Additional Information about the Power Supply

A Computer's Power Supply

Since the power supply on your computer can go out, and since getting the wrong power supply has the ability to severely damage the other parts in your computer, it is important to know a few things if you are replacing your power supply or building a new computer on your own.

The Power Rating

The typical power rating for a computer's power supply is between 300 and 500 watts. There are very few personal computers that need more than 500W of power to run. You should be aware, however, that there are power supplies that can go up to 1000W for gaming computers, or 2000W for servers or computers with multiple processors, hard drives, and graphics cards in them. Overestimating the amount of power that you need raises the cost of running your computer and wastes energy, so unless you have an extreme-performance computer, you can get by on 300 to 500W of power.

The Connectors

Not all power supplies are configured as described here, and as technologies change, the types of connectors that you will see on power supplies will change as well. Of greatest importance when replacing the power supply is to know whether your motherboard has a 20-pin or a 24-pin connector. This is important because, while you can plug a 24-pin power supply into a 20-pin motherboard, you cannot plug a 20-pin power supply into a 24-pin motherboard unless it has an extra 4-pin connector that allows it to work for all types of motherboards. When in doubt, go for a 24-pin power supply. You also need to make sure that your power supply has the right connectors for your other peripherals. Nowadays, computer peripherals can be powered through either Molex connectors(the 4-pin connectors) or serial ATA (SATA) connectors, but not all power supplies will have SATA connectors. Another thing to consider when changing out a power supply is whether to get a modular power supply. They are an extremely useful new model of power supply for peopl who build their own computers: each cable is detachable and you only plug in the ones that you need, which eliminates a lot of wire bulk and clutter from inside your computer.



Now that you know all about the power supply: