PSU Gold worth the extra money?

[s1luxford]

I have found both the Bronze and Gold variation of the PSU I am looking for and there appears to be a noticeable difference between the price.

I was therefore wondering if this price difference was actually worth the slight increase in energy efficiency?

Also I understand that one is semi modular and one full modular but this does not bother me as I will be using all the cables attached on the semi modular anyway.

XFX XXX 850W Semi Modular 80+ Bronze - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850xxxb9

XFX Black Edition 850W Fully Modular 80+ Gold - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850bbefx

 

[shiva92]

80+ Bronze certified PSU will do good. Actually it depends on your budget. If you have more money get gold rated one as it will have more warranty time and little bit high efficiency. The extra money you are paying is for addition warranty and little bit high efficiency

 

[jimthenagual]

Both are extreme high quality. Great PSUs.

Buying gold/platinum isn't absolutely necessary. It simply refers to how well the PSU draws its power from the wall without losing energy in the form of heat. So a gold PSU will draw less power from the wall than a bronze would in order to provide the same amount of wattage to your computer. The bronze will waste some of that power as heat and therefore need to draw more power compared to the gold efficient PSU.

A Gold psu does not necessarily have better components in it than a bronze. There are many examples of terrible gold rated psu's and excellent bronze rated PSUs. Efficiency does not equal quality all the time.

Further, unless you are using your computer at full load for 24/7 for years, you will not save enough in electricity bills to warrant purchasing a gold/platinum psu. I'd spend the extra for modular before spending the extra on efficiency.