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Topic: Hardware

Finally a reasonably cheap 80 Plus power supply

Summary: One of the key criteria to getting a new EPA Energy Star rating on a new computer is having an "80 Plus" power supply.  A computer power supply that is more than 80% efficient at 20%, 50% and 100% load can earn an 80 Plus logo.

George Ou

By George Ou for Real World IT |

One of the key criteria to getting a new EPA Energy Star rating on a new computer is having an "80 Plus" power supply.  A computer power supply that is more than 80% efficient at 20%, 50% and 100% load can earn an 80 Plus logo.  Finding an 80 Plus power supply for a do-it-yourself PC at a reasonable price has been challenging and too many 80 Plus power supplies are oversized and overpriced.

A large price tag prices out a large portion of the market and oversized power supplies don't actually deliver the kinds of efficiencies their marketing implies.  A 500 watt power supply that is rated 80 Plus will perform at well below 80% efficiency when paired with a modern PC that typically uses 50 to 100 watts of power because that's less than 20% loading. The solution is to find a small and inexpensive power supply in the 200 watt range and Sparkle Power Inc. may have produced the right solution with their SPI220LE power supply. 

The SPI220LE is small (fits in 1U chassis and some MicroATX or FlexATX chassis), reasonably priced at $55 MSRP (available online), and it's completely silent since the fan doesn't even move until you get to 50% loading which is almost never.  In my quest to build a 50 watt PC, I hit a point of diminishing returns because my SeaSonic S12 330 watt PSU couldn't operate that efficiently at 15% loading.  I could not get the computer to use less than 50 watts no matter how hard I tried and 51 watts was as low as I got.

With the SPI220LE, power consumption on a G33 motherboard and Intel E6750 dropped down to 47 watts when it was 52 watts [UPDATE 1:00PM - using an already efficient Seasonic S12 330W power supply.  The 330W PSU while efficient at 20% to 100% loses efficiently at loads of 15%].  A D201GLY dropped down to 31 watts in idle power consumption with the SPI220LE while the same computer measured 46 watts when I used a cheap PSU that came with a $16 MicroATX chassis which meant it was consuming an extra 48% in power.  That's a huge difference in efficiency level and it's no wonder the EPA is prioritizing on power supply efficiency when it comes to computers.  Now I just wish more vendors carried the SPI220LE power supply so that I wouldn't have to pay full retail price.

Topics: Hardware, PCs

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29 comments
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  • Perfect for me and my computer in a computer

    I think I will build a second computer in my case now. I will probably have to mount a second power button. I am not too worried about the lights.


    If I get this done, would you care to have a look?
    nucrash
    Reply Vote

    • If you got pictures, send it

      Be aware that the PSU won't fit in a standard ATX case or many MicroATX cases. It fits in some mini cases and all 1U chassis.
      georgeou
      Reply Vote

      • We will see what happens

        I need to get this tablet of mine sold first, then I will buy the items.

        I am still swaying back and forth on what I want to buy. I don't want the brick, but I don't want the heat either.

        I will have to build myself a custom mount for the PSU as well as the ITX board, but the results would be a FTP server that is internal to my gaming rig. Though it will only have a 100 MB NIC, I won't worry about it too much.

        This could get ugly, but I could hook up two LANs interally to the rig and then use them as Remotes, while using low profile GB NICs on each board and pushing transfers through the roof.

        The Ideas are pouring for what I want to do, now only if I can execute.
        nucrash
        Reply Vote

  • Guess you have never seen one of these...

    Pico PSU's
    http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/it.A/id.417/.f

    They come in 60,80 & 120 and have been out for several years.

    Still it good to see more choices, better equipment & lower prices.
    As well as lower consumption & better efficiency
    And awareness & interest in the same.....
    LazLong
    Reply Vote

    • Those are DC units and they're expensive

      I've seen those before. Those are DC units and they're expensive when you add in the external AC brick. This is a 1U unit that accepts a standard AC plug and it's a lot cleaner that way.
      georgeou
      Reply Vote

      • This would be the Kit

        http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-120-power-kit?sc=8&category=13


        A whopping $5.00 more.

        I think I can swing it.
        nucrash
        Reply Vote

        • Is that unit 80 Plus rated?

          The only thing about using an external unit is that you have to deal with a separate brick.
          georgeou
          Reply Vote

          • The Options Weighed...

            Upsides
            1 The internal does have advantages of not dealing with the brick
            2 More power for other devices. This would be nice for that extra video card or other hard disks that might not have enough plugs from the other power supply
            3 Overall the Internal is more efficient from what I can tell. I have to see the brick to know for sure.

