Amazing video!! I can see a lot of effort went into it, really well done. Also I'm a lucky owner of a Seasonic Prime Titanium 750W, I got it a year ago on the used market for 99$ (I think the person selling it did not realize what an amazing deal that was!) And I still got warranty until 2032 😂
Hallo Wolfgang Könntest du beim Dok. die "%" Zeichen aus den "xxW Efficiency" Spalten entfernen? So könnte die Filteransicht auch korrekt verwendet werden. bsp. "grösser als" und "kleiner als". merci
great effort, but honestly, if you're up to meet a price point while trying to achieve maximum efficiency, you're kinda lost. basically there are no really good solutions for that, since either PSUs from the list are very expensive or not very available to buy. I've been thinking to build my own, kind of specialized "PicoPSU" with one or multiple highly efficient 5V switching voltage converters. PicoPSU has one huge issue IMO: for a highly efficient SSD NAS as an example, you might get away with a 60W PicoPSU but because of the power demand of multiple SSDs in a RAID array while writing, you might end up needing a 160W or bigger PicoPSU and still may be underpowered.
I examined the sheet and i think that for corsair sf 450 platinum there is a error, the classificati doesnt macht tests done by other site as anandthec i. e.
That spreadsheet is a great resource for the low power community. Thanks for pulling it together. I've been using Corsair RM series exclusively since the mid-2010s, including an RM550x in my main 24/7 server. So disappointing that they keep getting rid of the lower power options. I have an RM450 from 2015 but now the lowest power RM is 650 watts. People building low power systems want good power supplies too.
Someone already mentioned, but you could take a look at UPSs! For an even deeper rabbit hole. So far even a smallish ups draws more then my "homelab". And the old APC beast that can run gas boiler + homelab + network stuff for hours draws draws around 40w just sitting without any load...
Yeah ! I now use a single AC-12v DC conversion stage to power all my home devices, a Meanwell ADD155 which includes a UPS function using a 12v lead-acid battery. All the home network devices then run off that 12v uninterruptable supply. By only having a single AC-DC stage for everything I'm minimising my power losses.
@@rileybaker8294 Thanks, no I've not done a write-up yet but maybe I should do as my whole setup is a bit unusual. The power side of it in its present form started with a lucky Ebay bargain, the Meanwell ADD-155 PSU/UPS, new for like #30 or something. I got a couple of typical small sealed lead-acid batteries used in standby applications. The ADD outputs 13.8v @9.5A + 5v@3A, which is fine for my needs as I'm prepared to compromise on compute power. Many small network devices run fine from either the 5v or 13.8v (eg. RPi, small Netgear switches, thin-client servers). I also have a couple of the Mini-box DC PSU's, for a couple of devices which need 'ATX' type power. HTH
Thanks Wolfgang. And why spend days writing scripts that can scrape the contents that will take hours to do manually? Because its fun! Great research thanks.
Thanks for your hard work making the Cybernetics data more accessible Wolfgang. Their data and your spreadsheet are indeed a precious resource. I've now ordered an RM750x for my new build. 💪
Thanks for these videos Wolfgang. I recently had to rebuild my home server. I had gift vouchers which limited where I could spend them. I made an educated guess based on your prior videos and picked up a RM750x 2021. Effectively it cost me £5 as I had a £100 voucher. I also went for a used i5-6500 system based on system database you shared on other videos. Just wanted to let you know your videos are very helpful.
I have been looking for this exact list but nothing existed. A few weeks ago I needed more power for my home server which idles around 25w I looked and looked and bout the Prime titanium 750 ($163 in the US)! Thank the lord its on the top of your list HAHA! Thank you for all your hard work!
I loved this video! It's going to be very helpful when I build my first server. I love making these kinda spreadsheets and i could relate so much to you deciding to make a python script to automate something you could do much faster manually haha! Gonna bookmark the link right now
You might want to look into HDPlex power supplies as well, they are super power efficient and fit into small itx cases and have a good selection of connectors
I have one and the efficiency is good but it wasn’t a huge improvement. I guess the RM550X 2021 would be identical, but I have not compared it yet even though I have a spare RM550X to test… 😢
Great work Wolfgang, I'm currently in the QNAP eco system, but if a CPU and motherboard because available cheap, I want to get into a DIY NAS/Server, and this info will be invaluable, saved it to a playlist for future reference. I really do enjoy your quests to find low cost and efficient server/NAS hardware.
I'd like to thank you for putting together this incredibly useful comparison, I think it's the single most useful resource for homelab tinkerers. As a new to all this coming from desktop/gaming computing, I have noticed there is practically absolutely zero products aimed for this low-power home-server niche, everything is optimized either for high-airflow racks or for less-robust home desktops, nothing in between. Putting together a low-power, low-noise, high-efficiency, high-reliability NAS/virtualization platform was definitely an adventure but absorbing a lot of info from your channel definitely helped and now I am very happy of my brand new shiny home-server.
Thanks a lot for the spreadsheet! I think I may have found another Value King. I sorted the list by price (ascending) the Cooler Master MWE 450 achieves 78.67% efficiency at 20W and costs only 41.90€ Comparing that to the Cooler Master MWE 400 you mentioned and recommended (5th place in the chart when sorting by 20 efficiency) that has 81.12% efficiency BUT costs 1.5 times as much, using the very handy ROI calculator it would only pay off after 17 years! So I think I'm rather going for this one 😅 Edit: nevermind, the amazon listing (which Geizhals pulled the price from) has a 6-7 month delivery time 🤦♂. It also comes with a UK power plug but that shouldn't matter in the EU as long as you have a spare PSU cable
I use two fanless Seasonic PSUs. I bought one in 2017 and one back in 2014 The idle power usage of the systems is impressive. Easy to clean and not noisy!
