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Best Power Supply Calculator?

W

WeShipTech

n00b
Joined
Aug 4, 2011
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56
I've seen a few different power supply calculators around that give different results. Which ones have you found to be the most accurate and realistic?
 
Zero82z said:
There are no accurate PSU calculators.
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That's because most of the PSU calculators err on the side of safety, recommending units of higher wattage than what's deemed necessary for a given system configuration. After all, they have to assume that you're using a mediocre-to-poor quality PSU when they determine the wattages.
 
E4g1e said:
That's because most of the PSU calculators err on the side of safety, recommending units of higher wattage than what's deemed necessary for a given system configuration. After all, they have to assume that you're using a mediocre-to-poor quality PSU when they determine the wattages.
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No, it's because they are generally based on false data.
 
Just curious, what do you mean by false data? Most power consumption calculators give some wattage value based on the basic classification of a component (ie HDD, RAM, CPU, GPU) and its method of operation (stock, overclocked, etc).

Is it that the variation on power consumption from different model components are large enough that one cannot generalize this with a single value? Or is it that they are just wrong (ie, the values used have no correlation with any of the models of components)?
 
tbh I would use 2 calculators , take the higher of the 2 totals then add 150-200w and buy the best one I could afford and not worry about a free program that you are counting on for power estimations.

Why do you need one? List your query so we can help :)
 
Zenshi said:
Just curious, what do you mean by false data? Most power consumption calculators give some wattage value based on the basic classification of a component (ie HDD, RAM, CPU, GPU) and its method of operation (stock, overclocked, etc).

Is it that the variation on power consumption from different model components are large enough that one cannot generalize this with a single value? Or is it that they are just wrong (ie, the values used have no correlation with any of the models of components)?
Click to expand...

Many of the values are just wrong: They have no correlation whatsoever with any particular speed or model of the actual components.
 
Zenshi said:
Just curious, what do you mean by false data? Most power consumption calculators give some wattage value based on the basic classification of a component (ie HDD, RAM, CPU, GPU) and its method of operation (stock, overclocked, etc).

Is it that the variation on power consumption from different model components are large enough that one cannot generalize this with a single value? Or is it that they are just wrong (ie, the values used have no correlation with any of the models of components)?
Click to expand...
Adding a bunch of numbers together is easy, but when the numbers are wrong, the answer you get is not particularly useful.
hossdaddy said:
tbh I would use 2 calculators , take the higher of the 2 totals then add 150-200w and buy the best one I could afford and not worry about a free program that you are counting on for power estimations.
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You could do that, but then you'd be wasting money on an oversized PSU that would end up running less efficiently than something properly suited for your system.
 
Most power supply calculators are created by the companies that create or sell Power supplies, so they can make more money
 
The best power supply calculator is a piece of paper and pencil. If you're feeling plucky, use one of those digital calculators.

Figure out the wattage of your components, figure out how much head room you want on the PSU for future expansion, and buy accordingly. Add up 50W for motherboard, 5W for each HD, 2W for each SSD, whatever the TDP is for the CPU and GPU, etc.

As a rule of thumb, I want estimated peak draw to fall between 70-80% of rated wattage, and idle to be near 20%, as that window is where most PSUs are at peak efficiency.
 
Zero82z said:
Adding a bunch of numbers together is easy, but when the numbers are wrong, the answer you get is not particularly useful.

You could do that, but then you'd be wasting money on an oversized PSU that would end up running less efficiently than something properly suited for your system.
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LOL says the guy with a 1000w psu!!! uh not exactly, most systems need about 500w (assuming they are a single gpu gaming setup). So, are you suggesting that getting a 650w psu is a poor decision? What having room to upgrade?
 
A 650W is probablly reasonable for a high end single card setup but afaict it's serious overkill if you only ever plan to have a single midrange GPU in there.
 
hossdaddy said:
LOL says the guy with a 1000w psu!!! uh not exactly, most systems need about 500w (assuming they are a single gpu gaming setup). So, are you suggesting that getting a 650w psu is a poor decision? What having room to upgrade?
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Yes, I have a 1000W PSU. Is it properly sized for my main rig? No. That fact also has absolutely nothing to do with anything I said in my previous post.

Getting a 650W PSU for a single-card gaming system is a poor decision if a good 500W PSU can be had for a lower price. Room for upgrading is irrelevant; people rarely have concrete upgrade plans, and by the time they're ready for an upgrade, they can just buy a new PSU if they have a need for more power (which is not the case for most people).
 
Zero82z said:
Yes, I have a 1000W PSU. Is it properly sized for my main rig? No. That fact also has absolutely nothing to do with anything I said in my previous post.

Getting a 650W PSU for a single-card gaming system is a poor decision if a good 500W PSU can be had for a lower price. Room for upgrading is irrelevant; people rarely have concrete upgrade plans, and by the time they're ready for an upgrade, they can just buy a new PSU if they have a need for more power (which is not the case for most people).
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room for upgrading is not irrelevant @ all. Most good psu's will last up to 5 yrs and many people will upgrades gpu's long before that. Think of what gpu you were using 3-5 yrs ago?
Also why add to the most of an entirely new psu when if, for $20 more they would not need to drop another $50+ ?
 
hossdaddy said:
room for upgrading is not irrelevant @ all. Most good psu's will last up to 5 yrs and many people will upgrades gpu's long before that. Think of what gpu you were using 3-5 yrs ago?
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The 520W PSU I was using in my main rig three years ago is currently powering a machine with a GTX 470 and a 9600GSO in it. It's doing quite fine, might I add.
 
Zero82z said:
The 520W PSU I was using in my main rig three years ago is currently powering a machine with a GTX 470 and a 9600GSO in it. It's doing quite fine, might I add.
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Good. Thats what I was getting at :)
 
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