PS4 PSU

[Eks]

The PS4's PSU is, AFAIK, rated at 250 watts, but if the console (the CUH-1000 and 1100 models at least) use only around 150 watts under full load, why not equip the console with a lower rated PSU, like 175 watts, if the console never approaches something remotely close to 250? Is there a reason for this that I'm just not getting? Does the console actually use all 250, but a lot of it is wasted as generated heat or something?

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

Here's my two cents.

1. Overhead if something goes wrong like a power surge.
2. AFAIK you shouldn't use 100% of your PSU. It should be just 80% below. The remaining 20% is for overhead to be safe.
3. Electricity is constantly fluctuating.

And power supply units nowadays are very efficient you won't even notice it in your electrical bills.

 

[sesselpupser]

Also, power supplies have an optimum efficiency that is often around 40-60% draw, the closer you get to 0 or 100% it starts to drop off. Therefore it's sensible for that reason to overspec.

You also have to account for component ageing - especially capacitors - which reduces the PSU's peak output capability because of things like the ripple voltage increasing or the line regulation getting worse, causing voltage drops under load and that sort of thing. With that in mind, 100W is a lot of headroom but it'll translate to a long service life.

Also we don't actually know for sure if we've already seen the most resource-hungry PS4 game yet, it could be that someone manages to program something that convinces the console to draw more than 150W.

 

[Eks]

Excellent answers. Thank you both. :tup:

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I imagine it should help with heat and also costs.