After watching your video about low power servers i started building my own one. But i went the ATX power supply route and like you found the cybernetics website. After days of research i found the seasonic prime titanium psu and found one used for 80€. Glad to see that it's overall 2nd in the list.
Thank you for making this. I am in the process of building a new server and I have been trying to establish which PSU's would be the most efficient. This spreadsheet and calculator has made the whole process a lot easier and faster. Love your videos, keep up the good work!
Love this video and the spreasheet too, its exactly what I've been looking for!!! I have a few suggestions to improve the spreadsheet: allow us to sort price and wattages by highest to lowest and also add what tier a PSU is on the PSU tier list in a separate column.
I work for a large enterprise, but my home office is small and I can’t have loud and power hungry inefficient servers made for a a server room or data center heating up my office in summer and costing me a lot on my hydro bill. Definitely keep up the good work!
MY GUY!!! I am in the midst of building a custom NAS with a i3-12100 CPU on a B660 motherboard. I just got to wondering what PSU would be good, and here you are wiyh a 2 month old video that couldn't be more relevant! Thank you!
Danke für das video. Diese Arbeit kann man nicht hoch genug einschätzen, da viele, recht viele wie ich schon seit Jahren mitlesen im unraid forum usw. (mgutt, man kennt ihn) , bin schon seit Jahren auch auf der Jagd nach ultra wenig Stromverbrauch und habs Ende 2023 aufgegeben. Mir ist es einfach zu blöd geworden. Hatte nen Lantronix mini, der war so mit 25 Watt idle ok. Dann hab ich nen OrigenAE aufgebaut, da war ein 10J ! altes seasonic titanium 460 drin und idle war das setup bei 33W. Hab dann auch geschaut und gerechnet, sogar die ~40€ gegengerechnet, die ich wohl für das alte seasonic fanless bekomm UND ja dann auch ein neues mit Garantie dafür kriege.... habs jetzt einfach drin gelassen. Weil ein neues sparsames fanless liegt schon so um die 150€, also auch 3Jahre mindestens drin. Würde sogar beim nächsten AM4 4650 pro build wieder so ein gebrauchts fanless um 40-60€ holen. ;-) Was will ich sparen, Strom oder Geld? Denk ich werd mir die Liste mal anschauen müssen um dann nochmal alles durchzurechnen. man kann es einfach nicht lassen.
*Regarding the Cooler Master MWE PSUs:* 1. *Model Variations:* Most (if not all) of the MWE PSUs listed are the V2 model. This is not explicitly stated, as the 'V2' suffix is not officially part of the model name. The V1 and V2 models differ in a few ways: - V1 models are rated 80+ Bronze, V2 models 80+ White. - The V1 and V2 models have different load ratings and sticker designs on the unit itself. 2. *Availability and Pricing:* Unfortunately, these MWE models have spotty availability, causing their prices to fluctuate. Here in west EU, they should be about €40-55,- depending on the model. 3. *Power Connectors:* The number of PCIe power connectors varies by model: - The 400W model has one. - The 550-600W models have two. - The 650W model has four. There are more connectivity differences, so don't forget to check. 4. *Value for Money:* Some of the higher wattage models are actually cheaper right now, so don't rule them out; they could offer better resale or repurpose value in the future. 5. *Efficiency Rating:* Cooler Master might have given them an 80+ White label, but most of these PSUs are rated as silver efficiency by Cybenetics. I hope this was helpful, because I think the MWE White V2 lineup actually offers the best bang for the buck right now.
I have bought the Cooler Master MWE 400 V2 White and mesuerd it with my testbench system (Kontron D3633-S). The idle draw is awfully high. It uses 8W more than the test system with a PicoPSU 160W + Leike 12v 150W. Do not buy this!
Thanks for continues supply of awesome resources for power efficiency! This is exactly what I just needed to finish up purchasing the components for my new home server build. PS: I went with the Corsair RM750x.
Thank you! I was struggling with choosing a PSU for my NAS and after studying this table, I bought a brand new Corsair MWE 550 for $30. Without this table, I would have spent a couple hundred bucks on the Platinum and it would still be far from ideal. Thank you!!!!
Would be interesting to see, how they compare to pico psus though. But I know, that it is more complicated with them, since you have the efficiency of the pico psu itself and the power brick. But comparing 12V input ones to wide range input ones might be interesting.
The home server I'm building this year is gonna get a RM750x handed down from my current gaming PC build. Bought it new in 2016, Corsair has always been rock solid to me and it'll probably keep ticking 10 years from now. Glad to see it has great numbers.
Thank you for this informative video. You either take your chance by buying the cheapest PSU from facebook marketplace and use the one that comes with a prebuilt you intend to upgrade or drop big on the RM550x for the best, but now with your spreadsheet we can be more selective when "taking our chances" with the used market and filter for the best low idle PSU.
I'm surprised no-one's marketed their PSU as homelab optimised yet. The performance of cheap models like the CM MWE models show that it's not super expensive to make a PSU with good 20W efficiency, but by the time the homelab community notices the good models are always discontinued. The first manufacturer to take the cybenetics 20W efficiency score and shout about it on the box should sell really well
This is a very cool resource! The one issue it has seems to be that the figures in the spreadsheet are for 115V, not 230. This is something to be aware of, as the numbers can vary wildly between those two voltages. It would be great to have filters for 20-80W at 230V as well.
