# 8+4pin or 4+4pin for Ryzen 9 3950X (16-core)?



## ORLY (Jul 20, 2019)

Hello!
So, I'm building my PC gradually (only have a RAM for now), and although my first build won't be really hungry for power, I'm going to upgrade it in the future and I want to keep my PSU while upgrading my CPU and GPU.

What I learned so far is that all better (VRM-wise) motherboards have 2 power connectors for CPU - 8pin and 4pin, and PSUs start to have that additional 4pin connector only from 750W or even 850W (weird Corsair RMi).

I want my PSU to be able to handle a Ryzen 3950X (16/32) with PBO and a top GPU (nvidia will probably release a 3080ti at the time I upgrade a GPU, and AMD will finally release something to compete with it and it will be power hungry as usual). Not sure how much would it consume, but I doubt it would exceed 750W, and the more watts are in a PSU the more it consumes, so basically my questions are:

1) Ryzen 9 3950X, 16-core, I suppose it's power-hungry, and I want to activate PBO. Cooled with a top air cooler.
Does it need that additional 4pin connector? I don't want my PC to burn, you know. And no 650W PSU has that connector, and not many 750W PSUs have it either...

2) 16-core Ryzen with PBO and a factory-overclocked successor of the RTX 2080ti/its competitor from AMD.
How many watts do they need?


----------



## Deleted member 178884 (Jul 20, 2019)

ORLY said:


> Does it need that additional 4pin connector? I don't want my PC to burn, you know. And no 650W PSU has that connector, and not many 750W PSUs have it either...


4+4 pin will handle 325w~ sustained without much issue, more CPU pins being "needed" is overrated and I'd be looking at the VRM layout on the board itself rather than how many CPU pins it has (more CPU pins won't mean it has a better VRM) always plug in all the CPU power pins, you might as well as there's no reason not to. As for the 3950x power consumption it'll likely pull around 200W-240W~ probably. As for the GPU high end usually pulls around the 270W~ mark. I'd recommend a 850W power supply for sufficient headroom.


----------



## jesdals (Jul 20, 2019)

You should look close at the manuals for the motherboards you think about buying. But why the 3950x and not something cheaper? speciel use for all those cores?


----------



## Bill_Bright (Jul 20, 2019)

ORLY said:


> and the more watts are in a PSU the more it consumes


NO! Sorry but this is 100% totally false!!!!!

Computer components pull from the PSU only what they need, not what the PSU can deliver. For example, if your computer components (CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics, drives, fans, etc.) need 300W, they will pull from the PSU just 300W, regardless if the PSU is a 400W, 650W or 1300W PSU. And the PSU will pull from the wall, only what it needs to deliver that 300W which will be 300W plus a little more due to PSU inefficiency. So, if your "Gold" certified PSU is 90% efficient at that load level, that means it will pull from the wall ~333W (333 x .9 = 299.7W). Again, that is regardless if the PSU is a 350W, 550W, or 850W PSU. 





ORLY said:


> So, I'm building my PC gradually (only have a RAM for now), and although my first build won't be really hungry for power, I'm going to upgrade it in the future and I want to keep my PSU while upgrading my CPU and GPU.


You really shouldn't buy your components bit by bit over time but rather save your money then buy all at once. There are a couple reasons for this. One is that manufacturers often revise models to fix bugs or improve performance or reliability. Motherboards and graphics cards are good examples. You may buy the motherboard only to find out when ready to build 3 months later, they revised the later production run with new firmware, or even changed out a component with a more reliable one. Had you waited, you would have got the latest revision (and possibly the latest BIOS update too).

But it is also important to remember that the retailer's return policy and the manufacturer's warranty period begins on the invoice date. Retailer's "no questions asked" return policies are often as little as 30 days. And many manufacturer's warranties are just 1 year. It would be a shame if it took you several months to acquire all your components only to discover one is bad right out of the box and the return policy has expired and/or the warranty is 1/2 way or totally gone.

I agree with checking out motherboard manuals. You can download those you are considering before buying. Then you can also become familiar with the installation, to include connector locations and front-panel I/O header pin-outs. You can do the same with the case manual as it's front panel connectors are not likely labeled the same as the motherboard's.


