Which Power Supply Is Best ????

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Each PCI connector is rated for 25 watts maximum, yet with 5 pci connectors you'd have 125 watts or 25A solely for pci slots. It doesn't make sense to design a power supply for that much wattage on 5v.

Nope.
For 5v it's 2 amps/slot = 10wats/slot.
That's no where near 125watts as you implied and it's not at all unrealistic.

The PSU's you brought up have 20a on 5v for 100 watts.
Lets see where it goes on a 5-slot board.
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5 x slots = 50 watts.
Maybe 10-20 watts for RAM depending on the system type.
3 x HDD assuming 1 amp/@ = 15 watts
1 x Burner = 10 watts
Total = 95 watts on +5v
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Nearly all mobo IC chips are 3.3v these days so that's rarely a 5v load.
It's also generally accepted to be around 35 watts. [Not sure how accurate that is.]

.
Some of Intel's TPS and Design Guides break down motherboard loads rail by rail.
If you read a few of them you can get a better idea of what goes where in so far as power.
A rare few also have schematics of mobo power distribution.
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[colormebad]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Yeah, I built street rods on the side for about 20 years.
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I don't think I'd put a drag motor in a school bus though.
.

Hey' a friend will have 2 drag motors in a school bus at an upcoming race at Memphis Motorsports Park soon..Does a wheelie all the way down the track...LoL Im about 50 mins from Memphis Tenn...

[mariushm]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

The PCI connector has two pins which determine the maximum power... I admit it's for 5v+3.3v+ -12v combined, I guess. Considering most PCI cards don't use 3.3v at all, it's not unexpected to have all load on 5v.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent...nnector_pinout

At least one of PRSNT1# and PRSNT2# must be grounded by the card. The combination chosen indicates the total power requirements of the card (25 W, 15 W, or 7.5 W).

Real world example: http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-444.shtml

The 4350 chipset does about 8 watts on 2d and about 18 watts in games, as shown here: http://www.behardware.com/articles/7...ics-cards.html
That's without adding the 0.5-2w consumption of the pci express to pci bridge chip.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

The PCI connector has two pins which determine the maximum power... I admit it's for 5v+3.3v+ -12v combined, I guess. Considering most PCI cards don't use 3.3v at all, it's not unexpected to have all load on 5v.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent...nnector_pinout

At least one of PRSNT1# and PRSNT2# must be grounded by the card. The combination chosen indicates the total power requirements of the card (25 W, 15 W, or 7.5 W).

Real world example: http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-444.shtml

The 4350 chipset does about 8 watts on 2d and about 18 watts in games, as shown here: http://www.behardware.com/articles/7...ics-cards.html
That's without adding the 0.5-2w consumption of the pci express to pci bridge chip.

The problem with that is card builders are -allowed- to use up to 2a on +5v.
... And card builders rarely tell you where their cards get power from.
.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

So, I'm a bit confused. I don't see how what a computer draws from the outlet makes any difference. When you use the Kill-a-watt, you're talking 270w @ line voltage. That's NOT the same as wattage @ lower voltage, if I understand correctly. So, 270w at the wall is not what your PC is drawing on the 12v rail (if we simplify it and constrain everything to one rail). Am I mistaken here?

Yes you are confused a little.

In AC - Efficiency Losses = Out DC

If the PSU is 80% Efficient and 270w at the wall. [In AC]
20% of 270w = 54w
So Out DC to the PC would be: 270w - 54w = 216w
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[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

For the system he posted, and because he said he's not a gamer (onboard video), i'd say get a solid 500-600W and it'll handle everything he could possibly upgrade on that system, except a high-end graphics card for gaming.

I don't know anything about the PSU that came with the kit (link), but if it's honestly rated, it's fine the way it is IMHO. (i.e.: overkill for the current sys, having lots of headroom for upgrades later on)

I have dual Xeon server boards w/OB video and 2x Gb-LAN that only call for a 500 watt as the minimum.
- The problem is getting those watts on the correct rails.

You take one of those and magically change the second CPU into more substantial video and the second LAN into sound and you pretty much have an entry level gaming system.

There really just aren't that many GP PCs that need more than 500 watts.
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[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Hey' a friend will have 2 drag motors in a school bus at an upcoming race at Memphis Motorsports Park soon..Does a wheelie all the way down the track...LoL Im about 50 mins from Memphis Tenn...

Does he drive it to work in the morning?
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[colormebad]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Only when hes running late....

[colormebad]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Here is a bad enough P-S to crank your lawn mower also...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1&sku=ULT40070

[ratdude747]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Here is a bad enough P-S to crank your lawn mower also...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1&sku=ULT40070

be careful... ultra's products are hit and miss... and by that, i mean at best you'll need a recap and at worst you have a underweight door stop.

my xfinity 600w was a good one, and it needed a recap and a slight 5vsb mod... my ultra V 550w was gutted (no OCP protection, poor parts/filtering, thin wire galore).

[dood]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Here is a bad enough P-S to crank your lawn mower also...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1&sku=ULT40070

Apparently its 1600w tag is a little... generous. Consider this note on that page:

"Note: This unit is not rated for power supplies in excess of 1 kW."

Uhhhh....

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

be careful... ultra's products are hit and miss... and by that, i mean at best you'll need a recap and at worst you have a underweight door stop.

my xfinity 600w was a good one, and it needed a recap and a slight 5vsb mod... my ultra V 550w was gutted (no OCP protection, poor parts/filtering, thin wire galore).

At this point I think it's clear OP doesn't care what it is as long as he spends more than the neighbors.
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Waste of our time.
I'm outta here.
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[colormebad]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

This is christmas ' have a little christmas humor

I just like looking at all these & reading up on them...I already installed the little 560 that came with the barebone kit....Merry Christmas ...

PS: Wouldnt the Modular units just cause more connection problems...I know i solder alot every day...Where everything is soldered it will be there for a long time when done right' just like a good welder...But with that many plugs' they have to get dirty & you will have alot of plugs to go through to find the problem.....

[ratdude747]

Re: Which Power Supply Is Best ????

Apparently its 1600w tag is a little... generous. Consider this note on that page:

"Note: This unit is not rated for power supplies in excess of 1 kW."

Uhhhh....

thats an Ultra for you...

they will probably be the first to market a 2000W psu.

note that i said market, not manufacture.

in fact, you could make it a 2000W just by printing a label and slapping it on... according to ultra, that worked for the above PSU!