I'm having trouble matching the numbers in the sheet vs the published ones. The numbers in the sheet are much higher vs the published ones in the RM750x I looked up.
For my low-power home network I've ditched traditional AC-DC PSU's entirely, after factoring-in the **UPS requirement**. I use a single AC-12v DC stage which includes the UPS function (a Meanwell ADD155), then run all other devices off the 12v supply, using PicoPSU type units as needed. This means I only have one AC-DC conversion with the associated losses there.
Does your PSU have any means of configuring battery voltage ranges to accommodate for different types of battery? I am currently using a single 12v PSU that feeds directly into a cheap solar charge controller specifically because the controller can accommodate GEL, flooded and AGM battery with configurable cutoff voltages. There are also LiFePO4 batteries with built in BMS to make them useable in place of a lead battery, currently researching those as well. How long has your lead battery lived so far?
@@L1Q The ADD155 has a basic potentiometer to adjust the B+ voltage. It's intended for use with cheap SLA ~13.8v standby batteries which typically would have a life of several years, mine's been in service for ~2yrs, so far so good. My impression is that 'modern' battery technologies bring drawbacks as well as benefits, so I chose the cheap/simple option.
Thanks, Great work as usual, Was just about to pull the trigger on an rm750x...by looking at your spreadsheet i realised that my power savings would amount to a whopping 3w...would get my investment back in 29 years😂
Thanks mate this is exactly what I've been looking for - I currently have a random £20 PSU in my server and I monitor the power usage with a Tapo P110. It has an i5 4590T, one HDD, 3 SSDs, a TV tuner and Flightradar ADS-B dongle idling at around 27w...whilst that's pretty acceptable, I've no idea how much the system is using and how much is being "lost".
Nice work Wolfgang, since i believe that you and i share similar expectations from our environment. I live in NL where electricity is also very expensive and follow your videos closely
Thank you Wolfgang, I'm getting the CM MWE400. It has 6 SATA cables. I don't care for modular cables. It even has 5 years of warranty. Also, I don't mind a permanent ~700RPM spin.
My HS idles at 12w and was using Seasonic Titanium 750w but after testing at idle mear 2% load swapped it out as it effciency was 11%!!!!! While my cheaper Corsair vs450 was 55% effiencient
Hi Wolfgang, i really like how you're handling your tests and how you present it. I always think you as a younger version of Igor. Thx a lot for sharing :-) Regarding the spreadsheet I have two suggestions: 1. Make it sortable / filterable on all columns 2. The ROI-Calculator would also be great for people planning a replacement, and then it would be useful to include a "sale return" field into the calculator
Or even better, by clicking data -> filter views -> create new temporary filter view. Then you can filter original even without having edditing permission
Great work! Though, the Cybernetics DB is quite lacking, especially for SFX PSUs. Last one I went with a Sharkoon, cheap and reasonable silent. Very Sad Corsair discontinued the cheaper options.
Power efficiency is very important to me; however, the noise level of the PSU is my top priority. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information regarding noise levels in the Google Sheet, and I wish it had been included.
Thank you for all the work you have done here. Comparing 20% efficiency numbers between PSUs of wildly different wattages does not make much sense however. In the video you are comparing the 20% number of the RM550X to the efficiency numbers of 750 and 850W PSUs. But 20% of 550W is a measurement at 110W load while 20% of 850W is a measurement at 170W load. With an actual load of 30W the 550W PSU has a good chance of being significantly better than the 850W even though the efficiency values at 20% are identical.
And this is why the table also includes effiiciency numbers for other wattages. At 40W, the gap between the RM550x and the Seasonic Titanium 750W actually widens (and not in 550W's favor) - 88.77% for the Seasonic PSU and 85.65% for the RM550x
Great article and realistic - actually use case of PSU, not the fetish focus on look it's platinum with loads of plus signs when that's based upon best case near on peak load, it's the scale across power load you really need.
Looks like the cybernetics website has been changed since the video. At the PSU-performance database page there now is a Efficiency 2% [%] column, which for 1000 Watt PSU would be 20 Watt. This gets lower as capacity is reduced and caps at 10Watt for 500Watt PSU and below. I would still check the linked report as there are sometimes inconsistencies with the data. Makes it way easier to check possible candidates by sorting it. Thank you for the video.
In the last builds I picked FSP HEXA 85+ PRO 350W. P/N - PPA3505301. Warranty is 5 years, japanese caps, amazing price at 50€. Measured with wattmeter i5-10400 machine idling at 20W in windows with monitor connected. Its my go-to and would be curious to see where it lands in the efficiency table.
With the PicoPSU you basically rely on the power brick's efficiency, it only has to produce 5v and 3.3v and passes through the 12v, which delivers the bulk of the power. A survey on notebook charger efficiency would be interesting, too.
@@duotronic6451 it will void warranty of the new psu. Btw, is that controlled pwm saves energy? What's the advantage of doing this.? And thanks for your reply man, am learning a lot from you.
I really don't need kr care about PSU because I use Synology and Beelink mini PC, but I watched it anyway. Respect for gathering all that data and converting it into useful information 👍
Hey Wolfgang, great video as always. Just stumbled across it. I have a question about PSUs besides efficiency at low loads, maybe you have an answer: *** Do PSUs have an impact on how low/high of a C-State the CPU/System can achieve? *** I sometimes see the description "Haswell C6/C7 Low-Power States"-compatible. Is that a must have or is this a relic from the past?
I'm using an old 400W FSP Gold rated PSU, I'm not sure how efficient it is at 20W but considering its maximum output isn't that high it's probably not that bad. I also did some napkin math and concluded it's not worth it to buy a new PSU for marginally better efficiency, not with the current electricity and PSU prices at least.
