Platinum PSU Choice

[thetiesthatbind2018]

I'm thinking of changing my current EVGA G3 750W SuperNOVA to a platinum one as P2 is a bit overpriced in Greece, I was thinking to go for either AX760 or HX750. Yet again, HX750 is significantly cheaper than AX760. So, in your honest opinion shall I choose HX750?

Kind regards

 

[volkgren]

Do you realize that even if you ran it 24/7 it would take years to return the investment cost in energy savings?

 

[DSzymborski]

As Volkgren notes, you'll never see your money back in energy savings, so don't do this move for this reason.

If your PC runs at 400W at load, at 100% load for 3 hours a day and 20% load for 7 hours a day, the difference between a Gold-rated and a Platinum-rated power supply is a bit less than €4 a year. That might be meaningful if you didn't already have a power supply and were choosing between the two, but already *having* a working Gold-rated power supply, you'll need to run this power supply for decades to break-even.

Now, if you're doing it for other reasons (the power supply is busted or you just want to be green), then that's different and it's an ethical choice. But if you're doing it to save money, it's not happening.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

As Volkgren notes, you'll never see your money back in energy savings, so don't do this move for this reason.

If your PC runs at 400W at load, at 100% load for 3 hours a day and 20% load for 7 hours a day, the difference between a Gold-rated and a Platinum-rated power supply is a bit less than €4 a year. That might be meaningful if you didn't already have a power supply and were choosing between the two, but already *having* a working Gold-rated power supply, you'll need to run this power supply for decades to break-even.

Now, if you're doing it for other reasons (the power supply is busted or you just want to be green), then that's different and it's an ethical choice. But if you're doing it to save money, it's not happening.

I'm not doing it for the saving reason at at all. I'm only thinking about changing from G3 to HX or even RMx series cause of the OTP and OPP issues that I wasn't aware of until I ran onto some comments/reviews recently. I care for my system's health and longevity only.

 

[TJ Hooker]

What OTP/OPP issues? Complete system specs?

 

[DSzymborski]

What OTP/OPP issues? Complete system specs?

There's some concern over the OTP/OPP being set very high in the series, but unless you're straining the system already, it's pretty much a non-issue.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Ah, yeah I see they mention it in TH's review of the G3. Agree, unless you're expecting to be running near the rated power of the PSU (which isn't a good idea anyway) doesn't seem like it'd matter much.

 

[DSzymborski]

Ah, yeah I see they mention it in TH's review of the G3. Agree, unless you're expecting to be running near the rated power of the PSU (which isn't a good idea anyway) doesn't seem like it'd matter much.

Yeah, I bought a G3 *after* knowing about the issue and I'm a curmudgeon about power supplies.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Well I guess then I shouldn't touch my PSU and stick with it? My main components are 8700K @ 4.7GHz 1.26V and a GTX 1080 FTW2 running at stock speeds and memory at 11 GHz. I looked up to several reviews and didn't even notice the 'issues' with the protections thing till few days ago. I also considered an improvement over the amazing G2 series. Anyway, looking forward to your answers

Thanks for the help so far

 

[TJ Hooker]

Your rig should only draw like ~500W under full CPU+GPU load. You're fine with your current PSU.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

I'm only gaming so... Anyway thanks for the replies. I won't change my PSU then! It draws about 380-400W according to APC's software

 

[DSzymborski]

Well I guess then I shouldn't touch my PSU and stick with it? My main components are 8700K @ 4.7GHz 1.26V and a GTX 1080 FTW2 running at stock speeds and memory at 11 GHz. I looked up to several reviews and didn't even notice the 'issues' with the protections thing till few days ago. I also considered an improvement over the amazing G2 series. Anyway, looking forward to your answers

Thanks for the help so far

You don't need to worry, thought it's good you're thinking of these questions! It just means you don't want to push it over like you can do with a lot of quality power supplies - a lot of SeaSonic 750s, for example, can take 850-900 without any issues or any measurements going out of spec. Note that even after finding the OPP was set really high, Aris *still* didn't have any problems recommending the PSU, just noting that the 650 only had three PCIE connectors.