----------



## Hotobu (Jul 20, 2019)

Plus it seems like you're waiting for the next gen of graphics cards. You're probably going to be waiting *at least* 8 months, by then some things may drop in price. Are you sure you need a 16 core processor?


----------



## Bill_Bright (Jul 20, 2019)

Hotobu said:


> by then some things may drop in price.


While true, that works both ways. Prices might and often do rise too - this is common with devices that use memory chips as well as precious metals - which are volatile markets to begin with. Then other factors can influence costs - like tsunamis and factory fires which we have seen before with drive prices.


----------



## ORLY (Jul 20, 2019)

I'm finishing building my PC by the end of August.
I'm sure about my first CPU, it will be a Ryzen 3600, I'd like it to drop 10$ more because 249$ looks a bit too much. I'm also sure about my case - it's a Meshify S2 (165$) and I'm buying it probably next week.

I'm not sure about a PSU (Corsair RM750i (162$) doesn't have a second CPU cable, Seasonic SSR-750FX has it but costs same to the Corsair and according to reviews is worse, be quiet! Straight Power 11 750W also has the cable but also is worse than the Corsair for pretty much the same money; probably will add 9$ to get a Corsair RM850i), I'm waiting for a 860EVO 2.5" 1TB to drop from 191$ to 145$ that it costed a month ago, and I will probably buy a solid quality version of a GTX 1660ti if it costs ~330$ and not 350+$. And I'm still in-between Prime X470-Pro (188$) and Strix X470-F (225$).

In 1-1.5 years I will gradually upgrade the CPU and the GPU, also the motherboard if needed, but I'm sure I don't want to upgrade a PSU that I'm buying.


----------



## Metroid (Jul 20, 2019)

ORLY said:


> 1) Ryzen 9 3950X, 16-core



105w, binned silicon, so, not a lot more power than a 3900x does, the 3900x consumes 142w, so expect the 3950x to be around 160w. It's a lot more sense to purchased the 16 cores than a 12 cores, same thing can be said for the 6 x 8 cores, ccx needs to be fully populated to work properly, if you disable one of them, some apps will not work as supposed to, so 8 and 16 cores cpus are a much better deal in that sense but I think 16 cores is threadripper territory, will need a lot of bandwidth, not sure what amd will do to minimize its performance loss due to that.


----------



## Bill_Bright (Jul 20, 2019)

Not sure what you mean by 2nd PSU cable. The Corsair will work but I would prefer the Seasonic.


----------



## ORLY (Jul 20, 2019)

Higher-level X470 motherboards and probably all X570 motherboards have two CPU connectors: 8-pin and an additional 4-pin. This is what I mean.


----------



## Metroid (Jul 20, 2019)

ORLY said:


> Higher-level X470 motherboards and probably all X570 motherboards have two CPU connectors: 8-pin and an additional 4-pin. This is what I mean.



It was already discussed that those extra 8 and 4 pin are pretty useless. Those manufactures are just trying to justify their rip-off increase hehe

Only world record overclockers pushing things with ln2 and voltage 2.0 or higher hehe but i dont think they will buy those $300 boards for the job eheh, those people will buy those $800 or more for the job.






						EPS12V questions. (max current per wire? 18AWG? is Y-splitter safe?) - EVGA Forums
					

So I just got a new shinny CORSAIR Professional Series AX850 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply (I know I grossly overpaid at $189.99)   To my dismay, when using all 4 PCI-E power plugs you can't use the 2nd EPS12V wire. (Limited to two PCI-E...



					forums.evga.com


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jul 20, 2019)

Read motherboard manuals from their individual manufacturer websites.

Also look up user buildzoid on youtube, he will tell you what's really needed and what's not.


----------



## mstenholm (Jul 20, 2019)

Metroid said:


> It was already discussed that those extra 8 and 4 pin are pretty useless. Those manufactures are just trying to justify their rip-off increase hehe
> 
> Only world record overclockers pushing things with ln2 and voltage 2.0 or higher hehe but i dont think they will buy those $300 boards for the job eheh, those people will buy those $800 or more for the job.
> 
> ...


A 9 year old link? People (i.e. me) could think that the current AX 850 wouldn't let you use all of the ESP+PCI-e plugs at the same time. That link doesn't bring any useful information to OP.