The new ATX-3.1 Standard specifies that power supplys need to achieve at a minimum 70% efficiency when supplying a load of 10w. I suggest searching for such a power supply. For example the BeQuiet Pure Power 12-Series.
Remarkable work. I guess one thing to watch is that the 20% load efficiency on the bigger supplies (such as 850w) is going to be less certain about say 40w idle on the smaller (say 400w) supplies. The 20% guide is 170w vs 80w. So true idle is a fairly long way off both data points...? Or is the 20% figure an average for the supply running anywhere from say 20w to 20%. That would mean the data is more accurate for low wattage, though it seems idle is a long way from peak power once you add NAS or GPU demands. Hmm.
Hi Wolfgang! As always you gave us a thorough and very complete set of information! I stumbled upon the Sharkoon SIlent Storm 500w SFX Gold PSU and I bought it for my low-power NAS. It says it's like 87% efficient at 20W. What do you think about it? Thanks in advance and congratulations for your channel!
The Cooler Master MWE 400 is the newest V2 White, It's a typo on their names xD (this is the Serial Number for it from the PDF MPE4001ACABW), with the extra numbers removed. It matches the official page 1 to 1
I have bought the Cooler Master MWE 400 V2 White and mesuerd it with my testbench system (Kontron D3633-S). The idle draw is awfully high. It uses 8W more than the test system with a PicoPSU 160W + Leike 12v 150W. Do not buy this!
This is really great that you put this together and pulled the data off the website, but isn't PSUs a little more complex than 20W/40W/60W/80W efficiency? Doesn't what voltage that is being drawn also come into play with efficiency? For instance, can't 20W on the 3.3V or the 5V rail produce different efficiency values than 20W on the 12V rail? I don't have access to the source material, so I don't know how they tested, would be interested to know if this was accounted for - thanks.
github.com/notthebee/efficient_psu/ Also take a look at this github.com/notthebee/efficient_psu/issues/1 the issue author rewote the script to work with new Cybenetics reports
After a bit of research and seeing what I could get my hands on. I ended up getting a RM750x shift from Amazon Warehouse. Super pleased it came in 6th 👍
nice to see that the seasonic prime titanium 650w thats in my server, wasn a total waste of money (got it used for "cheap")
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A week ago, when this video released: "Bah, I won't build anything in years, I don't need this video." Yesterday my power supply blew up due to a faulty usb card reader, so thanks for the good timing I guess :D
Hey Wolfgang! Did you spot anything interesting that was announced or released at CES for homlab/NAS stuff? I saw the minisforum MS-01 and the AR900i. Both are totally not for low budget and not very NAS friendly but those are the only things I could spot on TH-cam.
PSU Low Idle Efficiency Database: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TnPx1h-nUKgq3MFzwl-OOIsuX_JSIurIq3JkFZVMUas/edit#gid=110239702
Amazing video!! I can see a lot of effort went into it, really well done.
Also I'm a lucky owner of a Seasonic Prime Titanium 750W, I got it a year ago on the used market for 99$ (I think the person selling it did not realize what an amazing deal that was!)
And I still got warranty until 2032 😂
Hallo Wolfgang
Könntest du beim Dok. die "%" Zeichen aus den "xxW Efficiency" Spalten entfernen? So könnte die Filteransicht auch korrekt verwendet werden. bsp. "grösser als" und "kleiner als". merci
this is awesome, thank you! Thanks to you my home server is running smoothly and I got to learn a lot about the topic :) thanks again!
great effort, but honestly, if you're up to meet a price point while trying to achieve maximum efficiency, you're kinda lost. basically there are no really good solutions for that, since either PSUs from the list are very expensive or not very available to buy.
I've been thinking to build my own, kind of specialized "PicoPSU" with one or multiple highly efficient 5V switching voltage converters. PicoPSU has one huge issue IMO: for a highly efficient SSD NAS as an example, you might get away with a 60W PicoPSU but because of the power demand of multiple SSDs in a RAID array while writing, you might end up needing a 160W or bigger PicoPSU and still may be underpowered.
I examined the sheet and i think that for corsair sf 450 platinum there is a error, the classificati doesnt macht tests done by other site as anandthec i. e.
That spreadsheet is a great resource for the low power community. Thanks for pulling it together. I've been using Corsair RM series exclusively since the mid-2010s, including an RM550x in my main 24/7 server. So disappointing that they keep getting rid of the lower power options. I have an RM450 from 2015 but now the lowest power RM is 650 watts. People building low power systems want good power supplies too.
Factors could be low sales or reliability problems resulting in returns.
Someone already mentioned, but you could take a look at UPSs! For an even deeper rabbit hole. So far even a smallish ups draws more then my "homelab". And the old APC beast that can run gas boiler + homelab + network stuff for hours draws draws around 40w just sitting without any load...
Yeah ! I now use a single AC-12v DC conversion stage to power all my home devices, a Meanwell ADD155 which includes a UPS function using a 12v lead-acid battery. All the home network devices then run off that 12v uninterruptable supply. By only having a single AC-DC stage for everything I'm minimising my power losses.
@@AndyMcClementsThat’s so cool. I’d like to try that, have you written up your setup in more detail anywhere?
