Comprehensive New Guide to Understanding PSUs

btarunr · Apr 11, 2011

Power supply units (PSUs) are perhaps the least understood components when buying or building a PC. Very often, buyers don't look beyond the output power rating, and connectors provided. Slightly more discerning buyers look for efficiency rating, but that's about it. TechPowerUp's new PSU reviewer crmaris wrote an expansive article about the workings of a PSU, its various components, to give you a much more informed idea about what to look for when buying a PSU.

READ: A Detailed Look Into PSUs

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

makwy2 · Apr 11, 2011

Very interesting article. I wish there was an article that was as in-depth as this one that focused on what all the specs on PSU's mean and what is good/bad. THis article was excellent at outlining all the components within a PSU.

inferKNOX · Apr 11, 2011

I was reading on Hardware Secrets about how to judge a PSU well when I was researching on whether to buy a HX750, which I now intend to buy.
Will be sure to check this article out nicely too to ground myself better.

CDdude55 · Apr 11, 2011

I'm definitely going to give the article a read, i enjoy learning more on the subject.

OneCool · Apr 11, 2011

Good read

Cold Storm · Apr 11, 2011

Good read. I'm with makwy2.. Gotta get a part 2!

JrRacinFan · Apr 11, 2011

Can we get a little sticky with this? :eek:

T3RM1N4L D0GM4 · Apr 11, 2011

A w e s o m e

EarthDog · Apr 11, 2011

makwy2 said:
Very interesting article. I wish there was an article that was as in-depth as this one that focused on what all the specs on PSU's mean and what is good/bad. THis article was excellent at outlining all the components within a PSU.

+1... Good start to the article!

jasper1605 · Apr 11, 2011

JrRacinFan said:
Can we get a little sticky with this?

+1 to that suggestion.

Bjorn_Of_Iceland · Apr 15, 2011

wow, crmaris looks to be very knowledgeable on PSUs.. I wont forget to read his reviews everytime now.

Was just wondering.. why havent anyone made an all solid capacitor based PSU?

crmaris · Apr 15, 2011

Ceramic caps can show very high input oscillations which are greatly decreased by putting an electrolytic capacitor in parallel. Also electrolytic caps are cheap and if they are made by a good manufacturer (Nippon, Rubycon etc.) their reliability is very high.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	BlackDeath
Processor	AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE c3 3.5GHz OC
Motherboard	ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 790X ATX
Cooling	CM Hyper 212+ Noctua Fan
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaw 2x4gb, Kingston HyperX 2x4gb DDR3-1600
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon HD 5770
Storage	Seagate 7200.11 3x1.5TB RAID5 + Intel 520 180gb
Display(s)	Samsung 2494 - 24"
Case	CoolerMaster HAF 922
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Software	Windows OS
Benchmark Scores	Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse

System Name	inferKNIGHT
Processor	Intel Core i5-4590
Motherboard	MSI Z97i Gaming AC
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	2 x 4GB DDR3-1866 Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer (R/G)
Video Card(s)	ASUS GTX 970 STRIX 3.5GB (+0.5GB? o.O)
Storage	1 x 256GB Cricial M550, 1 x 2TB Samsung 7200.12
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster T260
Case	Corsair Obsidian 250D
Power Supply	Corsair RM750
Software	Windows 8.1.1 pro x64

System Name	CDdude's Rig!
Processor	AMD Athlon II X4 620
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
Cooling	Corsair H70
Memory	8GB Corsair Vengence @1600mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX HD 6970 2GB
Storage	OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD/WD Velociraptor 300GB
Display(s)	ASUS VH232H 23" 1920x1080
Case	Cooler Master CM690 (w/ side window)
Audio Device(s)	Onboard (It sounds fine)
Power Supply	Corsair 850TX
Software	Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP1

System Name	NEW
Processor	Intel 4770 non-K
Motherboard	Gigabyte H81M-DS2V
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 plus
Memory	16gb Muskin
Video Card(s)	XFX 380X 4gb
Storage	Sandisk 120gb plus WD blue 1tb
Display(s)	AOC 23.5 LED bl
Case	XIGMATEK
Audio Device(s)	motherboard
Power Supply	Cooler Master 500

Comprehensive New Guide to Understanding PSUs

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

makwy2

inferKNOX

CDdude55

Crazy 4 TPU!!!

OneCool

Cold Storm

Battosai

JrRacinFan

Served 5k and counting ...

T3RM1N4L D0GM4

EarthDog

jasper1605

Bjorn_Of_Iceland

crmaris

System Name	Haro
Processor	AMD 1700x
Motherboard	AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling	EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory	32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage	Too Many
Display(s)	Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case	Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply	Cooler Master V1000
Mouse	SteelSeries Rival 500
Software	Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55

System Name	Snow White
Processor	Ryzen 7900x3d
Motherboard	AsRock B650E Steel Legend
Cooling	Custom Water 1x420
Memory	32GB T-Force Deltas
Video Card(s)	PowerColor 7900 XTX Liquid Devil
Storage	20+ TB
Display(s)	Sammy 49" 5k Ultrawide
Case	Tt CTE 600 Snow Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA 1200W P2
Mouse	Corsair M65 RGB Elite White
Keyboard	Corsair K65 Mini
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	Avermedia Live HD2

System Name	NERV
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
Motherboard	ASROCK B450M Steel Legend
Cooling	Artic Freezer 33 One + 2x Akasa 140mm
Memory	2x8 Crucial Ballistix Sport 2993 MHz
Video Card(s)	KFA2 GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
Storage	Crucial Mx500 500GB + 1TB HDD
Display(s)	Samsung C34H892
Case	CM Masterbox Q300L
Audio Device(s)	ALC892 + Topping D30
Power Supply	Corsair RM650
Mouse	CM Mastermouse Lite S
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Win 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	No bech, only game!

System Name	Vegnagun
Processor	Ryzen 5950x
Motherboard	Asus B550 Gaming-E
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14
Memory	4x8 G. Skill 3800mhz CL14
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3
Storage	WD SN850 2tb
Display(s)	Viotek 1080p 120hz
Case	Fractal Design Define 7
Power Supply	Corsair AX850
Mouse	Logitech
Keyboard	Logitech 815 tactile
Software	Windows 10 Education
Benchmark Scores	top 1% in the world for weekly score in Killzone 2 :)

System Name	Thakk
Processor	i7 6700k @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte G1 Z170N ITX
Cooling	H55 AIO
Memory	32GB DDR4 3100 c16
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX3080 Trinity
Storage	Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD / Intel 250GB SSD / Samsung Pro 512 SSD / 3TB Seagate SV32
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34 100hz IPS Gsync / HTC Vive
Case	QBX
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1150 > Creative Gigaworks T40 > AKG Q701
Power Supply	Corsair SF600
Mouse	Logitech G900
Keyboard	Ducky Shine TKL MX Blue + Vortex PBT Doubleshots
Software	Windows 10 64bit
Benchmark Scores	http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12108888