----------



## Metroid (Jul 20, 2019)

mstenholm said:


> A 9 year old link? People (i.e. me) could think that the current AX 850 wouldn't let you use all of the ESP+PCI-e plugs at the same time. That link doesn't bring any useful information to OP.



It could be a billion year old link, that power requirement has not changed, 8 pin still a 8 pin and still deliver the same power today that delivered 9 years ago.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jul 20, 2019)

Go here and watch his videos about rambling on with the x570 asus and ASRock motherboards









						Actually Hardcore Overclocking
					






					www.youtube.com


----------



## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Jul 21, 2019)

ORLY said:


> I'm finishing building my PC by the end of August.
> I'm sure about my first CPU, it will be a Ryzen 3600, I'd like it to drop 10$ more because 249$ looks a bit too much. I'm also sure about my case - it's a Meshify S2 (165$) and I'm buying it probably next week.
> 
> I'm not sure about a PSU (Corsair RM750i (162$) doesn't have a second CPU cable, Seasonic SSR-750FX has it but costs same to the Corsair and according to reviews is worse, be quiet! Straight Power 11 750W also has the cable but also is worse than the Corsair for pretty much the same money; probably will add 9$ to get a Corsair RM850i), I'm waiting for a 860EVO 2.5" 1TB to drop from 191$ to 145$ that it costed a month ago, and I will probably buy a solid quality version of a GTX 1660ti if it costs ~330$ and not 350+$. And I'm still in-between Prime X470-Pro (188$) and Strix X470-F (225$).
> ...


The new Corsair RM ( 2019 refresh ) power supplies has all the connectors you need from 650 watts up to 850 watts so check them out.






						RM Series™ RM750 — 750 Watt 80 PLUS® Gold Certified Fully Modular PSU
					

CORSAIR RM Series fully modular power supplies deliver consistent 80 PLUS Gold efficient power to your PC, with virtually silent operation.




					www.corsair.com


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 21, 2019)

ORLY said:


> Hello!
> So, I'm building my PC gradually (only have a RAM for now), and although my first build won't be really hungry for power, I'm going to upgrade it in the future and I want to keep my PSU while upgrading my CPU and GPU.
> 
> What I learned so far is that all better (VRM-wise) motherboards have 2 power connectors for CPU - 8pin and 4pin, and PSUs start to have that additional 4pin connector only from 750W or even 850W (weird Corsair RMi).
> ...


See below...


Xx Tek Tip xX said:


> 4+4 pin will handle 325w~ sustained without much issue, more CPU pins being "needed" is overrated and I'd be looking at the VRM layout on the board itself rather than how many CPU pins it has (more CPU pins won't mean it has a better VRM) always plug in all the CPU power pins, you might as well as there's no reason not to. As for the 3950x power consumption it'll likely pull around 200W-240W~ probably. As for the GPU high end usually pulls around the 270W~ mark. I'd recommend a 850W power supply for sufficient headroom.


Mostly agreed. The only thing I would change about this statement is the PSU wattage recommendation. I would recommend a 950-1000w from a quality brand like EVGA, Seasonic, SilverStone or Corsair. Even Newegg's own brand, Rosewill, would be a good choice. Choose a modular PSU as it makes cable management easier and they will have all of the connectors you need.

Here are some examples of what would be good choices;








						EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3, 220-G3-0850-X1, 80+ GOLD, 850W Fully Modular, EVGA ECO Mode with New HDB Fan, Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Compact 150mm Size, Power Supply - Newegg.com
					

Buy EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3, 220-G3-0850-X1, 80+ GOLD, 850W Fully Modular, EVGA ECO Mode with New HDB Fan, Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Compact 150mm Size, Power Supply with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				











						Rosewill PHOTON Series 550W Full Modular Power Supply - Newegg.com
					

Buy Rosewill PHOTON Series, PHOTON-550, 550W Fully Modular Power Supply, 80 PLUS GOLD Certified, Single +12V Rail, SLI & CrossFire Ready, Black with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				











						Seasonic PRIME GX-1000, 1000W 80+ Gold, Full Modular, Fan Control in Fanless, Silent, and Cooling Mode, 12 Year Warranty, Perfect Power Supply for Gaming and High-Performance Systems, SSR-1000GD. - Newegg.com
					

Buy Seasonic PRIME GX-1000, 1000W 80+ Gold, Full Modular, Fan Control in Fanless, Silent, and Cooling Mode, 12 Year Warranty, Perfect Power Supply for Gaming and High-Performance Systems, SSR-1000GD. with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				











						CORSAIR HX Series HX850 CP-9020138-NA 850 W Power Supply - Newegg.com
					

Buy CORSAIR HX Series HX850 CP-9020138-NA 850 W ATX12V v2.4 / EPS12V 2.92 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Power Supply with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.com
				




For the premium parts you are going to buy, a premium PSU is required for long term stability.