@@rileybaker8294 Thanks, no I've not done a write-up yet but maybe I should do as my whole setup is a bit unusual. The power side of it in its present form started with a lucky Ebay bargain, the Meanwell ADD-155 PSU/UPS, new for like #30 or something. I got a couple of typical small sealed lead-acid batteries used in standby applications. The ADD outputs 13.8v @9.5A + 5v@3A, which is fine for my needs as I'm prepared to compromise on compute power. Many small network devices run fine from either the 5v or 13.8v (eg. RPi, small Netgear switches, thin-client servers). I also have a couple of the Mini-box DC PSU's, for a couple of devices which need 'ATX' type power. HTH
Thanks Wolfgang. And why spend days writing scripts that can scrape the contents that will take hours to do manually? Because its fun! Great research thanks.
My UPS is using ~10W all the time .. which was a surprise.
Another awesome contribution to the low-power homelab community!! Thanks Wolfgang!
Thanks for your hard work making the Cybernetics data more accessible Wolfgang. Their data and your spreadsheet are indeed a precious resource. I've now ordered an RM750x for my new build. 💪
Thanks for these videos Wolfgang. I recently had to rebuild my home server. I had gift vouchers which limited where I could spend them. I made an educated guess based on your prior videos and picked up a RM750x 2021. Effectively it cost me £5 as I had a £100 voucher. I also went for a used i5-6500 system based on system database you shared on other videos. Just wanted to let you know your videos are very helpful.
I have been looking for this exact list but nothing existed. A few weeks ago I needed more power for my home server which idles around 25w I looked and looked and bout the Prime titanium 750 ($163 in the US)! Thank the lord its on the top of your list HAHA! Thank you for all your hard work!
I loved this video! It's going to be very helpful when I build my first server. I love making these kinda spreadsheets and i could relate so much to you deciding to make a python script to automate something you could do much faster manually haha! Gonna bookmark the link right now
You might want to look into HDPlex power supplies as well, they are super power efficient and fit into small itx cases and have a good selection of connectors
The problem with them are the price. The 250 gan is great but it’s $150 and the 500w one is 175
I have one and the efficiency is good but it wasn’t a huge improvement. I guess the RM550X 2021 would be identical, but I have not compared it yet even though I have a spare RM550X to test… 😢
Great work Wolfgang, I'm currently in the QNAP eco system, but if a CPU and motherboard because available cheap, I want to get into a DIY NAS/Server, and this info will be invaluable, saved it to a playlist for future reference. I really do enjoy your quests to find low cost and efficient server/NAS hardware.
I'd like to thank you for putting together this incredibly useful comparison, I think it's the single most useful resource for homelab tinkerers.
As a new to all this coming from desktop/gaming computing, I have noticed there is practically absolutely zero products aimed for this low-power home-server niche, everything is optimized either for high-airflow racks or for less-robust home desktops, nothing in between. Putting together a low-power, low-noise, high-efficiency, high-reliability NAS/virtualization platform was definitely an adventure but absorbing a lot of info from your channel definitely helped and now I am very happy of my brand new shiny home-server.
Thanks a lot for the spreadsheet!
I think I may have found another Value King. I sorted the list by price (ascending) the Cooler Master MWE 450 achieves 78.67% efficiency at 20W and costs only 41.90€
Comparing that to the Cooler Master MWE 400 you mentioned and recommended (5th place in the chart when sorting by 20 efficiency) that has 81.12% efficiency BUT costs 1.5 times as much, using the very handy ROI calculator it would only pay off after 17 years!
So I think I'm rather going for this one 😅
Edit: nevermind, the amazon listing (which Geizhals pulled the price from) has a 6-7 month delivery time 🤦♂. It also comes with a UK power plug but that shouldn't matter in the EU as long as you have a spare PSU cable
I use two fanless Seasonic PSUs. I bought one in 2017 and one back in 2014 The idle power usage of the systems is impressive. Easy to clean and not noisy!
After watching your video about low power servers i started building my own one. But i went the ATX power supply route and like you found the cybernetics website. After days of research i found the seasonic prime titanium psu and found one used for 80€. Glad to see that it's overall 2nd in the list.
Thank you for making this. I am in the process of building a new server and I have been trying to establish which PSU's would be the most efficient. This spreadsheet and calculator has made the whole process a lot easier and faster. Love your videos, keep up the good work!
Damn, exactly 250k subs atm. Congrats, you deserve it. Great content as usual.
You are the MVP Wolfgang! Incredible work :)
Love this video and the spreasheet too, its exactly what I've been looking for!!!
I have a few suggestions to improve the spreadsheet: allow us to sort price and wattages by highest to lowest and also add what tier a PSU is on the PSU tier list in a separate column.
This came at literally the perfect time for me! Awesome work dude
I work for a large enterprise, but my home office is small and I can’t have loud and power hungry inefficient servers made for a a server room or data center heating up my office in summer and costing me a lot on my hydro bill. Definitely keep up the good work!
MY GUY!!!
I am in the midst of building a custom NAS with a i3-12100 CPU on a B660 motherboard.
I just got to wondering what PSU would be good, and here you are wiyh a 2 month old video that couldn't be more relevant! Thank you!
Danke für das video. Diese Arbeit kann man nicht hoch genug einschätzen, da viele, recht viele wie ich schon seit Jahren mitlesen im unraid forum usw. (mgutt, man kennt ihn) , bin schon seit Jahren auch auf der Jagd nach ultra wenig Stromverbrauch und habs Ende 2023 aufgegeben. Mir ist es einfach zu blöd geworden. Hatte nen Lantronix mini, der war so mit 25 Watt idle ok. Dann hab ich nen OrigenAE aufgebaut, da war ein 10J ! altes seasonic titanium 460 drin und idle war das setup bei 33W. Hab dann auch geschaut und gerechnet, sogar die ~40€ gegengerechnet, die ich wohl für das alte seasonic fanless bekomm UND ja dann auch ein neues mit Garantie dafür kriege.... habs jetzt einfach drin gelassen. Weil ein neues sparsames fanless liegt schon so um die 150€, also auch 3Jahre mindestens drin. Würde sogar beim nächsten AM4 4650 pro build wieder so ein gebrauchts fanless um 40-60€ holen. ;-) Was will ich sparen, Strom oder Geld? Denk ich werd mir die Liste mal anschauen müssen um dann nochmal alles durchzurechnen. man kann es einfach nicht lassen.
