Bronze, Gold & Platinum

[acemodder]

Consider it the same as a car.

80 Plus Bronze = a car with 30mpg
80 Plus Gold = a car with 40 mpg
80 Plus Platinum = a car with 50 mpg.


30mpg = puguet 106 petrol vs BMW 130i - both offer 30mpg, but one is vastly better build quality.
50mpg = pugueot 306 diesel vs BMW 520d - but offer 50mpg, but one is vastly better build quality.

[Zhaix]

The different tiers refer to the different efficiency grades of PSUs(how efficiently the PSU uses the power)

[Agent]

The different tiers refer to the different efficiency grades of PSUs(how efficiently the PSU uses the power)

I think we safely established that within the first few posts

And now you're viewing the free shipping thread. Surprise surprise.

[Little_Dud]

Can anyone explain exactly what the difference is between gold and platinum rated PSUs in terms of heat generated? Thats the only thing that would make going platinum worth it, for me at least.

[Agent]

Can anyone explain exactly what the difference is between gold and platinum rated PSUs in terms of heat generated? Thats the only thing that would make going platinum worth it, for me at least.

Compare the efficiencies of the two units. Given that heat is pretty much 100% of the inefficiency, the percentage difference will directly translate to that.

In other words, if one unit is 5% less efficient, you'll get about 5% more heat output.

[Little_Dud]

What does that translate as in degrees C on the rest of the components in the PC? For arguments sake, say you have 2 PSUs, both at 850w, under 50% load. One has an efficiency of 90% and the other is 92.33% efficient. After some calculations the result is that about 10w more is wasted in the less efficient PSU, but what difference will that make to the temps of CPU, mobo, etc?

[Agent]

What does that translate as in degrees C on the rest of the components in the PC? For arguments sake, say you have 2 PSUs, both at 850w, under 50% load. One has an efficiency of 90% and the other is 92.33% efficient. After some calculations the result is that about 10w more is wasted in the less efficient PSU, but what difference will that make to the temps of CPU, mobo, etc?

Simply impossible to say without some fairly heavy calculations. You need to know how much heat is generated internally, how much is being expelled, what the intake temperate of new air is, what's the pressure of air inside the case, is the load on the chips changing (and if so, how much and when).....and that's even before we get into the temperature changes of the PSU and its impact on the components inside the case.

You can do rough calculations of the impact of the ambient temperate change in relation to components inside, but you'd need some serious mathematical modeling to work out what you're asking.

Why do you ask? It's somewhat of an unusual question.

Having said all that, most power units push air from inside the case, past the components in the unit and then outside, so I'd imagine the impact would be quite small. Again, ambient temperature is way more important here.

[Little_Dud]

I guess I'm just the sort of person who likes to look at every possible angle when making a major purchase. I know that the difference it makes is small and measuring that difference is near on impossible. Maybe I just want an excuse to spend a few extra quid on a platinum PSU (btw, is £128 for a Corsair AX860 as good a deal as it sounds?). I suppose as long as the PSU is reasonably efficient, and from a brand I trust, I shouldn't worry about such minute details.

Then again, I do have matlab installed...

[kalniel]

What does that translate as in degrees C on the rest of the components in the PC? For arguments sake, say you have 2 PSUs, both at 850w, under 50% load. One has an efficiency of 90% and the other is 92.33% efficient. After some calculations the result is that about 10w more is wasted in the less efficient PSU, but what difference will that make to the temps of CPU, mobo, etc?

No difference at all.

The CPU, mobo chipset, GPU etc. will all produce the same heat that they did before. The extra heat generated by the PSU will be more than covered by spare fan capacity so you'll simply exhaust a fraction more hot air from the case while the PSU stays the same temperature. In a normal sized room this fraction isn't going to be enough to increase the temperature of the air intake for the CPU/GPU etc. so there will no increase in CPU, Mobo temps etc.