----------



## EarthDog (Jul 21, 2019)

A quality 750W PSU will be plenty for that proposed setup with overclocking them both. You likely won't hit 500W on load.


----------



## ORLY (Jul 21, 2019)

148$ (2 years warranty) Corsair RM850x (CP-9020180)
154$ (2 years warranty) Corsair RM750x 2018 750W (CP-9020179)
155$ (5 years warranty) be quiet! Straight Power 11 750W (BN283)
162$ (3 years warranty) Corsair RM750i (CP-9020082)
171$ (3 years warranty) Corsair RM850i (CP-9020083)
172$ (5 years warranty) be quiet! Straight Power 11 850W (BN284)
---and---that's---my---budget---on---a---PSU----
174$ (3 years warranty) Corsair HX750 (CP-9020137)
176$ (3 years warranty) Corsair SF750 (CP-9020186)

Seasonic SSR-750FX is out of stock and would probably be within my budget, SSR-750PX or SSR-850FX are 100% out of it.
According to PSU tier list, Corsair RM and RMx 750W and Seasonic Focus Plus are only mid-range, for that price it's a robbery.


----------



## mstenholm (Jul 21, 2019)

Metroid said:


> It could be a billion year old link, that power requirement has not changed, 8 pin still a 8 pin and still deliver the same power today that delivered 9 years ago.


That discussion you linked to was back in the days when Intel HEDTs MB starting having extra 8 pins. Of course 8 pin back then is still the same today, but I was under the impression that OP was worried if the MB would boot without both connectors plugged in. A GPU will not run if one of the two were missing. Sure from the perspective of total power delivery 24+8+8 is total overkill.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jul 21, 2019)

Actually Hardcore Overclocking
					






					www.youtube.com
				





lexluthermiester said:


> See below...
> 
> Mostly agreed. The only thing I would change about this statement is the PSU wattage recommendation. I would recommend a 950-1000w from a quality brand like EVGA, Seasonic, SilverStone or Corsair. Even Newegg's own brand, Rosewill, would be a good choice. Choose a modular PSU as it makes cable management easier and they will have all of the connectors you need.
> 
> ...



Check the OEMs on Rosewill.


----------



## Metroid (Jul 21, 2019)

ORLY said:


> 148$ (2 years warranty) Corsair RM850x (CP-9020180)



Buy the one above.


----------



## Bill_Bright (Jul 21, 2019)

FTR, I'm okay with the top tier Rosewills. Many have received excellent reviews and have proven to be very reliable. But like Corsair and perhaps just about any other brand (and product), I recommend avoiding their entry level models - especially when it comes to power supplies.


----------



## AsRock (Jul 21, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> NO! Sorry but this is 100% totally false!!!!!
> 
> Computer components pull from the PSU only what they need, not what the PSU can deliver. For example, if your computer components (CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics, drives, fans, etc.) need 300W, they will pull from the PSU just 300W, regardless if the PSU is a 400W, 650W or 1300W PSU. And the PSU will pull from the wall, only what it needs to deliver that 300W which will be 300W plus a little more due to PSU inefficiency. So, if your "Gold" certified PSU is 90% efficient at that load level, that means it will pull from the wall ~333W (333 x .9 = 299.7W). Again, that is regardless if the PSU is a 350W, 550W, or 850W PSU. You really shouldn't buy your components bit by bit over time but rather save your money then buy all at once. There are a couple reasons for this. One is that manufacturers often revise models to fix bugs or improve performance or reliability. Motherboards and graphics cards are good examples. You may buy the motherboard only to find out when ready to build 3 months later, they revised the later production run with new firmware, or even changed out a component with a more reliable one. Had you waited, you would have got the latest revision (and possibly the latest BIOS update too).
> 
> ...


