Seasonic PRIME PSU shutdowns with RTX 30x0 and RX 6xxx series GPUs

San-Fernando-Valley
San-Fernando-Valley
Joined: 16 Mar 16
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Keith Myers

Keith Myers wrote:

...

Second, power supply fans only pull air into the supply when the power supply reaches some temperature  set by the manufacturer where the fan NEEDS to turn on at all. Most run without ever needing to turn on at

all.

...

The dust drawn from outside the case never gets into the case as it all packs up in the power supply.

I've never had a power supply where the fan doesn't run at ALL times.

But always at a minimun RPM.  Never heard it nor noticed an increased RPM at higher power levels.

My power supplies don't have an eco mode, but instead an "overclocking" feature.

I have had PC-cases where the power supply is mounted vertical, so the heat and dust gets into the case. But never seen/experienced any clogging up.

Overall, my experience is that a "big" wattage overhead is definitely needed in order to have a steady high performance running system.

Stay safe and "Happy Season" to all ...

 

 

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
Joined: 11 Feb 11
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San-Fernando-Valley

San-Fernando-Valley wrote:

I've never had a power supply where the fan doesn't run at ALL times.

Then you've never purchased a high-end power supply intended for 24/7 heavy duty use.

Most high-efficiency Gold, Platinum and Titanium power supplies use semi-passive cooling and only turn on their fans when high power is being pulled and temps rise above a mfr. setpoint.

 

 

San-Fernando-Valley
San-Fernando-Valley
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Keith Myers wrote: ... Then

Keith Myers wrote:

...

Then you've never purchased a high-end power supply intended for 24/7 heavy duty use.

Most high-efficiency Gold, Platinum and Titanium power supplies use semi-passive cooling and only turn on their fans when high power is being pulled and temps rise above a mfr. setpoint.

 

 

I guess you are right, I seem to have very low budget power units:

CORSAIR  AX1600I  (1600W  80 PLUS® Titanium)

Bequiet!  Dark Power Pro 12  (1500W  80 PLUS® Titanium)

Bequiet!  Dark Power Pro 12  (1200W  80 PLUS® Titanium)

Bequiet!  Dark Power 12  (1000W  80 PLUS® Titanium)

Bequiet!  Dark Power 12  (750W  80 PLUS® Titanium)

etc.

 

I wonder which ones I should buy now and replace my "garbage"?

Without running them 24/7, I would not be able to achive high RACs or credits!

Besides BOINC we are also using the rigs (not all of them) for other 24/7 work loads ...

 

Please don't jump to quick assumptions.

Stay safe and have two beers on me ...

 

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
Joined: 11 Feb 11
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Ha ha ha.  You've just proved

Ha ha ha.  You've just proved my point exactly.  The Corsair one is a semi-passive cooling design with Zero RPM Fan mode when used at low to middle loads.

Be Quiet doesn't expressly advertise that capability so I don't know whether they use a semi-passive design or not and just depend on their low noise fan and run at all times.

 

Gandolph1
Gandolph1
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And lets not forget how

And lets not forget how important it is correctly size your power supply.  While that big high wattage power supply may get you a longer PS lifetime, it definitely does you no good from a power efficiency point of view.  In fact if you are going to seriously oversize your PS, I'm not sure why you would pay for a Platinum or Titanium rating...

 

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
Joined: 11 Feb 11
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The most efficient point to

The most efficient point to operate a power supply is at 50% of capacity.  So a 1600W power supply is most efficient at a 800W load.

You need lots of overhead when running multi-gpu setups so the larger sizes are mandatory for BOINC crunching.

 

Gandolph1
Gandolph1
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Of course I'm not sure how

Of course I'm not sure how San-Fernando-Valley was able to get 3 3070 cards either.  Lucky you!

 

archae86
archae86
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Just to broaden the picture

Just to broaden the picture of how "all" power supplies control their fans.

I just equipped my latest build with a Seasonic Focus PX-650 (Platinum 650W).  Yes, I understand that is below the power band of you big boys.

Fan control on this one (and lots of other Seasonic supplies) has a mysterious pushbutton next to the power switch.  Left out, the supply runs with the fan at zero speed until the control logic thinks it is needed, while with the button pushed in, the fan runs all the time.

I have not yet decided which position to leave the button in.  While the system runs a Navi Rx 5700 GPU, I keep it throttled down, so average system power at the wall is about 170 Watts at my present settings.  Most likely the supply fan will never run if I leave the button sprung out, save for abnormal conditions.

I fancy that pushing the button in will extend the life of the electrolytic caps inside, and possibly some other life-limited components.  I fancy leaving it out may extend the life of the fan, save a bit of noise (which I will not notice, as I have other louder fans), save a bit of power...  I think I'll leave it pushed in.  Depending on the failure mode of the fan, for this system, a failed fan may give me very similar behavior to the button out behavior anyway.

 

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
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Unless you can find the

Unless you can find the design statement about what pushing the button does, you don't know exactly what else the button may do.  Not just control the fans but may put an artificial power limit or amp clamping on the rails.

On any expensive, high-end power supply that carries a very long warranty, the product designers would marry the design with a long life fan expected to last the length of the warranty.  You don't want the cheapest component in the supply be the reason for early warranty replacement.  I would expect double ball-bearing designs to be used.

Also if the fan doesn't need to run, that is a benefit with running in a dusty or hairy environment.  The dust and hair on the heatsinks and components are what commonly brings an early demise of a power supply.

When blowing out the PC you should always also blow the dust out of the supply.

 

GWGeorge007
GWGeorge007
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Keith Myers wrote:Unless

Keith Myers wrote:

Unless you can find the design statement about what pushing the button does, you don't know exactly what else the button may do.  Not just control the fans but may put an artificial power limit or amp clamping on the rails.

As you can see, the fan on ARCHAE86's PSU only run's the fan at all times when the button is pushed in. The fan is NOT warranted for as long as the PSU is.

The warranty on his particular PSU is 10 years, but the fan is not included in that warranty.

 

George

Proud member of the Old Farts Association

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