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What's a very good Power Supply Unit for this PC computer I want together built meant for Blender Cycles rendering? I have a few components but need 3 more.

The three components are: the MSI X399 board, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and an EVGA GTX1080Ti FTW3.

Thus the requirements in a PSU are:

  • Needs to support the above components.
  • Should be able to deal with an additional 1080Ti
  • Needs to be ATX form-factor
  • Should be relieable and not (completely) inefficient
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2 Answers 2

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PCPartPicker estimates your build at around 750 watts with two video cards installed. Power supplies tend to be most efficient when loaded to about 25%-75% of capacity, so you're looking at something in the 1000W-1200W range.

I'd recommend the SeaSonic PRIME Platinum in either 1000W ($210) or 1200W ($250) capacity: 1000W if the computer is going to be spending most of its time nearly idle while you do design work, or the 1200W if it's going to be running all-out for hours on end rendering.

I haven't used this particular power supply, but I've had good experience with SeaSonic power supplies in the past, and they've got a reputation for quality. It's a high-efficiency power supply (rated 80+ Platinum, 90% efficient or above across almost the entire working range), and it's got the four 8-pin PCIe power connectors you need for your graphics cards (actually, it's got eight of them).

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How much power do you need?

If you upgrade to a second 1080Ti you will need about 250W*2+150W of power supply, plus peripherals, plus enough to catch any power usage spikes and to compensate for the sub-100% efficiency and the efficiency degradation over the years. So 1000W is a realistic estimate for this (and a comfortably conservative one).

So what is the recommendation?

The EVGA SuperNOVA 1000-G3, it is an ATX form factor 1000W Gold-rated PSU with 8x 8-pin connectors for graphics cards (you will need 2 or 4 of these).

So what are the differences between Titanium, Platinum and Gold PSUs?

The difference between the various certifications are efficiencies. A Titanium rated PSU needs to hit 94% efficiency, a platinum 92% and a gold one 90%, so as you see there isn't that much of a difference. However, as you have such a large buffer with regards to power, going with a gold-rated one will do.

Additionally EVGA is extremely confident in the quality of this PSU, which is why they give a decade of warranty on it, so I wouldn't worry about build quality (and besides EVGA has an excellent reputation with power supplies).

If you want to read more about PSUs, have a look at this article (about this PSU) and the references it links. And also note that Mark's suggestion will also be fine (and a little more efficient / with a little longer warranty for a bit more money).

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