Computer Power Supply
How to Choose a Computer Power Supply
Executive summary about Computer Power Supply by Damien Oh
atx computer power supply
Choosing a computer power supply is easy, provided that you are not making the mistakes that other people are making. If you really care about your computer system, you have to put in some serious effort to choose the best power supply.
Power Rating
What people have not realized is that the more powerful a computer become, the more power it needs. If you are building a high-end gaming computer, chances are you may need a 600-650W power supply.
Mean Time between Failure (MTBF)
It represents the average hours the power supply can perform before it fails. Most power supplies will have MTBF ratings of 100,000 hours or more.
Short Circuit Protection
When choosing a computer power supply, make sure that it is equipped with a short circuit protection feature. This is to prevent the computer parts from drawing excessive currents which might cause its internal chips to be burned.
Low Noise
When choosing a computer power supply, make sure that it comes with a big powerful 140mm fan or two 80mm fans to effectively dissipate the heat away.
Load Current (Maximum and Minimum values)
Each computer part requires different voltage and current to function. It is important that the power supply can support the various voltage levels and the current supplied.
Maximum load current – The maximum current that the computer part can accept for a particular voltage level
Minimum load current – The minimum current the computer part needs to be functional.
Form Factor
Most of the power supplies in the market are of the ATX form factor. However if you are using a micro ATX computer case, you have to get a micro ATX power supply, else it won’t be able to fit inside the case.
As a conclusion, when choosing a computer power supply, always get a power supply that has a higher power rating than what your system needs.
Computer Power Supply: How Much is Enough?
Executive summary about Computer Power Supply by Michael Quarles
The question “How much Computer Power Supply is enough?” has to be answered.
The first item to consider is your CPU. Some of today’s high end chips require 100 watts all by themselves.
The reason is all the other items drinking electricity from that same little well. Your motherboard will only require 15 to 30 watts, making it one of the more economical components. But a graphics card, of 128MB or more, will require another 100 watts. Add a hard drive, at 30 watts, and you’ve used up your capacity.
How much more will other parts need? RAM has to have 7 watts per 128MB. So, a 1GB module means you’ll need 56 watts. A CD/DVD re-writable drive takes an additional 30 watts. Those PCI cards are 5 watts each. Add 20 watts for a floppy drive, and extra case fans.
The total for all this comes out to around 380 watts! A 400 watt power supply barely covers it. In fact, you would be well advised to get a 450 watt or larger just to be safe.
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