(2013-01-12, 19:39)bluesky2006 Wrote: Looks good but isn't 450W a bit much for my needs?Yes, 450w is way overkill. If you went with the 430w corsair PSU I'd estimate that your total system power draw at idle is going to be somewhere around 30 watts (assuming you have just one drive). During boot it may go as high as 50 watts. Sure you'll have plenty of capacity for future expansion but your PSU is only going to be maybe 60% efficient (and likely lower) at that load. The thing to keep in mind about 80 PLUS certification is that it means that the PSU must be at least 80% efficient at 20, 50, and 100% load. With your proposed system you are going to be running at less than 10% load and for most PSUs as the load drops below 20% the efficiency drops off quickly. Even a 300 watt PSU is going to be overkill for your needs. IMO you really only have two choices here:
(2013-01-12, 20:43)Beer40oz Wrote: Get a killa watt meter and let us know you power usage....
(2013-01-12, 21:24)wsume99 Wrote: I wish that somebody would make a single rail 80PLUS gold 200w PSU for $45-50. I'd buy one.
(2013-01-12, 21:24)wsume99 Wrote: FWIW I have a 650w PSU in my three drive unraid server that I run 24x7 and it idles at around 40w. I could probably cut my idle power use by 10-12 watts if bought a picoPSU (~$70) but because my electric is ~$.08/kwh this would only save me $8-$10 per year. That's a 7 year payback.
As I said before you really only have 2 options. Most people go with #1. Option 2 is only possible when you are taking about building a mini-ITX server.
I wish that somebody would make a single rail 80PLUS gold 200w PSU for $45-50. I'd buy one.
(2013-01-12, 21:26)bluesky2006 Wrote: Hmm, yes the world of PSU efficiency is only slowly becoming clearer to me! What I basically understand is that the closer the PSU is to the maximum power requirements of your kit, the better (right?).I believe the sweet spot for maximum efficiency is typically at 50% load. Ideally you'd consider how much the PC will draw typically (which in your case is probably idle power) and get a PSU where 50% load is as close to that value as possible. The other key consideration is that the PSU needs to have enough capacity to handle your PCs max load as well.
(2013-01-12, 21:26)bluesky2006 Wrote: I'm veering towards getting the PicoPSU, simply because I probably won't need to replace it for a while at the rate I currently accumulate data, and if this thing is going to be on all the time I'd like it not to sap too much power.Most likely your PSU would overload and just shut down. Of course the worst case scenario would be that it bursts into flames an burns down the whole house.
However, if one day I forget all this, plug in a new hard drive to expand my server and it's too much for the PSU, will some disaster occur or will it just not power on?
(2013-01-12, 21:26)bluesky2006 Wrote:PC power requirements seem to be heading lower so I'm hoping somebody fills this gap. There's a virtual ghost town between 150 and 300 watts. I'm always confused when OEMs release 1200w 80PLUS Gold PSUs. Seems like a huge waste to me.(2013-01-12, 21:24)wsume99 Wrote: I wish that somebody would make a single rail 80PLUS gold 200w PSU for $45-50. I'd buy one.
+1 for this! Was trying to Google such a thing just moments ago with no luck. Surely with all the new mini-mobos coming out and smaller, cheaper computers, this must be more in demand??
(2013-01-12, 22:06)wsume99 Wrote: I don't think you need to be overly concerned about getting a single rail PSU.
(2013-01-12, 22:06)wsume99 Wrote: Most likely your PSU would overload and just shut down. Of course the worst case scenario would be that it bursts into flames an burns down the whole house.
(2013-01-12, 22:34)Dougie Fresh Wrote:(2013-01-12, 22:06)wsume99 Wrote: I don't think you need to be overly concerned about getting a single rail PSU.
+1. We're talking a C60M1-I few hard drives here so amperage on any given rail is going to be very low.
. It's been running great for over a year. I' even ran it off a picoPSU 120-WI-25 for a little while and a 250W no-name PSU I pulled from a Apex MI-008. No problems with any of them though the picoPSU made me a little nervous because it does not have a lot in the 12V department.