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I am going to upgrade my PC over Christmas, and right now I'm trying to pick out a PSU. I would like it to be fully modular, 80+ gold or better efficiency and preferably cheap. I found the Antec HCP750 Platinum and it looks awesome. It's very cheap (as far as platinum rated fully modular PSUs go), and has plenty of wattage.

However, now I'm wondering if it has too many watts. My maximum estimated wattage is 457, and the Antec PSU goes up to 750. That seems like a good thing in case I ever wanted to, say add additional video cards or more powerful video cards. Are there any downsides that I'm unaware of to having significantly more power in your PSU than your pc will actually draw? (Electricity bill, longevity of parts... etc.) Should I go for something more reasonable, like a 500-600W?

ArtOfCode
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DJMcMayhem
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  • At the moment, this reads like you're either asking for technical support, or for general advice, neither of which are in scope. Can you reword this to be a product recommendation? – ArtOfCode Dec 17 '15 at 09:11
  • You're right, there are downsides about having too big PSU. PSUs are very inefficient when loaded below 50%. When you sum TPDs of all component you get theoretical maximum, but it's not possible to fully load all components at once. 500-600W sounds reasonable for your 457W rig, 750W does not. – Agent_L Dec 17 '15 at 09:21
  • @ArtOfCode I would argue that it's a recommendation question because A) It's a pre-purchase inquiry and B) It's an X vs Y question. Would it be a better question if I picked a specific 500-600W PSU and asked about that one vs the 750W? – DJMcMayhem Dec 17 '15 at 14:55
  • @DJMcMayhem You have a point. It's not incredibly clear to me that's what it is, though. – ArtOfCode Dec 17 '15 at 15:08

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For a 80-Plus Platinum power supply, efficiencies are between around 5% of one another between the 20 to 100% range of load(88-92, give or take a percent). It tops at around 70% load. Having more than required is certainly not a bad thing. PSU's like the HCP are rated to deliver their full wattage at fairly high temperatures, and 300W is enough for any card.

So go ahead, you're good to make the purchase. Hardware reviewers use oversized power supplies all the time, and nothing happens to them.

cst1992
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