Wasting Money on Power Supplies: How Many Watts You Need for a PC PSU (2020)

We're testing how many watts you need for the average PC build, testing system load versus power supply 'size.' We're looking into how big a PSU is needed for gaming & work PCs in 2020.
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This is more about providing hard numbers for existing builds and less about concept, but the concept is simple: You can always do this on your own by adding two reliable sets of GPU and CPU-only numbers (not total load numbers), then adding some buffer for other parts. In that sense, you don't really need a power supply calculator and can probably do it more accurately on your own.

Methodology used stems from our CPU & GPU testing methods (published earlier in the year in our methodology pieces -- it's all the same parts). We describe verbally in this content whether we're using CPU or GPU graphics settings. Motherboard was a Z490 Maximus XII Extreme for Intel, X570 Master for AMD. The VRM efficiency will impact power needs as well, but ultimately, it's the GPU and CPU driving most of the power in the standard gaming PC. You will need to consider hard drive power consumption if running a large storage array.

Making a sweeping generalization here, we've noticed that a lot of people over-buy their power supply needs, and we'd assume that's because it's the safe thing to do. That is, "safe" with regard to ensuring no issues arise from buying too close to the PSU capacity. It's also the safe thing to do when you don't really know how to measure power supply needs. For the most part, you can take our component-level reviews (e.g. 10900K or 3900X review, or similar, and a 2080 Ti review, or similar) and add the two major parts' individual power consumption numbers to approximate the bulk of the PSU needs under full load. That's because we don't test total system power consumption for component reviews, but rather the power needs of that one component. In the instance of this specific video, though, we are using total system power consumption, and we're using that to measure the performance of a few builds we think are likely to occur in the 'wild.' That said, if you have minor component differences, you really should just be looking at power consumption numbers on a per-component basis and roughly adding things together. Or, if looking at the systems outlined in this video, you can extrapolate the jump between one CPU or GPU and the next and approximate the power needs much more accurately. Rather than using a "PSU calculator," we think you should just actually do your own calculation by using data provided. In this instance, however, we've done most the legwork for common configurations to answer the question of how many watts are needed for a gaming or workstation PC's PSU.

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RELATED PRODUCTS

Corsair AX1600i on Amazon: https://geni.us/bmIhFo
be quiet! Straight Power 11 650W PSU on Amazon: https://geni.us/TAHZ
Corsair RMX RM550X on Amazon: https://geni.us/6Bsbr8
List of 500W PSUs on Amazon: https://geni.us/mjrB

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - More Than Just Power (Watts) to Consider
02:40 - CPU, GPU Power Consumption & RTX 3080 in Future
03:40 - Testing Considerations & PSU Efficiency
06:30 - How Many Watts in PSU for Blender & Workstation Use
09:33 - How Many Watts for a Gaming PC (Red Dead 2)
12:01 - How Big a PSU Should Be (Three Kingdoms)
13:47 - F1 2019 Power Consumption Comparison
15:18 - 3DMark Timespy GT2 & CPU Physics Power Consumption
16:25 - CPU-Only Power Consumption from CPU Review
16:50 - Blender Total System Power Consumption
17:23 - More Than Just Wattage!

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Editorial, Test Lead: Steve Burke
Testing: Mike Gaglione, John Tobin
Video: Keegan Gallick, Andrew Coleman