[ajcc323]

Greetings TSF,

Forgive me if I'm asking a silly question. I just want this clarified.
When a power supply has 1000-watts of power, it means it can give
out a max of 1000-watts but not necessarily meaning it is running
at 1000-watts per usage, right? Simply, the capacity of wattage it
provides depends on how much power the rest of the hardwares
require to run.

 

[Markgg88]

Re: Question about power supplies.

Yes. The system will only use the amount of power it requires.
For example, you have a 1000W PSU but your system only requires 400W, then this is the amount it's going to use.

 

[Tyree]

Re: Question about power supplies.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html

 

[ajcc323]

Re: Question about power supplies.

Thank you.

 

[Tyree]

Re: Question about power supplies.

You're welcome.

 

[Stu_computer]

Re: Question about power supplies.

in addition to that article...

you have to pay close attention to how the manufacturer lists their wattage reference point.

some manufacturers' marketing departments tend to get 'creative' with this information and it seldom works in the buyers favour.

If its 1000Watt AC then their referring to the source side (the maximum incoming power thats used).
Since a psu itself always uses some power during conversion the wattage available to the load will obviously be less than that.

For example, an 80%ef would mean the maximum power available to a load would be 0.8(1000)=800watts and that means the other 200watts would be used by the psu itself or lost as generated heat.


If its stated as being the load side total wattage then refer to the plate on the psu to see how its actually distributed.
Typically it will have maximums for the +12V lines and a combined maximum for the 3.3V and 5V...its all these maximums that should be add up to get the maximum load wattage.

So for example, a 1000watt maximum load @80%ef would need to draw 1250Watts from the AC source.