order to earn the gold rating they have to be more than 80% efficient at each of these ranges iirc
Yes....it's called the 80 Plus Computer Power Supply Program.
As I said...here and elsewhere....pay a good price...get a good product and ignore the armchair 'experts' who claim it's all a waste of money...
Well call me an "armchair expert" all you want, unless you work for a PSU company you are one yourself.
The thing is, I'm not saying powerful PSUs are bad, but
1) buying an overly powerful PSU with wattages you'll never use ALWAYS is a waste of money, simply because they are more expensive to purchase. If you will use a max of 700W and get a good one there is absolutely no use in the world for all eternity whatsoever to buy a bigger one. Ofcourse, the question is, what is the max wattage you'll ever use. Some just prefer to buy higher wattages just to be safe.
2) I am warning TS about PSUs with bad efficiency. Sure a 1kW PSU which is good will have good efficiencies at lower wattage range. So do good 600W PSUs, so what is your point? I'm all for the TS getting a good PSU, I just don't understand why you want him to buy an overly powerful one.
Can you tell me the benefit of a good 1kW PSU over a good 700W PSU, if the one buying it will never use those wattages?