Quote from: MrTeal on January 09, 2015, 04:22:24 AM

Quote from: visdude on January 09, 2015, 03:58:48 AM

Quote from: efx on January 08, 2015, 07:22:59 PM

Quote from: visdude on January 08, 2015, 03:43:35 AM

Quote from: vilm on January 06, 2015, 08:42:31 AM

Hello there,

I'm from Russia and have ordered 1 x ANTMINER S5 BATCH 4.
Now I need some advice from you ...
I have a new out of the box PSU Fractal Design NEWTON R3 80PLUS® Platinum
http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/power-supplies/newton/newton-r3-600w
and I'll going in anyway to connect it to S5.
Which are the potential minuses I'll get if use the PSU NEWTON R3 with Antminer S5? Please list all if it possible.
Thanks.

At 600W draw at the wall, that'll only give you around 10% headroom. If you're comfy with that (also keeping in mind that it's a Platinum PSU), then that's your call. I'd monitor it very closely for the first few days. Also, make sure that the PCIe cables don't get too hot especially during the hottest ambient temperature that you could possibly have.

I'd get a 750W/800W PSU if it were me though and overclock to heart's content without worrying about power requirement.

Agreed.

I've found the relative differences between certifications to often be pretty much immaterial, often a case of a few percentage points that could be re-claimed elsewhere for less.

Considering the base efficiency of these devices, I would aim for higher capacity over slightly better PSU efficiency at this time, as you said. Also, based on what I know of average electricity rates in Russia, I expect he would benefit from OC as you suggested.

Indeed, the difference between a Bronze and a Gold PSU (85% and 90% efficiency respectively) is really not that significant in terms of operational (electricity) cost savings over price difference justification.

For example: with a stock S3+ running at 30C ambient, the difference between an 85% and a 90% efficiency PSU of the same wattage rating (identical load %) would be around 21WAC at the wall which equates to 0.5kWh per day. At a rate of $0.12/kWh, that's a difference of $0.06 per day in power cost savings when using a 90% PSU over an 85% PSU. For the purpose of extrapolation, let's use $40 as an average full retail price difference between these PSUs. That would then give us $40 / $0.06 = 667 days = 22 months = 1.8 years to recoup such a price difference.

Of course one could argue that Gold/Platinum PSUs can be had on sale + rebates. That's true for the Bronze PSUs as well or any PSU for that matter.

The difference between a power supply for running a single S3 isn't going to be $40. You're looking at more like $15 or so.
Newegg Search
You can buy a 650W gold supply for only $75. The only other PSU Newegg carries that would work without cable splitters or leaving a PCIe connector unplugged that's cheaper is a $60 550W Bronze one or some refurb Corsair 750's.

You might have $40 difference if you're looking at 850W or 1000W supplies, but you're probably looking at more than a 21W difference there.
I'd say that mining is far and away the best case for making up the cost difference between Gold and Bronze. It's probably closer to a year payoff the difference in cost just on electricity, but at the end of that year you're left with a likely better supply that has a higher resale value.

Fair enough and in that case, I could also contend that since the BFL days, I was able to purchase Corsair CX500s 80 Plus Bronze PSUs at the Egg at a final cost of as low as $9.99 ($39.99 listed sale price minus $20 rebate minus $10 instant promo code discount) and in turn, used those rebate cards to acquire more CX500s at virtually zero out-of-pocket cost. They have powered BFL, Cube, S1 and currently, S3 miners without missing a beat. My point is that we really can't mix in discounts, rebates, refurbished units, resale price, etc. and expect to have a controlled comparison (hence the last sentence of my last post). I think the most sensible way to approach such comparison in order to have a modicum of control with such a variety of complicating factors is to compare the list price of a brand-new Bronze and a brand-new Gold PSU (not refurbs and excluding complex factors such as discounts, rebates, resale value, etc.) with identical/similar wattage rating within a brand as prices vary extensively across brands of identical/similar units.

Since this is an S5 thread, let's narrow it down to the 750W PSUs. The following is a link to a comparison chart at the Egg with a sampling of five 750W Bronze and Gold PSUs ranging from the cheapest Bronze (Logisys @ $64.99) to the mid-higher end Gold (Seasonic @ $129.99). Note that there are more Gold PSUs between $129.99 and $199.90 which makes the average price difference to be way more than just $40 across different brands. But let's focus on the "within a brand" comparison which is between the Corsair CX750 Bronze @ $84.99 and the Corsair RM750 Gold @ $119.99 -- a difference of $35. That's almost $40:

Egg comparison chart of five 750W Bronze/Gold PSUs

In the end, it's how one justifies it. I think it's more like a choice of either enjoying the savings now or enjoying it later when the price difference will have been recouped over a year or two later.