Power Supply Efficiency

I currently have a SeaSonic PRIME Gold 1200W
I purchased it for a 6-GPU mining rig, which I no longer have.
So, I've been using it as my main PSU.
10% load efficiency is 87%, but 10% load is 120W.
My system idles at 70-90W. So it would be less than 87% efficiency, likely close to 86%.
Since I mainly use my PC for web browsing and homework more than I do gaming, I'm thinking about buying a more efficient PSU to save money on energy cost in the long run.
I'm looking at the PRIME Titanium 650W, which has a 91%+ efficiency at 10% load.

System:
i7-7700K
GTX 1070 SC
16GB DDR4
2xSSD
2xHDD
4x120mm fans
Gaming Keyboard, mouse, headphones, controller.
System power under gaming load = 270W-290W.


What do you think about selling the 1200W Gold and buying the 650W Titanium? It would likely work out to an even trade after Ebay/Paypal tax + shipping. I can get the 650W Titanium for $137.99 on sale right now.

Would anyone even buy the 1200W unit?

In a typical weekend my system idles for 10-12hrs/day and games for 2hrs/day. During the week idles for 4-6hrs/day and games 1hr/day. So I have a lot more idle time than gaming time.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=493
aqO7vq4.png


https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/Seasonic-PRIME-1200W-Gold-Power-Supply-Review/Efficiency-Differential-Temp
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Solution
Use maths.

Find how much you pay for electricity. For each of the different workloads, divide the power consumption by the PSU efficiency, times by the amount of hours undertaking that workload within a month, divide by a thousand to get kilowatts. Get the sum of all those different workloads and divide it by your electricity price.

Subtract the final result for the 1200w PSU by the smaller PSU, and that tells you how much you save per month.

Rexper

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Apr 12, 2017
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Use maths.

Find how much you pay for electricity. For each of the different workloads, divide the power consumption by the PSU efficiency, times by the amount of hours undertaking that workload within a month, divide by a thousand to get kilowatts. Get the sum of all those different workloads and divide it by your electricity price.

Subtract the final result for the 1200w PSU by the smaller PSU, and that tells you how much you save per month.
 
Solution
Yes not worth it. If your system idles at 90w, then you will be 5% more efficient, which roughly speaking means your PSU will draw 5W less from the AC outlet. Even your computer running idle 24/7 it would take like 50 years to save enough for that new PSU.
 

assasin32

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Apr 23, 2008
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The amount is very negligible, your probably better off trying to save money elsewhere. Winter is almost here make sure your house is more air tight and seal up all the drafts, get out the chalk gun and have at it. Window insulation kits to help seal up the window more or if you want you can use that to build a removable interior storm window. If your using incandescent lights think about switching to LED's. Maybe a motion sensor LED light for a hall light if you leave it on all the time. Smart power strips that have a few "always on" devices and others that will selectively turn on and off depending on whether the one designated as the main one is turned on or off so it stops the slow power drain devices that are in standby or turned off use. And if you feel like investing money into something, insulation. And turn down temp to heater a few degrees, open window and use large fans to move air around instead of the AC. And low flow shower heads and faucet aerator, seems like little savings but stretch it out to 10 years and you see the benefits after it adds up for awhile and it's all for a few minutes worth of work.

Sorry I can go on and on about this, been reading up on energy efficiency and how to do things more cheaply to save money in the long run and this is the basics. Ran off track but may be helpful or off topic, either way your PSU is good and you get negligible returns on messing with it and there are far bigger culprits to fry.