The problems were a little more with the B3. Even if it's not enough to not affect a recommendation for the G3, it is enough to make people sure to go over future Super Flower platforms with a fine-toothed comb for any problems of this nature.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Well I guess then I shouldn't touch my PSU and stick with it? My main components are 8700K @ 4.7GHz 1.26V and a GTX 1080 FTW2 running at stock speeds and memory at 11 GHz. I looked up to several reviews and didn't even notice the 'issues' with the protections thing till few days ago. I also considered an improvement over the amazing G2 series. Anyway, looking forward to your answers

Thanks for the help so far

You don't need to worry, thought it's good you're thinking of these questions! It just means you don't want to push it over like you can do with a lot of quality power supplies - a lot of SeaSonic 750s, for example, can take 850-900 without any issues or any measurements going out of spec. Note that even after finding the OPP was set really high, Aris *still* didn't have any problems recommending the PSU, just noting that the 650 only had three PCIE connectors.

The problems were a little more with the B3. Even if it's not enough to not affect a recommendation for the G3, it is enough to make people sure to go over future Super Flower platforms with a fine-toothed comb for any problems of this nature.

Alright, thanks for the answers! Probably if I were to swap to a new PSU, maybe it would be better to go for a Gold PSU like RM750x instead of paying the premium price of a Platinum certified one, wouldn't it? Anyway, probably 750W is an overkill as well for my build and 650W would be the ideal but I think it's always good to have some headroom, isn't it?

Kind regards

 

[volkgren]

Yes, the Gold rated PSUs are typically the better value because Platinum rated cost so much more. You never mentioned your other hardware, so it's kinda difficult to say whether 650W or 750W would be better. But, I will say that it wouldn't hurt too much to have extra room for more power.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Yes, the Gold rated PSUs are typically the better value because Platinum rated cost so much more. You never mentioned your other hardware, so it's kinda difficult to say whether 650W or 750W would be better. But, I will say that it wouldn't hurt too much to have extra room for more power.

I believe the same myself just wanted a second opinion. Well my full system specs are as described below:

NZXT H700 (dumb version)
EVGA SUPERNOVA G3 750W
ASUS MAXIMUS X HERO
INTEL i7-8700K @ 4.7GHz, 1.264V
2x8GB Corsair Vengeance White Led 3000C15 (Soon to be replaced by 4x4GB TridentZ 3600C17 non RGB version)
EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 (stock clock, memory at 11 GHz)
1x Samsung NVMe 250GB 960
1x Samsung SSD 500GB 860
1x Samsung SSD 250GB 850
1x WD Caviar Black 1TB (Soon to be replaced by a 2TB Gold one or a 1TB SSD for improving system's stealth)
Corsair H115i PRO RGB Push/Pull (with x2 WLED 140mm and another x2 RGB 140mm (all ML))
3x RGB ML 120mm fans all exhausting air combined with Lighting Node Pro for the RGB control).

 

[volkgren]

Often times the most efficient power supply load is 50-60% of the maximum capability of the power supply. Your system will probably pull around 450W under load. You can't really go wrong with 650W or 750W.

I wouldn't get 4x4GB if you can get 2x8GB. You have a dual-channel motherboard, not quad-channel. Plus, having all four bays populated might not be able to run faster memory such as DDR4 3600.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Often times the most efficient power supply load is 50-60% of the maximum capability of the power supply. Your system will probably pull around 450W under load. You can't really go wrong with 650W or 750W.

I wouldn't get 4x4GB if you can get 2x8GB. You have a dual-channel motherboard, not quad-channel. Plus, having all four bays populated might not be able to run faster memory such as DDR4 3600.

