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Achim,
Ah OK. The first reading on the meter is watts, the second is the VA and the third the power factor (P(W)/S(VA)=PF i.e., 176.5/185.4 = 0.952 or 95.2%). These meters are incapable of showing PSU efficiency since you need an ammeter or a clamp meter or a SMPS ATE to measure that using values of how much amps each rail is carrying from the PSU and what the voltage for each rail is (multiply the two for the DC wattage) compared to how much VAC is being drawn in. So it's the ratio of how much the PSU pulls and how much it then gives out which is the PSU efficiency. Power factor that is being reported above is very different.
Youre power factor radings are how they should be. APFC is getting 0.95 PF while PFC is getting 0.78 PF. That's how it should be realistically. To measure efficiency you have to look at the manufacturer testing reports, do it yourself if you have the equipment or knowledge (large corporations or industries have engineers with the relevant tools many times), or look towards people wo have reviewed similar items like online websites such as PCPerspective, Anandtech, Toms Hardware, Hardforum, Techgage, Jonnyguru.com and so on. They have the relevant equipment to be able to measure the PSU efficiency at different loads. Inductive or capacitive loads, the efficiency (and power factor) will be fluctuating and never constant, so at 100W DC your PSU might be 74% efficient while at 200W it might be 76% and at 300W it might be 78% (and so on).
The Zalman 460W ultra quiet PSU you have came out before the wave of 80%+ efficient started popping up and it didn't have the best efficiency in the non-80+ PSU's either, since the Seasonic PSU's typically held that spot and they topped out at around 81-74% efficiency throughout the loads. At low loads these larger PSU's typically have low efficiency, like 68-74% below 100W DC. Yours 'aint 80% efficient PSU throughout the loads, bare this in mind, it's 75-80% at >220VAC below 40C above 80W DC AFAIK and I don't remember what it's report found the max efficiency at. It would be near the 50% range (near 270-300W DC).
So... to find out what apporixmate DC wattage your system is pulling, get the Watts figure on the energy monitor and multiply by 0.78 (at best, meaning it will give the largest possible DC power consumption figure) if your loads are at >220VAC and above 100W VAC.
Taking for example your Zalman 460W SMPS power consumption picture, we wil have;
176.5 * 0.78 = 138W DC (rounded up)
That's the max power consumption of that system possible at that load with that setup. In reality it will actually be lower because a) I used max possible PSU efficiency which will not be true, it would be around 76% IMO b) you lose some current at the voltage regulators and convertors (+12V has to be converted to the required CPU voltage, etc) c) connector/wire resistence and rail voltage losses means lower actual total watts pulled by a component.
Ultra Quiet PSU's are not normally very good with efficiency at all you see, medicore at best since it's a balance and the temps need to remain low for the PSU to work adequately.
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