It is not my opinion. It is fact - based on simple mathematics and the cost of a kiloWatt hour of energy.
I'm only interested in the 230V AC one, not the 110V AC one, from 1 Watts to 100 Watts on the output. Those graph is nearly never measured. And has usually the worst efficiency.
It does not matter what you are only interested in. The results are similar either way. But just for you, I'll show you below using the 230V EU Internal certs criteria.
I will not explain whats the difference in those percents from the efficiency curve and why it's the most important value of a power supply unit.
When your computer always run with 50% load of the power supply than it may be valid. = your opinion.
You "
can't" explain it because clearly you do not understand it. Your 50% load comment clearly shows that you don't understand what the 80 PLUS certification program is all about.
YOU are the one that needs to look at the curves. And you need to learn the difference between the Gold and Platinum certification standards. As clearly seen
here,
Gold certification
Percent Loading 20%, Efficiency 90%
Percent Loading 50%, Efficiency 92%
Percent Loading 100%, Efficiency 89%
Platinum certification
Percent Loading 20%, Efficiency 92%
Percent Loading 50%, Efficiency 94%
Percent Loading 100%, Efficiency 90%
2% difference in efficiency is the maximum difference.
You are only interested in 1 to 100W consumption? Fine. To illustrate, let's use a pair of 500W supplies, one Gold and the other Platinum, both with the exact same 20%, 100W load. The Gold is 90% efficient, the Platinum is 92%.
What does that mean?
Do the math.
That means to support a 100W load the Gold is going to pull from the wall ~111W (111 x .9 = 99.9W). The Platinum is going to pull from the wall ~108.6W (108.6 x .92 = 99.912W). The extra wattage above the 100W load is wasted in the form of heat.
So the difference in power used with a 100W load is 111 - 108.6 for a grand total of 2.4W.
@_roman_ I say again, if you do the math you will see the difference in power consumption between a Gold 500W supply and a Platinum 500W with the exact same 100W load is just 2.4W!
What does that mean in cost savings? Again, do the math.
I'll make it easy for us. Pretend the 2.4W is a nightlight you leave on 24 hours per day for an entire year. And, using the
average cost of a kWh in the United States of $0.17 per kWh, you can use this
Night Light Energy Calculator and see for yourself that it would cost a whopping
$3.57
per year for that extra 2.4W consumption of continuous 24/7/365 operation.
But who runs their computer continuously 24/7 at a constant load? Not even always-on servers do that. 6 hours a day is probably not realistic. But, again to illustrate, using 6 hours per day, 365 days per year with your 100W load, it is less than
$1 in energy savings for a whole year between a Gold PSU and a typically more expensive Platinum. If the Platinum cost just $10 more, it would still take more than 10 years to make up the cost difference.
what are the advantages of Platinium over Gold PSUs?
Negligible. At 50% load, the Gold is 90% efficient while the Platinum is 92%.
It takes YEARS of use to make up in energy savings the typical higher cost of a Platinum PSU.
No. Those are the facts. Again, it would take years to make up the added cost of a Platinum in energy savings over a Gold unless, as I said above, "
you just happen to find it at a great, discounted sale price."
One more important point. 80 PLUS certifications are about efficiencies only. There is absolutely nothing in the 80 PLUS certification program that requires or suggests a supply with a higher certification is of higher quality in terms of voltage regulation, ripple suppression, in-rush current suppression, or reliability.