If you use it for any length of time, the bronze will cost you more in the long run. Won't take long to recoup the $40-$50 you'd save having a gold 1300w PSU. Plus you need more outlets.
M
That's a fair assessment. It would be nice if you could illustrate the details of the figures though.
Off the top of my head, the difference between PSUs with 90% and 85% efficiency would be around 20WAC at the wall with a stock S3+ which equates to about 0.48kWh per day. At $0.12/kWh power rate, that's around $0.06/day difference. Therefore, $50 / $0.06 = 833 days = 28 months = 2.28 years to recoup a $50 difference in price. Is this what you had in mind?
Re needing more outlets, that's what power strips are for; and I've got enough of them already and I'm almost certain that most of us do. It could also be argued that using a single/dedicated PSU for each S3 eliminates a single point of failure of three S3s powered by a single PSU.
Assuming your electricity is $0.10/kwh, and you're using 100% of the rating's power.
400w = 444w from the wall (at 89% efficiency - Platinum) = $1.066/day = ~$389/year
400w = 452w from the wall (at 87% efficiency - Gold) = $1.085/day = ~$396/year
400w = 460w from the wall (at 85% efficiency - Silver) = $1.104/day = ~$403/year
400w = 472w from the wall (at 82% efficiency - Bronze) = $1.133/day = ~$414/year
400w = 472w from the wall (at 80% efficiency - Basic) = $1.152/day = ~$420/year
Ratings from Wikipedia
Keep in mind that EVGA has 10-year warranties on their high-end PSUs, so it's guaranteed to last that long - which is why that's what I'm using.
I think the Wikipedia chart that you are referring to is just a general guideline as opposed to actual 80 Plus Certification test results here that illustrates actual efficiency % at different load values of each PSU.