Thread: Understanding power

The supplies you lie! Some models do not actually deliver power on the box and sometimes give up half of Watts! Explanations advice and selections are all issues addressed in this folder.

Power supplies are often reduced to the interpretation of their maximum power. Then we suggest a model based on the number of watts shown on the box. For example a 500W model would be sufficient for the vast majority of users when a model 800W should suit those with very demanding machines four processor cores and multiple graphics cards.

But the power of a power does not simply confine itself to its maximum power. Indeed food has several lines of tension. Each of these lines is for certain types of components:

It seems fairly clear that combined, 3.3V and 5V lines are only little importance on the consumption of a machine and must therefore focus on a diet providing plenty of power on the 12V. Just because some manufacturers are ingenious to offer feeds great power.

As a concrete example with diet Advance ATX-5012 a model first prize. It is advertised as capable of delivering up to 480W. By reading the label it appears that this value can be achieved for a short time and the maximum combined power is 380W.

Then, this same label tells us that the supply can deliver up to 210W on the 3.3V and 5V lines! The maximum power that can be given to the processor and graphics card should therefore not exceed 170W! It remains far from the advertised 480W.