A properly selected power supply is the key to long service life for your PC.
In this article, we will focus on the important details that you need to know before choosing a power supply for your computer.
Let's start with the main thing. A computer power supply is designed to supply all components of a personal computer with electricity. It not only converts the mains voltage to certain values, but also stabilizes and protects against small voltage noise. And if Power Supply equipped with a fan, it can also act as a cooler for the system unit. There are several types of power supplies:
1. Modular power supplies – differ from other, “non-modular” ones for the most part in that unnecessary wires can be easily disconnected without damaging the operation of the device.
2. Fanless power supplies – such blocks have passive cooling, so they are the quietest. But it is pointless to look for a power supply with a similar type of cooling for a gaming computer, because it requires good power and such a power supply will quickly overheat. The ideal environment for using such power supplies would be an office machine.
3. Power supplies specifically for video cards – works together with the main power supply, easing the load on the latter. It is advisable to use such power supplies for overclocking. However, in our area it is very difficult to find such a thing.
A very important indicator of a quality power supply is its efficiency. (efficiency)
Modern power supplies allow you to keep efficiency at more than 80 percent. This means that with its power of 400 W, the consumption from the outlet will be equal to 500 W. There are so-called no-name power supplies, that is, made by someone unknown. In this case, you should not count on 50% efficiency. That is why it is strictly not recommended to purchase power supplies in electronics markets, where they do not provide any certificates or guarantees.
And a little more about UPS. For those who wonder what kind of power supply their computer needs
As a rule, only two things are connected to the power supply, this is the system unit and monitor. It is possible to estimate the electricity consumption of a system unit by checking the power of the power supply installed in it. In fact, this is not a completely accurate option. It is worth summing up the power of all components of your system. And remember that the efficiency is 70 percent, so the resulting value must be divided by 0.7.
How much a monitor consumes can be found on the monitor itself; usually they consume about 40-55 watts. If the diagonal of the monitor is impressive, then the electricity consumption indicator can reach 100 watts or more.
The current consumption of a computer can be measured with an ammeter. It’s worth loading your personal computer to the maximum (let’s say running a very demanding game), and setting the maximum contrast and brightness on the monitor. All that remains is to measure the total current and multiply this value by 220. So we get the power of our own computer in VA.
For example. There is a professional system that consumes 350 W. Based on this, it, at a minimum, needs a 440 VA power supply. But don’t forget about the reserve, you never know, when we decide to buy more for the system, thereby increasing its gluttony. Therefore, the best option in this case would be a power supply with a power of 540 VA or more. You should not choose the most powerful power supply for yourself with the thoughts “this will certainly be enough for any occasion in life.” Beware of exorbitant energy bills. Select power supplies based on the current consumption of your computer, plus a small reserve for the future.
When choosing a power source, you should be responsible, because the performance of your personal computer will depend on what capabilities it has.