HELL YES! Thank you! I've been looking for these.
*Regarding the Cooler Master MWE PSUs:*
1. *Model Variations:* Most (if not all) of the MWE PSUs listed are the V2 model. This is not explicitly stated, as the 'V2' suffix is not officially part of the model name. The V1 and V2 models differ in a few ways:
- V1 models are rated 80+ Bronze, V2 models 80+ White.
- The V1 and V2 models have different load ratings and sticker designs on the unit itself.
2. *Availability and Pricing:* Unfortunately, these MWE models have spotty availability, causing their prices to fluctuate. Here in west EU, they should be about €40-55,- depending on the model.
3. *Power Connectors:* The number of PCIe power connectors varies by model:
- The 400W model has one.
- The 550-600W models have two.
- The 650W model has four.
There are more connectivity differences, so don't forget to check.
4. *Value for Money:* Some of the higher wattage models are actually cheaper right now, so don't rule them out; they could offer better resale or repurpose value in the future.
5. *Efficiency Rating:* Cooler Master might have given them an 80+ White label, but most of these PSUs are rated as silver efficiency by Cybenetics.
I hope this was helpful, because I think the MWE White V2 lineup actually offers the best bang for the buck right now.
Spotty availability?
Sold out everywhere!
I found one Cooler Master MWE 400 !
I have bought the Cooler Master MWE 400 V2 White and mesuerd it with my testbench system (Kontron D3633-S). The idle draw is awfully high. It uses 8W more than the test system with a PicoPSU 160W + Leike 12v 150W. Do not buy this!
Great video with great info! Every build I've tried to do this, and now there is a quick and easy source of info, thank you!
Thanks for continues supply of awesome resources for power efficiency! This is exactly what I just needed to finish up purchasing the components for my new home server build. PS: I went with the Corsair RM750x.
Thank you! I was struggling with choosing a PSU for my NAS and after studying this table, I bought a brand new Corsair MWE 550 for $30. Without this table, I would have spent a couple hundred bucks on the Platinum and it would still be far from ideal. Thank you!!!!
This is incredible timing, was just doing the cybernetics scan by hand a couple days ago. Great work, much appreciated
Would be interesting to see, how they compare to pico psus though. But I know, that it is more complicated with them, since you have the efficiency of the pico psu itself and the power brick. But comparing 12V input ones to wide range input ones might be interesting.
it's not that it's complicated, it's the fact when we talk about PicoPSUs the most inefficient part is the AC-DC converter(AKA power brick).
Great Video. The avaliable low-power king is the Cooler Master GX II Gold 850
Your efforts are much appreciated!
The home server I'm building this year is gonna get a RM750x handed down from my current gaming PC build. Bought it new in 2016, Corsair has always been rock solid to me and it'll probably keep ticking 10 years from now. Glad to see it has great numbers.
Where do you see the numbers for that one, since it can't be the 2018 or the 2021?
Amazing work ! I was going to spend a lot of time searching through PSU databases for low power efficiency. Your video came right in time :D
Thank you for this informative video. You either take your chance by buying the cheapest PSU from facebook marketplace and use the one that comes with a prebuilt you intend to upgrade or drop big on the RM550x for the best, but now with your spreadsheet we can be more selective when "taking our chances" with the used market and filter for the best low idle PSU.
I'm surprised no-one's marketed their PSU as homelab optimised yet. The performance of cheap models like the CM MWE models show that it's not super expensive to make a PSU with good 20W efficiency, but by the time the homelab community notices the good models are always discontinued. The first manufacturer to take the cybenetics 20W efficiency score and shout about it on the box should sell really well
Nope. Mwe450 when I tested today consumed 60watts at idle for self running.
Insane stuff Wolfang, thanks for the effort :)
Thanks for putting all this together. Great video!!!
Great Info, thats what I was searching for. thank you Wolfgang and thank you to youtube for recommending ist.
This is a very cool resource! The one issue it has seems to be that the figures in the spreadsheet are for 115V, not 230. This is something to be aware of, as the numbers can vary wildly between those two voltages. It would be great to have filters for 20-80W at 230V as well.
I'm having trouble matching the numbers in the sheet vs the published ones. The numbers in the sheet are much higher vs the published ones in the RM750x I looked up.
Cybernetics' older reports only had 115V measurements
For my low-power home network I've ditched traditional AC-DC PSU's entirely, after factoring-in the **UPS requirement**. I use a single AC-12v DC stage which includes the UPS function (a Meanwell ADD155), then run all other devices off the 12v supply, using PicoPSU type units as needed. This means I only have one AC-DC conversion with the associated losses there.
Does your PSU have any means of configuring battery voltage ranges to accommodate for different types of battery? I am currently using a single 12v PSU that feeds directly into a cheap solar charge controller specifically because the controller can accommodate GEL, flooded and AGM battery with configurable cutoff voltages. There are also LiFePO4 batteries with built in BMS to make them useable in place of a lead battery, currently researching those as well. How long has your lead battery lived so far?
