# A Detailed Look Into PSUs



## crmaris (Apr 2, 2011)

Show article


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 11, 2011)

Thank you!


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## Ra97oR (Apr 11, 2011)

Seriously a great read and very informative.


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## v12dock (Apr 11, 2011)

awesome article I look forward to reading it


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## Andrea87 (Apr 11, 2011)

Great reading. Thanks.


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## PHaS3 (Apr 11, 2011)

Awesome article... Very in depth and informative... Thank you


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## theJesus (Apr 11, 2011)

Very informative article.  Now I know some more things to look for in choosing the "perfect" power-supply (whenever I actually have enough money to buy more stuff to need a new PSU for lol)

BTW, I noticed some errors/typos on page 4:
-The APFC subheading has different opening/closing tags ([subheading][/heading]
-Second to last paragraph mentions PWM as "pulse mode modulation" but I think it's supposed to be "pulse width modulation"
-Last paragraph has one instance of "MOFETs" instead of "MOSFETs"


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## crmaris (Apr 11, 2011)

Thanks for pointing them. All fixed


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## Mussels (Apr 12, 2011)

great, this was badly needed


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## Roph (Apr 12, 2011)

Just finished reading, that was an excellent job


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## Mussels (Apr 12, 2011)

i'm still reading it, most of it goes over my head.


that said, its still an excellent reference source when i want to look up one part of a PSU. already found some interesting information in there

for example


> High efficiency power supplies use a relay that bypasses the thermistor after the PSU starts up, in order for the thermistor to cool down and operate normally in a hot switch restart (off/on) of the PSU. Also by bypassing the thermistor efficiency is improved a little bit since no energy is wasted by heating the resistor.



i've ran into some weird PSU's that only powered on from cold boots, but ran stable when they did. from your information i can assume that something was up with that thermistor bypass relay.


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## crmaris (Apr 12, 2011)

if you hear a clicking sound when the PSU starts then it's this relay. Almost all hi-end PSUs like Seasonic X series, Antec HCP etc. have one.


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## Mussels (Apr 12, 2011)

crmaris said:


> if you hear a clicking sound when the PSU starts then it's this relay. Almost all hi-end PSUs like Seasonic X series, Antec HCP etc. have one.



honestly never heard that before, but i havent listened for it either.


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## countcristo (Apr 12, 2011)

*this was awesome*

I feel more informed about modern power supply units than I did when my professor taught it.  Thank you.


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## Frick (May 24, 2011)

Thank you. Thank you again thank you. Super article, just what I needed. I understood this better than my swedish electronic books.


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## hhumas (Jun 30, 2011)

thanks for it................


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## LukcyYu (May 6, 2013)

*how2 hook a car-amp @home?*

Hello,

Really interesting article.

I have a question, what kind of PC PSU is the best for using with a car-audio amplifier @home? Well, I need ~70 amps in 12volts...

Thank you for your answers!


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## Mussels (May 7, 2013)

LukcyYu said:


> Hello,
> 
> Really interesting article.
> 
> ...



you just answered your own question. if you need 70A, buy one with 70A on the 12V rail.


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## newtekie1 (May 7, 2013)

LukcyYu said:


> Hello,
> 
> Really interesting article.
> 
> ...



I think a dedicated 12v supply would be a better option.

Mean Well probably makes something that will fit your needs.


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## ahantu (Nov 27, 2013)

Great article ..thanks for sharing....


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## (FIH) The Don (Nov 27, 2013)

imho you are one of the best psu reviewers out there, keep up the good work


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## LukcyYu (Dec 15, 2013)

Hello everybody,

Completely strange things happens to me last week. And all this is about my PSU...

Long time ago, in the deep Internets of 2007 I found and ordered the HIPER "HPU-4S435", new one, not used.

All these days we made a good team, playing such hits as Orange Box and Deep Space. Well, everything was pretty nice but last week: my PSU begun to "smoke"... It works fine, but it smells Horribly BURNED (!) I disassembled it and well, I am able to localize the source of the toxic smells, but I am unable to identify the element neither his function and the reason of his malfunction:




   

The PC config was all time the same without modifs or overclock, the PSU was bought new.

"I pay taxes and go to church, WHY is this happening to me?"

Please somebody clarify the situation...

{The config: Asus M2A-VM, Athlon 64 X2, 2GB DDRII800, ASUS Radeon X1950PRO 256MB and THE Subject's PSU}

Thanks for any help!


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## Mussels (Dec 15, 2013)

LukcyYu said:


> Hello everybody,
> 
> Completely strange things happens to me last week. And all this is about my PSU...
> 
> ...




hiper PSU's are well known as terrible quality, cheap units. you're lucky your PC wasn't completely destroyed.

Replace it with a better unit, don't waste your time trying to repair it.

thanks for the awesome pictures!


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## crmaris (Dec 16, 2013)

The APFC choke smoked and as much as I can figure from your shots some Y caps also may have been damaged. Don't trust it at all, just throw it away and buy a new one.


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## none77 (Feb 25, 2015)

thank you for the articale.
single rail psu must have ocp?
many of them don't have.


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## necessaryevil (Sep 4, 2019)

I want to know more about the PWR_OK circuit, I'm looking for a real world example. 
To me it seems that the ic's on page 9 of the review are only applicable for detecting fault conditions and not for the more strict 'in regulation' conditions.


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## er.turan (Aug 30, 2020)

Thank you


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