True although PSU's tend to have a sweet spot too.  Like when i was getting mine going by reviews it's best performance was around the 250-350w which is were my system generally hits.

But yes his comment is totally wrong in every sence.


----------



## Bill_Bright (Jul 21, 2019)

AsRock said:


> True although PSU's tend to have a sweet spot too.


Cheap ones with "bell" shapped efficiency curves have a sweet spot, for sure. But the whole point of 80 PLUS certification is to ensure a relatively "flat" efficiency curve across the full range of expected loads - effectively eliminating such "sweetspots" (± a couple insignificant percentage points here and there).

So if a 500W supply is 80% efficient at 50% load, and a 1000W supply is 80% efficient at 25% load, if you put a 250W load on both supplies, they will both pull from the wall the exact same amount of power and they will both waste the exact same amount of energy in the form of heat. 

FTR, power supplies with a bell shaped efficiency curve are perfectly suitable for electronics that present a constant load on the supply, as long as the load and supply are properly paired and matched so that peak efficiency point at the top of the bell is at that constant load point. 

But of course, computers don't put constant loads on their supplies, varying from near no load at idle, to maximum load when fully taxed. Hence the 80 PLUS Certification program was developed.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Jul 21, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> FTR, I'm okay with the top tier Rosewills. Many have received excellent reviews and have proven to be very reliable. But like Corsair and perhaps just about any other brand (and product), I recommend avoiding their entry level models - especially when it comes to power supplies.



As I said Bill, check the OEM, I certainly do with Corsair too.


----------



## Metroid (Jul 21, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> FTR, I'm okay with the top tier Rosewills. Many have received excellent reviews and have proven to be very reliable. But like Corsair and perhaps just about any other brand (and product), I recommend avoiding their entry level models - especially when it comes to power supplies.



evga or corsair entry level psus are cancer. People should never cheap out on psus, any 10 years warranty psus is good, they will not give 10 years warranty for crap psus. Remember that ripple kill all your components, ram cpu, gpu and so on with time. People can cheap out on everything except psu. Also always ask the psu of a person if you buy second hand products. If they have run them on crap psus then stay away from it.


----------



## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Jul 21, 2019)

ORLY said:


> 148$ (2 years warranty) Corsair RM850x (CP-9020180)


Buy this one i'v been interested in the same model myself and read many reviews all which are very positive


----------



## AsRock (Jul 22, 2019)

More true today than it was a while back, today it's about 4% difference, even with the higher up seasonics.

A PSU is typically not constant 90% ( or what ever ) though different loads,  as i said above it's about 4% it seems these days with the seasonics i just looked at.


----------



## ORLY (Jul 22, 2019)

So with an RM850x (CP-9020180) I'll lose nothing in terms of "electrical" and protection quality comparing to let's say an RM850i, SSR-850FX or Straight Power 11 850W?

Now let's compare the new RM850x and the old RM850i:
- Adjustable Single/Multi 12V Rail --- No (RMx), Yes (RMi)
- Fan bearing technology --- Rifle Bearing (RMx), Fluid Dynamic Bearing (RMi)
- iCUE Compatibility --- No (RMx), Yes (RMi)
- Cable Type --- Low-Profile (RMx), Sleeved and Flat (Tom's Hardware specifies "In-cable capacitors" as what's negative about new RMx)
Please comment on all of this - what do I lose not having each of what an RMi has?

Can one turn off that passive mode when the PSU doesn't use it's active air cooling at all? I mean, it heats and I don't want that, the heat kills hardware.

And rifle bearing fan lives noticeably less than fluid dynamic bearing fan. What, should I buy whatever cheap PSU and wait till Corsair updates RMi?..


----------



## EarthDog (Jul 22, 2019)

This is down into the minutia my man... 

A PSU is important, but some of these fine details are things you need to figure out and decide for yourself if it is a feature you need or can't get by without.


----------



## Metroid (Jul 22, 2019)

ORLY said:


> So with an RM850x (CP-9020180) I'll lose nothing in terms of "electrical" and protection quality comparing to let's say an RM850i, SSR-850FX or Straight Power 11 850W?
> 
> Now let's compare the new RM850x and the old RM850i:
> - Adjustable Single/Multi 12V Rail --- No (RMx), Yes (RMi)
> ...



