Can you guys help me understand power supplies better?

[Cerberus2k7]

I mean, I know what they do in terms of "They power the computer" But I see all this talk about volts and crap like that and I honestly have no idea what you guys are talking about. I'm sure i'm not the only one, so if you guys can just give me the PSU101 talk about what does what and why this matters, that would be great. :) Can you also give some examples in terms of the usage of computer components using up the power?

-=[C]=-

[Susquehannock]

Please don't take this the wrong way.

Your best bet would be to do a Dogpile or Google
search on "Electronics 101" or "Electronics basics" first.

You should also use the forum search tool.
Best to learn a little and come back with more specific questions
as your general inquiries would take several paragraphs to answer.

Best of luck 2 U. :)

[Tismedt]

Try this sticky thread by Larva

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=252752

Its full of information about PSU' in general and should answer most of your questions.

[ajrettke]

Well I can give ya a little info, but your very lacking in many areas regarding power it seems.

First, you need to understand what AC current is, and DC current.
Imagine a sine wave (or ocean wave if you do not know what a sine wave is), it goes up and then back down, then back up, etc. This goes with time to look like a wave. The level of the wave represents how much current is flowing, and in what direction (when it's above halfway it's positive, and below it's negative).

DC (direct current) is current is flowing in one direction.

Now your everyday home in the US uses 167 Volt AC 60hz current (you may have heard 120, which is the RMS value...I wont' cover that) which goes to 167 volts in one direction, then goes to 0, AND continues to -167volts, then it comes back up to 167 positive volts and continues. Most outlets in the US do this 60 times a second. Now in order for our computer components to function properly we need DC current (because of the way hardway today is designed...I won't get into that either).

So what does the power supply do? It converts AC into DC. It does this by "absorbing" positive AC current, and ignoring the negative AC current. This stored current is then used to power your components.

The power supply then supplies different voltage levels to different pieces of hardware. When you hook up components, you actualy DECREASE resistance because they are in parrallel with each other. (you can look up "series" and "parrallel" on google, it's pretty simple to understand) So we take the formula:
V = I * R
That is V (Volts) is always equal to, the I (current) * R (Resistance).
Ok, so with the equation above, if Volts stay the same, and R goes down, that means I needs to go up. So the powersupply sends more current, since the resistance has just gone down.

Now for power!
power is equal to the V * I. That is, take the voltage and multiply it by the current in a device. This is rated in terms of Watts. If you try to hook up too many devices, a power supply might not be able to "absorb" enough power from the AC to send out, or a cheap power supply might not be able to control the current it sends out when the resistance drops...and if I remains the same, and R goes down...that means V must go down, then problems occur.

That's a pretty basic idea of what a PSU does and a little about electricity. For more technical answers checkout howstuffworks.com, they probably talk about transforming AC to DC, and voltage regulation.

[Cerberus2k7]

Great! Thanks a lot! I also found a site that's helped me understand the volts on the plugs.(I know, i'm a n00b) I just knew, "Ok, these are for the fans :D" but didnt know the voltages on them. And now I do. :) I feel smarter already! :p (If the pic don't work, right click and go to "Show Picture" and it should work.)
http://www.freewebs.com/cerberus2k7/Connectors.jpg