Can I Downgrade my PSU to save power?

[Mutant_Guy]

Present Configuration

Core i5-3570K
Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H (B75 Micro ATX)
On board graphic (HD4000)
2x 4GB Kingston Hyper X
Wester Digital 2.5in Black 320GB (WD3200BEKT)
Liteon DVDRW
RL01 Casing with one 120mm LED fan
Silver stone Strider essential 600W
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=294&area=en




Future I will get these 5 upgrade in order

1) Replace 320GB Scorpio Black with 1tb caviar Blue HD
2) GTX 660Ti (One of the populer brand)
3) Flash based SSD for boot drive
4) Sell 2x 4b and buy 2x 8gb
5) May be Another 120mm Non LED Case Fan

Usage According to Privilege:
1) Google Chrome
2) CS6 (in order Camera Raw / Photoshop / illustrator / Premier pro / After Effect)
3) HAWX 2
4) In future may be some other games if i upgrade to 660Ti and get time to play

Average Usage
7hrs on weekend 2 hrs on weekdays.

Keep future in mind i bought this PSU. At that time GTX660 is not there so i bought 600W for room Now i found 600W is over kill even with all the future upgrade. So I thought to to change my PSU to 450W. Because
Power supply will work efficient when it work on half load (20%-80%) And i'm not going to do the Graphic update soon may be after a year. So until that i feel like wasting power. So what you think? Is there any reason 450W will become not enough in future? I don't think so. Those are the only upgrade i will go for. Some time i may change to Haswell But that will be energy efficient than ivy i think.

I don't have plans to Overclock any thing But i need Stability and power efficient

So please tell me your idea?

 

[Blain]

Can I Downgrade my PSU to save power?

Present Configuration

Silver stone Strider essential 600W

Future I will get these 5 upgrade in order

1) Replace 320GB Scorpio Black with 1tb caviar Blue HD
2) GTX 660Ti (One of the populer brand)
3) Flash based SSD for boot drive
4) Sell 2x 4b and buy 2x 8gb
5) May be Another 120mm Non LED Case Fan

Average Usage
7hrs on weekend 2 hrs on weekdays.

So I thought to to change my PSU to 450W.I don't have plans to Overclock any thing But i need Stability and power efficient

So please tell me your idea?

My initial thought was...
"To even consider making such a minor change, how much is this guy paying per kWh for his power?"
After thinking about it, I think it would be an exercise in futility for you to proceed with your plan, given the information you've provided us.

 

[Mutant_Guy]

I live in Srilanka. We don't pay big but it is a crucial amount in what we earn. For me actually Electricity cost 1/20 of my salary. And the amount accelerate according to the usage(PC is the most drawing equipment in my site). Other than saving $$ i always want to be green to earth.

I understand and appreciate your answer and i will keep the 600W

 

[Blain]

Other than saving $$ i always want to be green to earth.

:sneaky: I wish this were the "Off Topic" forum :sneaky:

 

[Eureka]

I live in Srilanka. We don't pay big but it is a crucial amount in what we earn. For me actually Electricity cost 1/20 of my salary. And the amount accelerate according to the usage(PC is the most drawing equipment in my site). Other than saving $$ i always want to be green to earth.

I understand and appreciate your answer and i will keep the 600W

There's no point in "downgrading" a PSU... you won't make it magically more efficient, and especially not going from a 600W to 450W. You're going to be less green because now you have two power supplies, which requires more materials to manufacture and more byproducts.

It's only really worthwhile to switch if you had say a 10-year old 1000W PSU which is out of efficiency by a huge amount, and going to a newer 500W gold.

The efficiency difference between 20-80% load varies less than 2%. It's only if you are running at extremely high or extremely low loads that it kills the powersupply; in which case you are not.

 

[Ketchup]

Getting a less powerful PSU alone will not save you anything. A 600 watt PSU tells you the max amount of energy it can consume. A 400 watt, all things being equal, will consume the same amount of power.

Where you could get some energy savings is going to an 80-plus Platinum, from a good manufacturer. It would theoretically produce less heat as well, so that would be some additional savings when things are hot outside and the PC is left on 24/7.

But the length of time to recover the amount of savings, to recover what you put in to the new PSU for example, could be quite high.

 

[Mutant_Guy]

In present moment with out Graphic card this is too low right? Will it bad for my 600W because i'm not getting GPU sooner.

Present Configuration
Core i5-3570K
Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H (B75 Micro ATX)
On board graphic (HD4000)
2x 4GB Kingston Hyper X
Wester Digital 2.5in Black 320GB (WD3200BEKT)
Liteon DVDRW
RL01 Casing with one 120mm LED fan
Silver stone Strider essential 600W

 

[Eureka]

It'll be less efficient but not enough to warrant a new PSU. (Idle around 80-100W, which is ~15% load). It means you'll draw proportionally larger currents out of the wall, but the overall draw is low enough to not worry about (it's heat that kills components).

 

[Mutant_Guy]

Thank you very much.. I will stick with it. But if i have chance i might sell and buy a good psu.. I'm aiming for FSP Raider 450.

 

[Eureka]

Silverstone makes excellent PSUs, IIRC. I don't think you're benefitting at all by switching your PSU.

 

[Mutant_Guy]

ok i understand.. Thought to change because it was 450W(Good for present config), Bronze (Precent is just certified) and Had 90% efficient in reviews.

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: In your usage range, you would save far more money swapping an incandescent light bulb with a CFL assuming you do use the former.

 

[Mutant_Guy]

OP: In your usage range, you would save far more money swapping an incandescent light bulb with a CFL assuming you do use the former.

I use LED. About to post in some other forum "Can I swtch to CCFL from LED in order to save power?"
Sorry for going out of topic.. But i think my topic is over now..
Thanks all of you guys

 

[Blain]

You can help save Mother Earth by giving up your PC habit.
Taking cold showers or baths would also help save her.

Cooking on a BioLite stove will also help her.

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: Find one day on one weekend and don't turn your PC on at all that day. At the end of the month, compare your electric bill to last months. The difference will be larger than if you swapped PSUs.

 

[BFG10K]

Getting a less powerful PSU alone will not save you anything. A 600 watt PSU tells you the max amount of energy it can consume. A 400 watt, all things being equal, will consume the same amount of power.

That isn't strictly true. PSUs are more efficient at ~50% load, and also smaller PSUs are generally more efficient at very low loads.

So assuming a 300W load (for example), a 600W PSU will use less AC power than a 1.2KW PSU, because the former is operating at a 50% load while the latter is at 25%. Assuming everything else is equal, of course.

Now, whether the small differences are worth it is up to the individual. In the OP’s case, I personally wouldn’t bother unless I was running an extremely small PC and every watt counted as far as heat goes.