@@L1Q The ADD155 has a basic potentiometer to adjust the B+ voltage. It's intended for use with cheap SLA ~13.8v standby batteries which typically would have a life of several years, mine's been in service for ~2yrs, so far so good. My impression is that 'modern' battery technologies bring drawbacks as well as benefits, so I chose the cheap/simple option.
Thanks, Great work as usual, Was just about to pull the trigger on an rm750x...by looking at your spreadsheet i realised that my power savings would amount to a whopping 3w...would get my investment back in 29 years😂
Man, you need to get out more! But thanks for this, it's very difficult to compare these from site to site. Great work.
Thanks mate this is exactly what I've been looking for - I currently have a random £20 PSU in my server and I monitor the power usage with a Tapo P110. It has an i5 4590T, one HDD, 3 SSDs, a TV tuner and Flightradar ADS-B dongle idling at around 27w...whilst that's pretty acceptable, I've no idea how much the system is using and how much is being "lost".
Love your power efficiency videos bro!
Just came across your channel recently. Very good content and very useful for the average Joe. Thanks for your work
Awesome work. You are a gentleman ad a scholar and I salute you.
Nice work Wolfgang, since i believe that you and i share similar expectations from our environment. I live in NL where electricity is also very expensive and follow your videos closely
Thank you Wolfgang, I'm getting the CM MWE400. It has 6 SATA cables. I don't care for modular cables. It even has 5 years of warranty. Also, I don't mind a permanent ~700RPM spin.
Any chance you'd be willing to share the python used to automate gathering the data? It'd be great to see what approaches you used!
I am also interested in the python script. Would love to get other info from the cybernetic doc, such as fan noise
Also Also interested in the python script
I love this video. I've been trying to figure out other options than the 2021 Corsair. Thank you!
Awesome video! I love the power efficiency videos
Needed this video 2 weeks ago lol. Building a server based on that Ryzen 4650 pro based on your previous videos, thank you!
My HS idles at 12w and was using Seasonic Titanium 750w but after testing at idle mear 2% load swapped it out as it effciency was 11%!!!!!
While my cheaper Corsair vs450 was 55% effiencient
Hi Wolfgang, i really like how you're handling your tests and how you present it. I always think you as a younger version of Igor. Thx a lot for sharing :-)
Regarding the spreadsheet I have two suggestions:
1. Make it sortable / filterable on all columns
2. The ROI-Calculator would also be great for people planning a replacement, and then it would be useful to include a "sale return" field into the calculator
Hey! You can sort the table by making a copy in your Drive
Or even better, by clicking data -> filter views -> create new temporary filter view. Then you can filter original even without having edditing permission
Great work! Though, the Cybernetics DB is quite lacking, especially for SFX PSUs. Last one I went with a Sharkoon, cheap and reasonable silent. Very Sad Corsair discontinued the cheaper options.
Power efficiency is very important to me; however, the noise level of the PSU is my top priority. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information regarding noise levels in the Google Sheet, and I wish it had been included.
Nicely done! Also interested in the script you created. Can you share it?
Thank you for all the work you have done here. Comparing 20% efficiency numbers between PSUs of wildly different wattages does not make much sense however. In the video you are comparing the 20% number of the RM550X to the efficiency numbers of 750 and 850W PSUs.
But 20% of 550W is a measurement at 110W load while 20% of 850W is a measurement at 170W load.
With an actual load of 30W the 550W PSU has a good chance of being significantly better than the 850W even though the efficiency values at 20% are identical.
And this is why the table also includes effiiciency numbers for other wattages. At 40W, the gap between the RM550x and the Seasonic Titanium 750W actually widens (and not in 550W's favor) - 88.77% for the Seasonic PSU and 85.65% for the RM550x
@@WolfgangsChannel I think Gerald is mistaken the 20W results for being 20% results.
@@WolfgangsChannel Thank you, I should have looked at the table first and not only watched the video. Thank you for your work.
Great article and realistic - actually use case of PSU, not the fetish focus on look it's platinum with loads of plus signs when that's based upon best case near on peak load, it's the scale across power load you really need.
Sehr geile Arbeit die du da gemacht hast!
Danke!
Looks like the cybernetics website has been changed since the video. At the PSU-performance database page there now is a Efficiency 2% [%] column, which for 1000 Watt PSU would be 20 Watt. This gets lower as capacity is reduced and caps at 10Watt for 500Watt PSU and below.
I would still check the linked report as there are sometimes inconsistencies with the data. Makes it way easier to check possible candidates by sorting it.
Thank you for the video.
In the last builds I picked FSP HEXA 85+ PRO 350W.
P/N - PPA3505301. Warranty is 5 years, japanese caps, amazing price at 50€.
Measured with wattmeter i5-10400 machine idling at 20W in windows with monitor connected.
Its my go-to and would be curious to see where it lands in the efficiency table.
You are a legend! Incredible work. Thankyou!
Der Pullover ist wild!
With the PicoPSU you basically rely on the power brick's efficiency, it only has to produce 5v and 3.3v and passes through the 12v, which delivers the bulk of the power. A survey on notebook charger efficiency would be interesting, too.
Amazing job on the script and google sheet!
Very useful work Wolfgang 🙏 Keep going!
So who wants to sacrifice himself for testing if the efficiency ratings for the Cooler Master MWE 400 V2 actually are the same as for V1? Anyone?
It can’t just be a random. The best case is that cybernetics does a review. Maybe if the community pooled donations or something?
Ltt labs?
Nice work!!! Keep it up Wolfgang!!!
Unplug the PSU fan from PSU board, plug it into a sensor controlled motherboard fan header. May need to change the PSU fan. Works great.
