Power Supply Efficiency

[Paragon]

Anyone ever wonder how many watts could be saved (and thus dollars) if everyone on the project bumped up the efficiency of their PSUs a few notches? Especially anyone running PSU's less than 80% efficient...I just did a study on what a 5% efficiency bump looks like in practice on a single-GPU folding rig:

https://greenfoldingathome.com/2019/11/ ... -is-money/

Just going from 80+ Bronze to 80+ Gold saves about $20 a year for a moderate 1070 Ti folding rig...for the big crazy folding farms, the savings would be a lot more! I included a quick cost savings example at the bottom of the article for anyone interested in doing something similar for their rigs.

What would you folks say the sweet spot is (efficiency bang for the buck) for buying used PSU's? I'm thinking 80+ Gold...

[MeeLee]

Bronze vs gold are nearly identical in efficiency at 50% load.
While the numbers differ from PSU to PSU, you can say that a bronze PSY has 80% efficiency between ~30-75% load, while a golden one has an efficiency of the same between 25-85%.
A much wider efficiency range, but for folding that shouldn't make a difference.
Just get a cheaper bronze PSU (they're almost the same price as sub 80+ PSUs anyway) and just make sure you're within that 30-70% load range.

[rwh202]

Bronze vs gold are nearly identical in efficiency at 50% load.
While the numbers differ from PSU to PSU, you can say that a bronze PSY has 80% efficiency between ~30-75% load, while a golden one has an efficiency of the same between 25-85%.
A much wider efficiency range, but for folding that shouldn't make a difference.
Just get a cheaper bronze PSU (they're almost the same price as sub 80+ PSUs anyway) and just make sure you're within that 30-70% load range.

Um... Not sure about that

Gold is 90% at 50% load
Bronze is 85% at 50% load
(at 115V supply - 230 volt numbers are higher, but show the same relative differences)

Gold wastes a third less power than Bronze, Platinum a half.

Oh, and to the original question - I see gold as optimal, but regularly go for platinum because:
1. I pay for electricity
2. I don't pay for hardware...

[MeeLee]

the 85% rating is minimum, Their efficiency is usually better.
Some Gold PSUs have a mode like an eco mode, where the PSU runs hotter, and it's fan runs slower.
Not very good for the capacitors in them.
And efficiencies vary from brand to brand, and even from model to model of the same brand.
Best way to test it, is to buy both, and measure with a killawatt meter.

[QuintLeo]

Anyone ever wonder how many watts could be saved (and thus dollars) if everyone on the project bumped up the efficiency of their PSUs a few notches?

In my case, very little - all of my folding rigs run Seasonic X-series (gold), Seasonic SS-series (platinum), or Corsair AX-860 (Seasonic SS-series made specifically for Corsair but sadly does NOT have cable interchangeability with the X or SS series) (platinum), or EVGA G2 series (gold).

The Seasonic and EVGA gold supplies just BARELY miss platinum spec efficiency levels, the plat ones are fairly close to titanium specs.

Eco mode is .... I don't use it, and it wouldn't change much anyway as it only kicks in at low load factors.

Gold supplies are better than 90% efficiency at almost ANY level - they're a LOT more efficient than most Bronze supplies, especially the better Gold models.