vote up 0 vote down star

I'm considering buying a SEASONIC X650 psu but I have one reservation: Will the watt rating for this power supply become outdated soon?

I'd like to be able to use this high quality psu for at least two builds (this years and one two-three years form now). I always buy close to or @ the bleeding edge components. I know I'm safe with this watt rating today, but are component power needs ticking upward? Will the same "level" of cpu/gpu consume a lot more power 3 years from now?

Edit: My mistake for making this to subjective. The objective part of my question is: "Are component power needs ticking upward?"

flag
75% accept rate
2  
hang on, let me check my crystal ball... – ~quack Nov 24 at 19:09
Have you calculated the power consumption of your current computer build? – Mark Robinson Nov 24 at 19:10
1  
I would suggest you rephrase it to a more specific question. Bleeding edge in 3 years is way to subjective and no one has a crystal ball. – Diago♦ Nov 24 at 19:50
Too localised or not a real question I can see, but I don't think this is arguing... anything? And isn't really subjective. – Phoshi Nov 24 at 19:53
1  
@Diago: not true. i have one; it sez "Ask again later." web.ics.purdue.edu/~ssanty/cgi-bin/eightball.cgi – ~quack Nov 24 at 20:01
show 3 more comments

closed as not a real question by Diago♦ Nov 25 at 6:14
It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form.

3 Answers

vote up 2 vote down check

are component power needs ticking upward?

No. The power requirements of a mid-range PC have been coming down due to greater process efficiency, power-saving features and further motherboard/chipset integration. As portable and small form factor PCs gain in popularity at the expensive of the traditional monster tower, there will continue to be downward pressure on heat generation and thereby power consumption.

OK, at the top end you can run a thirstier computer than ever before, if you really want quad-SLI and RAID5 and a bunch of extra cards and overclocking everything as high as it'll go. But this doesn't apply to most people (there's barely any need for SLI/XF at all today let alone quad).

link|flag
vote up 1 vote down

While I don't have a DeLorean to check myself, things haven't risen in the past, indeed a newer ranges of CPUs typically take LESS power than their predecessors, even though a, say, 3GHz i7 outperforms a 3GHz P4 by likely a hundred times, it's hugely more efficient.

High-end graphics cards lesso, but I can't imagine that will last for much longer. They're limited by the size of a PC case, and they're just about filling them now. (More power means more heat, if they take much more power they'll be too hot to be viable)

link|flag
vote up 0 vote down

Most likely yes - I have machines with 350w PSUs from 3 years ago still working, however, there is no way to know if it will still function, you could have a lightning strike tomorrow that takes it out.

As for 650w... work out if you need it, even at 80+%, if you leave your pc on 24/7, it may be cheaper to get a 450w one now and buy a 650w one later in the savings you have made on your electricity bill.

link|flag

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.