Digital Power Supplies

[maddogmcgee]

I have been eyeing off a new PSU and really like the idea of a digital one.
As far as I can tell they:
A- Have an advantage over most other PSU's in terms of efficiency
B- let you get an accurate measurement of your power usage

My question is, why have many manufacturers been so slow to introduce them? I would love a Seasonic digital PSU but, as yet, they do not exist.

Is this just down to a cost thing? Are their any good digital models I have missed (have really only seen a few corsair ones)?

 

[lehtv]

It's a very niche product, basically aimed at a tiny subsection of high end users who are willing to pay a considerable premium for somewhat gimmicky features. Most high end users / enthusiasts are fine with a quality non-digital PSU. You can still get excellent efficiency all the way up to 80+ Titanium - I'm not even sure if being digital makes any difference efficiency-wise. You can still monitor power usage with a Kill-A-Watt, and most people don't even need to do that.

 

[MongGrel]

I'd venture to say it's more of gimmick myself, and something you really do not normally need in a PSU.

Why people like Seasonic etc don't bother making them.

Just another thing that could possibly fail.

I've never owned a digital one myself, outside of an APC backup power unit.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'd venture to say it's more of gimmick myself, and something you really do not normally need in a PSU.

I've never owned a digital one myself, outside of an APC backup power unit.

That's a good point. The whole point of a "digital" PSU is generally just the monitoring features (temp, power, voltage). But if you have the PC plugged into a UPS, then it can give you power usage too.

 

[Aristotelian]

Is this what you mean by a 'digital' power supply?

http://www.corsair.com/en/ax1500i-digital-atx-power-supply-1500-watt-fully-modular-psu-eu

As far as I can tell, 'digital' is one thing, but a power supply like the ax1500i - jonnyguru rates as the best power supply he has ever tested (and that holds until today). I'm not sure if the quality of the power supply derives from the 'digital' or not.

 

[maddogmcgee]

Woops, took awhile to get back in this post I started. yep thats the sort of thing I mean. I have heard Seasonic is working on their own digital PSU's and will eventually do it. Kill-A-Watt meters are lots of effort, who wants to get under their desk just to look at the system power use.

Maybe I just need to accept that spending an extra couple of hundred on a GPU to measure how much power I will use....is not actually cost effective.

 

[maddogmcgee]

That's a good point. The whole point of a "digital" PSU is generally just the monitoring features (temp, power, voltage). But if you have the PC plugged into a UPS, then it can give you power usage too.

Yeah but I want accurate measurements on my screen , as im gaming etc. Would be nice to be able to look when overclocking for example to make a better decision about whether that extra 200mhz for lots of extra voltage is actually worth it etc.

 

[lehtv]

Yeah but I want accurate measurements on my screen , as im gaming etc. Would be nice to be able to look when overclocking for example to make a better decision about whether that extra 200mhz for lots of extra voltage is actually worth it etc.

You don't need a digital PSU to know that:

• increasing voltage always lowers performance per watt; if you want high performance per watt you should be undervolting
• computers don't really use all that much power; the costs of the components themselves far outweigh the running costs, so much so that the most cost effective strategy generally is to do whatever earns you the highest performance per dollar regardless of power consumption

 

[Torn Mind]

Apparently, designing a piece of silicon to have digital circuitry costs more than one with analog circuitry. It is really up to the user if they really care about knowing about the wattage going to the motherboard, which is admittedly hard or impossible to do with a analog silicon or they want to have that extra amount of control over the PSU fan. It is really about being in the know or having control over fans. rather than actually saving money. For someone who likes to analyze these data and can afford to do so, then a digital PSU has real merit. But if someone just want a to use the computer then becomes more of getting the cheapest PSU that doesn't compromise on safety and quality. Quality being longevity, proper voltage and ripple suppression, etc.

A Kill-a-Watt or Newegg's Rosewill equivalent will do fine if all one cares about is the wattage being pulled from the wall. No graphs or spreadsheets though.

 

[maddogmcgee]

You don't need a digital PSU to know that:

• increasing voltage always lowers performance per watt; if you want high performance per watt you should be undervolting
• computers don't really use all that much power; the costs of the components themselves far outweigh the running costs, so much so that the most cost effective strategy generally is to do whatever earns you the highest performance per dollar regardless of power consumption

It really depends, the PSU im using atm is a corsair HX from my e8400 days--spending more on a more efficient PSU at that point would likely have paid back the money invested, even considering interest. Maybe the same sort of thing is starting to apply to the CPU as well. If I keep my next CPU for as many years as my 2500k.....well that is plenty of years for the extra 100 watt or so peak off a haswell-E to make a difference vs a 6700k.

I can see what you mean with GPU's etc, I feel a little burnt at the performance of my GTX 970...partially bought it at the time because of multi-monitor power usage vs a 390x...not my best decision, I don't think, when i look at the current performance of both cards in games.

 

[maddogmcgee]

I'm sure the price will come down eventually, once they are not just for premium models but are actually being made in bulk. But if I don't get a digital one this time around, I might have to wait a decade!

 

[StrangerGuy]

I'd venture to say it's more of gimmick myself, and something you really do not normally need in a PSU.

Why people like Seasonic etc don't bother making them.

Just another thing that could possibly fail.

I've never owned a digital one myself, outside of an APC backup power unit.

Yeah it's like choosing a CPU based on the manufacturing process instead of the actual benchmarks achieved in the real world. The design itself is completely irrelevant from a user POV.

 

[maddogmcgee]

Reluctantly took this boards unanimous advice and got a supernova g2 750 rather than the expensive corsair.