I've already checked that out with ASUS and G. Skill. The official ASUS answer was the following one "For the Hero, 4 DIMM kits will always be the better option and will often overclock better due to the boards T-Topology layout." This answer belongs to "Silent Scone@ASUS"

Anyway, I won't tweak the RAM beyond 3600 anyway, I just want to plug & play. I would go for 4x8GB but I found out that I don't really need 32 GB of RAM anyway. I want my DIMMs all populated for aesthetics.

Alright, so actually 650W would be ideal or 750W are still a better option as of the headroom? My PC draws according to my UPS software about 380-400W while gaming.

 

[volkgren]

Hmm.. well alright then. Thanks for the info. But you still need to enable XMP in bios to run 3600 since that is still overclocked memory.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Hmm.. well alright then. Thanks for the info. But you still need to enable XMP in bios to run 3600 since that is still overclocked memory.

Yeah, I know about it, I just meant i won't tweak it beyond XMP profile

 

[jankerson]

Well I guess then I shouldn't touch my PSU and stick with it? My main components are 8700K @ 4.7GHz 1.26V and a GTX 1080 FTW2 running at stock speeds and memory at 11 GHz. I looked up to several reviews and didn't even notice the 'issues' with the protections thing till few days ago. I also considered an improvement over the amazing G2 series. Anyway, looking forward to your answers

Thanks for the help so far

You don't need to worry, thought it's good you're thinking of these questions! It just means you don't want to push it over like you can do with a lot of quality power supplies - a lot of SeaSonic 750s, for example, can take 850-900 without any issues or any measurements going out of spec. Note that even after finding the OPP was set really high, Aris *still* didn't have any problems recommending the PSU, just noting that the 650 only had three PCIE connectors.

The problems were a little more with the B3. Even if it's not enough to not affect a recommendation for the G3, it is enough to make people sure to go over future Super Flower platforms with a fine-toothed comb for any problems of this nature.

Alright, thanks for the answers! Probably if I were to swap to a new PSU, maybe it would be better to go for a Gold PSU like RM750x instead of paying the premium price of a Platinum certified one, wouldn't it? Anyway, probably 750W is an overkill as well for my build and 650W would be the ideal but I think it's always good to have some headroom, isn't it?

Kind regards

There is nothing wrong going with a Platinum PSU if that's what you want.

There are some excellent very high quality units available in both Platinum and Titanium.

I would stick with 750W also for the headroom and cabling options for the future.

Here are some good choices:

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/jBZ2FT,LkM323,hKc48d/

 

[TJ Hooker]

Alright, so actually 650W would be ideal or 750W are still a better option as of the headroom? My PC draws according to my UPS software about 380-400W while gaming.

A good 650W like you have is plenty for pretty much any single GPU rig. Your current CPU and GPU are already close to the top of what you'd see for power draw from regular desktop parts and as you can see you still have plenty of headroom.

Obviously getting a 750W isn't going to hurt anything, it's just not really going to get you any benefit in return for the money you're spending.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

If I were going to change my PSU, I would go for the HX (dumb version). Unfortunately the EVGA P2 isn't available in Greece. The Prime Ultra (750W edition D2) costs about 40 euro more than the HX750 but provides 12 Years Warranty. Yet again, I don't know anyone keeping around a PSU for more than 4-5 years

 

[TJ Hooker]

Sure, if you're going to get a new PSU go ahead and get a 750W and/or platinum if you want. But why get a new PSU in the first place?

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

I won't change it. My first thought of changing it was strictly because I came across with some reviews stating the there are issues over OTP and OPP protections of the series. Which I wasn't aware off until reading those reviews. When I did my search I didn't read about them anywhere, and I thought also that the G3 series was an improvement over the amazing G2 series.

Anyway, after some further research, if I were to change my PSU, I'd go for SSR-750PD2 (Seasonic Prime Ultra 650W Platinum), which apparently belongs to Tier S(?) group instead of HX750W.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Ok, I was a little confused because you keep talking about what model you would get, makes it sound like you are planning on getting a new PSU.

What is "Tier S"?