            Downsides
            1 The Brick does take away heat that I would have to deal with inside the case.
            2 The Brick is less wattage over all
            3 The issues of not having a wide enough case are null and void.

            I am debating both sides, but until I get my tablet sold, I am too short on cash to do either.
            nucrash
            Reply Vote

          • Penny wise

            You are overlooking a major issues concerning power supply efficiency. It's called loading efficiency.
            A power supply rated at 80 percent efficiency is only 80% efficient under a very narrow loading band. Most power supplies need to be loaded to a minimum of 85 or 90 percent in order to meet their efficiency ratings. Anything below this and the power supply efficiency drops drastically.
            For instance if you are using a 400 watt power supply and only loading it at 20 percent then the efficiency drops dramatically.

            Most people have a tendency of using to large a power supply. I recently tested an Intel D201GLY board using Pico PSU-120 power supply. The main board a 3.5 inch HD and a DVD burner under load drew about 40 watts. Still not enough loading to justify a 120 watt supply. An 80 watt supply would be a closer match.

            Basically, If you are trying to build an efficient system then under loading a power supply that is to large for your system is one if the biggest mistakes you can make. As my mom would say "Penny wise and Pound foolish"
            blaze1024
            Reply Vote

        • 12v x 5A = ?

          That's only a 60w supply, and if the efficiency of the brick is 75%, as many of those are, then it fails on that account too. It's a cool product anyway, though. I could see going that way for a passively cooled system.
          GW Mahoney
          Reply Vote

          • Doh

            Though I am not looking for more than 50 watts. At 75%, I could pull out 45 Watts. Would that be enough to power up that board and 2 3.5 Inch drives?

            Although I need to check my math, I may want a more powerful brick.
            nucrash
            Reply Vote

          • Each 3.5" HDD uses 7-10 watts idle and 30W during spin-up

            Each 3.5" HDD uses 7-10 watts idle, 10-13 watt active, and 30W during spin-up.
            georgeou
            Reply Vote

          • 45W will not be enough then.

            If I run 60W, I would be better off, but then I need to make sure that my CPU doesn't pull more than 30W. Basically if I want to do this right, I will need a 120W AC to DC Brick.


            After measuring my case and checking for open Hard Drive bays, I want to put two Micro ITX boards in my Gaming Rig and fill up the remaining 4 Hard Drive bays. That will push my storage to about 3.3 TB in one rig. That would be 5 500GB drive with 4 400 GB Drives. Heat dissipation might begin to be a problem.
            nucrash
            Reply Vote

          • Not even close

            That's the maximum the specifications allows for not what the drives actually draw. I just tested a 250 gig max. Idle current .7 amps active 1.5 amps....
            blaze1024
            Reply Vote

          • You are way off on Hard Drive power consumption ...

            George what you are quoting is the maximum the specifications allow for not what the drives actually draw. I just tested a 250 gig 7200RPM 3.5 inch HD. Idle was about 4 watts, Seek about 10 watts....

            Here are some Hard Drive power consumption measurements. The highest power consumption under seek is about 14.8 watts the lowest is about 9.2. That's a far cry from the 40 watts you are claiming

            http://techreport.com/articles.x/10868/13
            blaze1024
            Reply Vote

  • RE: Finally a reasonably cheap 80 Plus power supply

    It'd really be nice if there's an adapter that fits a Sparkle PSU into a standard ATX Form-Factor PSU Bay.

    C'mon, vendors! It's time you start your production of 80%+ low-watt power supplies! :) This includes PC Power and Cooling! :)

    I'm dying to have one of those!
    Grayson Peddie
    Reply Vote

    • A couple problems

      1 That isn't 80Plus Compliant

      2 External power supply still likes to burn off a lot of heat.

      Still better than an internal power supply though.

      NewEgg has a 60 Watt model that I am considering from "IGo Logic"

      Well they used to. They did last week.
      nucrash
      Reply Vote

  • Where to find cases?

    The article mentions that the SPI220LE will fit in "some" MicroATX and FlexATX chassis. Can anybody point me in the direction of such cases?
    Tukka
    Reply Vote

    • Here you go...

      http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000007&Description=micro+atx&name=Computer+Cases
      nucrash
      Reply Vote

      • Thanks, but ...

        I know how to find a list of MicroATX cases. What I don't know how to do is winnow such a list down to those cases which will support (with minimal modification) a PSU with a small form factor intended for installation in 1U rackmount chassis.
        Tukka
        Reply Vote
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