Can you explain? This is very interesting
@@Lordofrimgs explain what?
@@duotronic6451 you mean to open up the smps and disconnect the fan from the psu and instead connect it to the connector in the motherboard?
@@Lordofrimgs yes. My asrock z270 has 4 fan headers. All of the are sensor controlled. They can control 3 or 4 pin variable speed fans.
@@duotronic6451 it will void warranty of the new psu.
Btw, is that controlled pwm saves energy? What's the advantage of doing this.?
And thanks for your reply man, am learning a lot from you.
THANK YOU MAN. YOU ARE THE HERO
Du bist der Wahnsinn. Super geil!
I really don't need kr care about PSU because I use Synology and Beelink mini PC, but I watched it anyway.
Respect for gathering all that data and converting it into useful information 👍
This is terrific. Thank you for sharing it!
Wow… Of course CM V550 v2 sold out on Amazon already. Good work Wolfgang 😊
"i plan to keep the doc updated"
MY BOY!!!
That hoodie looks super comfy
Wish I could Like this more than once. Very well explained and compiled list. Thanks!
Thank you for this big job ! Well done.
Hey Wolfgang, great video as always. Just stumbled across it.
I have a question about PSUs besides efficiency at low loads, maybe you have an answer:
*** Do PSUs have an impact on how low/high of a C-State the CPU/System can achieve? ***
I sometimes see the description "Haswell C6/C7 Low-Power States"-compatible. Is that a must have or is this a relic from the past?
I'm using an old 400W FSP Gold rated PSU, I'm not sure how efficient it is at 20W but considering its maximum output isn't that high it's probably not that bad.
I also did some napkin math and concluded it's not worth it to buy a new PSU for marginally better efficiency, not with the current electricity and PSU prices at least.
Perfect timing, I am looking for a new Power supply for my second server right now.
Great research for a use-case that should be far more popular imo
The new ATX-3.1 Standard specifies that power supplys need to achieve at a minimum 70% efficiency when supplying a load of 10w. I suggest searching for such a power supply. For example the BeQuiet Pure Power 12-Series.
Remarkable work. I guess one thing to watch is that the 20% load efficiency on the bigger supplies (such as 850w) is going to be less certain about say 40w idle on the smaller (say 400w) supplies. The 20% guide is 170w vs 80w. So true idle is a fairly long way off both data points...?
Or is the 20% figure an average for the supply running anywhere from say 20w to 20%. That would mean the data is more accurate for low wattage, though it seems idle is a long way from peak power once you add NAS or GPU demands. Hmm.
It's 20W, not 20%
Hi Wolfgang! As always you gave us a thorough and very complete set of information!
I stumbled upon the Sharkoon SIlent Storm 500w SFX Gold PSU and I bought it for my low-power NAS. It says it's like 87% efficient at 20W. What do you think about it?
Thanks in advance and congratulations for your channel!
20W or 20%?
@@WolfgangsChannel Sorry!! you are right: at 20% power, the PSU is 87% efficient! :)
The Cooler Master MWE 400 is the newest V2 White, It's a typo on their names xD (this is the Serial Number for it from the PDF MPE4001ACABW), with the extra numbers removed. It matches the official page 1 to 1
Gotcha, thanks for the info!
I have bought the Cooler Master MWE 400 V2 White and mesuerd it with my testbench system (Kontron D3633-S). The idle draw is awfully high. It uses 8W more than the test system with a PicoPSU 160W + Leike 12v 150W. Do not buy this!
Another wolfgang video, have a great day
is there a similar sheet for motherboards (6th/7th gen intel) my old atx gaming one i use pulls too much power on idle
There's this: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LHvT2fRp7I6Hf18LcSzsNnjp10VI-odvwZpQZKv_NCI
Perfect! That is just a great Video from a great Creator!
This is really great that you put this together and pulled the data off the website, but isn't PSUs a little more complex than 20W/40W/60W/80W efficiency? Doesn't what voltage that is being drawn also come into play with efficiency? For instance, can't 20W on the 3.3V or the 5V rail produce different efficiency values than 20W on the 12V rail? I don't have access to the source material, so I don't know how they tested, would be interested to know if this was accounted for - thanks.
Hey! If you look at the spreadsheet, the last column has links to the original Cybenetics reports, where you can see more details
@@WolfgangsChannelit says forbidden. the link not working
You're right, it looks like Cybenetics pulled the PDF reports from the website...
@@WolfgangsChannel Would you mind to show how you did scrapp the data?
github.com/notthebee/efficient_psu/
Also take a look at this github.com/notthebee/efficient_psu/issues/1 the issue author rewote the script to work with new Cybenetics reports
After a bit of research and seeing what I could get my hands on. I ended up getting a RM750x shift from Amazon Warehouse. Super pleased it came in 6th 👍
This is really GREAT work! Thanks!
nice to see that the seasonic prime titanium 650w thats in my server, wasn a total waste of money (got it used for "cheap")
A week ago, when this video released: "Bah, I won't build anything in years, I don't need this video."
Yesterday my power supply blew up due to a faulty usb card reader, so thanks for the good timing I guess :D
this is hug work man thanks a lot.
Another Wolfgang Video 😍
Now we need a whats the best CPU video :D
Hey Wolfgang! Did you spot anything interesting that was announced or released at CES for homlab/NAS stuff?
I saw the minisforum MS-01 and the AR900i. Both are totally not for low budget and not very NAS friendly but those are the only things I could spot on TH-cam.
О, ДА-аааа!!! Спасибо большое за отличный инструмент в выборе энергоэффективного блока питания!!!!