Adjustable Single/Multi 12V Rail --- No (RMx), Yes (RMi) -- single is better than multi, ability to switch as multi could be better in some types of workloads, devices you will use, usually server/device oriented

Fan bearing technology --- Rifle Bearing (RMx), Fluid Dynamic Bearing (RMi) -- that is kind personal, Fluid Dynamic Bearing is better but it depends of the ambient temperature, also pay attention that corsair has been putting Fluid Dynamic Bearing in the rmx series. https://computerwolf.co.uk/products...ully-modular-80-gold-1?variant=25996778242112

- iCUE Compatibility --- No (RMx), Yes (RMi) - that is reserved only for the rmi series cause the "i" implies digital link, so this will never be on the rmx series. Software controlled psu features. This is cool cause you can see efficiency and other things, no real meaning other than that, digital terminology.

- Cable Type --- Low-Profile (RMx), Sleeved and Flat (Tom's Hardware specifies "In-cable capacitors" as what's negative about new RMx) - some people prefer with, some without, it comes down to filter ripple, I myself prefer with it but nothing wrong without it as some units have already inside filters for ripple good enough.

I would go for the rmx, is cheaper and efficiency is only less than 0.1% than the rmi.  For reference below, Corsair rm1000x 91.037% x rm1000i = 91.192%.







I hope it helped you.


----------



## Bill_Bright (Jul 22, 2019)

AsRock said:


> A PSU is typically not constant 90% ( or what ever ) though different loads, as i said above it's about 4%


I don't know what you are saying there. If you are suggesting a 4% variance in efficiency from a minimum load to a maximum load is not constant (for example, it varies from 86% to 90%), then that is simply not true. A 4% variance with that spread would be considered extremely consistent and exceptionally well managed. And for that matter, even that low of 86% efficiency would be considered excellent. 

Power supplies are generally the most or one of the most inefficient electronic devices found in consumer electronics. It takes a lot of energy to convert AC to DC. A typical PSU that does not meet 80 PLUS standards is lucky to obtain 70% efficiency, at best, and that is only at its peak efficiency point (the top of the bell curve) with efficiencies dropping precipitously on either side of that. 

Bottom line is any PSU that can obtain and maintain >80% ±4% efficiency across its entire range of expected loads would be considered to be extremely consistent. If it also maintained output voltage regulation to within ±5%, holdup time >16ms, and ripple suppression below 30mv p-p, it would be considered an excellent PSU overall. And if it was abke to maintain >90% ±4% efficiency across its entire range of expected loads, along with those other specs, while inside a ≥45°C hot box, it would be considered an outstanding PSU. Add a ≥10 year warranty, quiet fan, reasonable price and I'll buy it in a heartbeat.


----------



## EarthDog (Jul 22, 2019)

AsRock said:


> A PSU is typically not constant 90% ( or what ever ) though different loads, as i said above it's about 4% it seems these days with the seasonics i just looked at.


Most are that way, correct. Where they tend to be less efficient is at idle where only the Titanium cert applies a tier at 10% in addition to the 20/50/100% on the other tiers. But overall we can see just by the 80 Plus tier ratings, that PSU are EXPECTED to be within 3% from 20% to 100%... so its pretty common, that consistency, on 80 Plus B/S/G/T units. Titanium gives a 4% range... more than the lesser tiers.

I agree that 3-4% is normal. Any PSU with an 80 Plus B/S/G/T rating achieves this.


----------



## Bill_Bright (Jul 22, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> Titanium gives a 4% range... more than the lesser tiers.


More than lessor models, true. But as you noted, that is over a wider range. But not only that, Titanium requires the supply be 94% efficient at 50%,  2 points better efficiency than the next cert down, Platinum. And 4 points better than Gold. And Titanium's worse spec (90% at 10% and 100% loads) equals Gold's best spec requirement. So looking at the 80 PLUS requirements in their entirety, that 4% spread for Titanium is considerably better than the 3% spread of the lessor models.

The question becomes, is the extra costs of a Titanium worth it? Probably not as it would take years to make up the extra cost in energy savings. So I'll stick with Gold - unless Newegg/Amazon or EVGA or Seasonic (my preferred PSU makers) makes me an offer on a Titanium (or Platinum) I can't refuse.


----------

