| Upgrade your Power supply |
Are Power Supplies Watts Important?
Everyone keeps talking about watts. Why are high-end servers and workstations more reliable than standard
desktop machines. Some high-end workstations have 800W power supplies, even though the highly efficient
MIPS architecture CPUs consume only about 17W each, the same as an Windows XP notebook chip.
But this is the wrong way to pick out your power supply. You first need to decide which components will need
the required power demands. Then you can buy a power supply that meets your budget, but there’s one little
secret.
So what does this mean? When you shop for power supplies, you should always watch for the +12V lead. The
majority of low-cost power supplies you see at computer stores tend to have +12V rails with 10 or 12A. No
matter how many total watts the power supply may have, you’re setting yourself up for instability if you buy that
power supply.
Use the below three steps to calculate what your power needs are.
1) The quoted power consumption for components is on the high-end.
2) It’s rare to have every component drawing full power.
3) We prefer not to run our power supplies at the limit. It reduces the stress on the component and leaves room
to upgrade.
This approach gives piece of mind that your power supply is not going to be the source of any system instability
even when considering the power loss that occurs through conversion, and overzealous specifications. Only
you can decide which factors you want to take into account. Even then, it’s important to take this step since you’
ll find that there will be many power supplies with inadequate power even if you make no adjustments.
There are also some other lessons to be learned. Heat is the enemy of stability, and this is true. It’s true not
only for CPUs, but for hard drives and graphics cards as well. Cooling fans run on the +12V rail. If you add too
many fans, you could in fact be reduce the stability of your overall system unless you have the power supply to
back it up. Below are I have listed two excellent sources of quality power supplies.
Bottom line: Read the label the next time you pick out a power supply. That way you can shop and find the
power supply that's appropriate for you.
Thanks,
Ralph O. Walker Sr.
http://adjustservices.com/Protector/
Everyone keeps talking about watts. Why are high-end servers and workstations more reliable than standard
desktop machines. Some high-end workstations have 800W power supplies, even though the highly efficient
MIPS architecture CPUs consume only about 17W each, the same as an Windows XP notebook chip.
But this is the wrong way to pick out your power supply. You first need to decide which components will need
the required power demands. Then you can buy a power supply that meets your budget, but there’s one little
secret.
So what does this mean? When you shop for power supplies, you should always watch for the +12V lead. The
majority of low-cost power supplies you see at computer stores tend to have +12V rails with 10 or 12A. No
matter how many total watts the power supply may have, you’re setting yourself up for instability if you buy that
power supply.
Use the below three steps to calculate what your power needs are.
1) The quoted power consumption for components is on the high-end.
2) It’s rare to have every component drawing full power.
3) We prefer not to run our power supplies at the limit. It reduces the stress on the component and leaves room
to upgrade.
This approach gives piece of mind that your power supply is not going to be the source of any system instability
even when considering the power loss that occurs through conversion, and overzealous specifications. Only
you can decide which factors you want to take into account. Even then, it’s important to take this step since you’
ll find that there will be many power supplies with inadequate power even if you make no adjustments.
There are also some other lessons to be learned. Heat is the enemy of stability, and this is true. It’s true not
only for CPUs, but for hard drives and graphics cards as well. Cooling fans run on the +12V rail. If you add too
many fans, you could in fact be reduce the stability of your overall system unless you have the power supply to
back it up. Below are I have listed two excellent sources of quality power supplies.
Bottom line: Read the label the next time you pick out a power supply. That way you can shop and find the
power supply that's appropriate for you.
Thanks,
Ralph O. Walker Sr.
http://adjustservices.com/Protector/
