TV manufacturers of smart 8K TVs on power usage. Electrical goods must meet certain power usage, or they cannot be sold in the EU.

I think the state of California enacted restrictions on computer power usage.

[martin-w 3,235]

On 5/24/2023 at 11:07 AM, SidekickUBT said:

Would it make a difference if I went to 1500W?

 

Its very rare to need that much power. Possible though, if you have a system that's very heavily overclocked with power hungry components and something like a full custom, duel loop. You haven't given the full specs, for example the graphics card, so not possible to give you definitive info. If you use one of the available power supply calculators that are on line, you will get an idea of the wattage required, and accounting for any long term capacitor degradation.

There  are a few advantages to somewhat over specifying a PSU, namely that the PSU is most efficient around the middle of the power curve, so you would be operating in that region most of the time. The saving on your electricity bill is small though, not to mention that modern PSU's tend to be efficient somewhat higher up the curve too these days. The other advantage is that the PSU is hardly breaking a sweat and so might extend its life. 

 

I recently had to change my 1000 watt EVGA power supply after it failed. That's for a system with an EVGA 3090 FTW3 and a 12900K. I was looking for another EVGA 1000 watt PSU, but I wanted a newer topology rather than the 10 year old designs that are common. Couldn't find a suitable PSU anywhere, there seemed to be a shortage 

Then I came across a Corsair HX1500i, the latest design, rather than a decade old design. It was on offer and as I live in the Channel Islands with no VAT, another 20% was knocked off, so I grabbed it quick. So the wattage is way above what I will ever need, thus, it barely breaks a sweat under load, fans are silent and often don't even spin, and its digital, so gives me the option of running as a multi-rail or fixed rail unit. And also has the advantage of full monitoring via Corsair software. 

So to sum up, the only reason I went for a 1500 watt PSU was because there was a shortage of PSU's, the newer topology was hard to find, it was on offer, and offered other features other than wattage, like full monitoring and the option for multi-rail that were useful for me.

Edited June 1, 2023 by martin-w

[G-RFRY 1,712]

Start another power station on the grid it`s going to need it in the future.

FSP's 2500W Power Supply Has Enough Juice To Feed Four RTX 4090 | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

[martin-w 3,235]

5 hours ago, G-RFRY said:

Start another power station on the grid it`s going to need it in the future.

FSP's 2500W Power Supply Has Enough Juice To Feed Four RTX 4090 | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

 

That's a server grade PSU though. Just happens to be ATX so "could" be used by me and you. 

Max capacity isn't the important factor, its whether that capacity is ever used, and no, that much power in the sort of systems we use never is. 

[Luke 782]

If you're actually using that much power, you now have a heat dissipation problem.

Cheers