[NCLUG] power supply size

[Sean Reifschneider]

Jim Hutchinson wrote:
> A 450 watt PS or similar is probably more than sufficient for your needs. I
> think people often go overboard, but I also think a good power supply is

I think the systems for a while were getting more and more power-hungry,
and so the common move in the power supply side of things was to build
bigger and bigger power supplies.  However, computer components have really
gone the other direction.

A quad core is probably going to be 95W TDP for the CPU.  That's going to
be the largest single power consumer with the possible exception of the
graphics.

If you really want to buy just what you need, you need to go through the
numbers.  Add up the components you want to be using in there, add around
15%, and that's about where you want to be.  According to numbers I've
seen, power supplies tend to be most efficient at around 70 to 80% of their
rated output.  So those "80+" high efficiency power supplies really mean
80% efficient at 75% of their output, and it can drop off significantly  if
over or under driven...

> worth the investment. I have a SeaSonic (this one I think
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151056) that is

I also have a SeaSonic, I believe that bsoft recommended them to me, and
I've been happy.  I have others as well.  Mostly, if you're spending over
$100 you're probably going to get a pretty good power supply.

For most of the home machines I've built recently I've been buying pretty
much the smallest power supplies I can find, but I've been doing some
pretty small machines like Core Solo.  Even for my quad 2.4 with 8GB of RAM
and 10 drives (but no real video card to speak of) I've been using pretty
small supplies, I think that has a 450 in it.

> known to be well built. I'd also check for something with 80% or better
> efficiency.

Just be prepared, those do tend to be in the $100 and up price range.
I think they're worth it, but many people seem to be looking for less
expensive options...

Sean
-- 
Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo at tummy.com>
tummy.com, ltd. - Linux Consulting since 1995: Ask me about High Availability

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