PSU Power consumption

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Maxx Taxx

I ordered a Antec case with a 500w PSU (TX1050B) for my new system ( AMD64
3,0+ with a radeon X800XL SATA 250gb and IDE 120gb disc and a TV card)

Maybe that was overkill (because I hear Antec make quality watt PSU:s and
this one is primarily intended for file servers)

I'm mostly worried if my monthly bill for electricity/energy will be higher
because I use this PSU.

Could that be a problem ?

Can there be other problems because PSU wattage is much(?) higher than I
need ?
 
Maxx Taxx said:
I ordered a Antec case with a 500w PSU (TX1050B) for my new system ( AMD64
3,0+ with a radeon X800XL SATA 250gb and IDE 120gb disc and a TV card)

Maybe that was overkill (because I hear Antec make quality watt PSU:s and
this one is primarily intended for file servers)

I'm mostly worried if my monthly bill for electricity/energy will be
higher because I use this PSU.

Could that be a problem ?

Can there be other problems because PSU wattage is much(?) higher than I
need ?
Click to expand...

No, your electric bill won't be higher. No, there's nothing wrong with using
a PS that is much more then you need.
You could rig up that PS to run a 15 watt light bulb and it would be just as
happy with that as it would be powering your system.
I think a PS's MTBF is computed at a 70% load anyway. Anyone confirm?
 
I ordered a Antec case with a 500w PSU (TX1050B) for my new system ( AMD64
3,0+ with a radeon X800XL SATA 250gb and IDE 120gb disc and a TV card)

Maybe that was overkill (because I hear Antec make quality watt PSU:s and
this one is primarily intended for file servers)
Click to expand...

You MUST be kidding!
Those parts (including the video card and TV card) are going
to be put in a fileserver?

LOL.

If this is a home fileserver, and since this is post about
energy usage, here is an optimal arrangement for a typical
home fileserver:

Celeron 800 CPU, undervolted to 1.5V, passive heatsink.

SATA RAID card, pair of 250GB in RAID1 (there are certainly
other options but going with a little of what you'd
mentioned).

256MB memory
ATI RageXL video
Gigabit NIC

Total power consumption should be around 100W, lower when
idle. By using the parts you mention, having PCI Express
may improve Gigabit lan performance a little, but the CPU,
video, etc, will have no benefit at all- the hard drives and
network are typically the bottlenecks.

Now I consider that you aren't really building a fileserver
but rather a multimedia PC. In that case, IF you can accept
MPEG2 video captures, the only deviation might be to ensure
that the TV card does hardware compression. If you need
other types of compression then it makes more sense to go
with the modern CPU/platform for software compressor
performance.


I'm mostly worried if my monthly bill for electricity/energy will be higher
because I use this PSU.

Could that be a problem ?
Click to expand...

No, the PSU wattage rating is only it's maximum output
potential, in use it will only supply what the system needs.

However, if we wanted to nitpick, you might gain a few,
maybe 3% efficiency by using a power supply that is only
slightly higher total output than the system uses. The
problem is, using such an arrangment with desktop grade
power supplies (including Antec) means their expected
lifespan is reduced, contrasted with running a PSU
significantly under it's max potential.

Can there be other problems because PSU wattage is much(?) higher than I
need ?
Click to expand...

No, considering the system and that you already ordered it,
I'd go ahead and use it.
 
Maxx Taxx said:
I ordered a Antec case with a 500w PSU (TX1050B) for my new system (
AMD64 3,0+ with a radeon X800XL SATA 250gb and IDE 120gb disc and a TV
card)

Maybe that was overkill (because I hear Antec make quality watt PSU:s
and this one is primarily intended for file servers)

I'm mostly worried if my monthly bill for electricity/energy will be
higher because I use this PSU.

Could that be a problem ?

Can there be other problems because PSU wattage is much(?) higher than
I need ?
Click to expand...


The tires on your car are rated for a maximum sustained speed. Do you
actually always drive around at that sustained maximum speed?
 
Kony, LOL, maybe my english isn't as good as I thought or you misread, or
something in between :o) but I meant the case/psu combo from Antec was made
primarily for file servers.
Anyway thanks for your replay , and thanks you other guys too for answering
my post.
I won't change my order then ...
 
Alceryes said:
I think a PS's MTBF is computed at a 70% load anyway. Anyone confirm?
Click to expand...

No. A PSU's MTBF *should be* calculated at full load. They cheat enough
by using 25 degrees C as the ambient temperature (which is not real
world.)
 
The PSU will use only as much power as it needs to drive your computer's
system components, so no problem.
 
Maxx said:
I ordered a Antec case with a 500w PSU (TX1050B) for my
new system ( AMD64 3,0+ with a radeon X800XL SATA 250gb
and IDE 120gb disc and a TV card)

Maybe that was overkill (because I hear Antec make quality
watt PSUs and this one is primarily intended for file servers)

I'm mostly worried if my monthly bill for electricity/energy
will be higher because I use this PSU.
Click to expand...

As the experts have said, no, but if it was true, then a 500W PSU would
run a lot, lot hotter than a 300W PSU under the same load because the
extra power not consumed by the computer would have to go somewhere
else.
Can there be other problems because PSU wattage is much(?)
higher than I need ?
Click to expand...

Not with an Antec or any other modern PSU, which are typically
specified as needing only a 1A minimum load to work right, but I have a
5-6 year-old 300W Delta that won't run my 500W Socket 7 machine because
it draws only 60W, causing the +12V rail to put out < 11V (HD won't
spin).
 
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