[SOLVED] Low PC power use

[sidekick99]

I decided to measure the amount of Watt my pc draws with an electricity usage monitor ( out of curiosity).
And when playing games my pc would draw 260 Watt max.

This seems very strange to me because everywhere i would see the suggested PSU is 650W butt it only uses up to 260W when measuring myself.
Why the need for a 650W PSU then?

PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 7 3700x (AIO cooler)
RTX 3070 (msi ventus 3x fans)
2x 16GB 3200Mhz

1x M.2
1x 2.5inch SSD
4x Case fans
2x LED strips

 

[jonnyguru]

I decided to measure the amount of Watt my pc draws with an electricity usage monitor ( out of curiosity).
And when playing games my pc would draw 260 Watt max.

This seems very strange to me because everywhere i would see the suggested PSU is 650W butt it only uses up to 260W when measuring myself.
Why the need for a 650W PSU then?

PC specs:
AMD Ryzen 7 3700x (AIO cooler)
RTX 3070 (msi ventus 3x fans)
2x 16GB 3200Mhz

1x M.2
1x 2.5inch SSD
4x Case fans
2x LED strips

That does sound really low. What games?

What do you see if you run a benchmark like Catzilla or Unigine?

 

[Ralston18]

Having a 650 watt PSU does not mean that the system is using 650 watts.

The system is only using 260 watts but there may be spikes in the power load so higher wattage PSUs are recommended.

Especially with the "tendencies" for PSU manufacturers to determine output capacities via ideal testing conditions that favor reported/advertised wattage capabilities.

Likewise component manufacturers do the opposite. They determine wattage requirements in ideal situations that make the component's power requirements to appear lower than real world use would.

GPU's are often a big power draw item so the manufacturers can and do just recommend some minimum recommended wattage PSU.

In your situation, 650 watts may seem to be a bit too much.

However - FYI:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/30-series/rtx-3070/

650 watts is the recommendation.

But you must consider the quality of PSU.

What make and model PSU?

 

[sidekick99]

That does sound really low. What games?

What do you see if you run a benchmark like Catzilla or Unigine?

While playing Watch dogs legion and GTA 5 online ( in both games i got around 260W)

 

[sidekick99]

Having a 650 watt PSU does not mean that the system is using 650 watts.

The system is only using 260 watts but there may be spikes in the power load so higher wattage PSUs are recommended.

Especially with the "tendencies" for PSU manufacturers to determine output capacities via ideal testing conditions that favor reported/advertised wattage capabilities.

Likewise component manufacturers do the opposite. They determine wattage requirements in ideal situations that make the component's power requirements to appear lower than real world use would.

GPU's are often a big power draw item so the manufacturers can and do just recommend some minimum recommended wattage PSU.

In your situation, 650 watts may seem to be a bit too much.

However - FYI:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/30-series/rtx-3070/

650 watts is the recommendation.

But you must consider the quality of PSU.

What make and model PSU?

I got a "be quiet Straight Power 11 650W"

 

[Ralston18]

FYI:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/be-quiet-straight-power-11-650w-platinum-power-supply-review

 

[jonnyguru]

While playing Watch dogs legion and GTA 5 online ( in both games i got around 260W)

Yeah. Those aren't very demanding games.

 

[sidekick99]

Yeah. Those aren't very demanding games.

I'll run some benchmarks tommorow and keep you updated

 

[sidekick99]

Update:
So i did the fire strike extreme benchmark from 3DMARK and my pc consumed around 350 Watts