Power Supply Question

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whtddusy516

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So i was reading a review on a chassis/case i recently bought...and they said that the psu sucks (i kno, most power supplys that come with case's usually arnt top notch) but then he went into the +12V being a 15.0A..now ive always known about these numbers but never knew WHAT it meant..anyone want to explain? lol
 
A=amperage, power(watts)=volts x amps(current)

The 12 volt rail(s) run the video card, CPU, drives, and fans. Often the video card specs say about the amps on the 12 volt rail you need. It's much better to look at the rail specs of a PSU because some PSUs will have most of the power on the 5 volt rail and be rated high power like 400-500 watts. For a basic system 18a on the 12 volt rail should do, but for a gaming system with a single high end video card you want about 30 amps. With dual video cards you need to spend some dollars!

[H]ard Fourm has some good stickies on PSUs
 
thanks...the case i bought comes with this cheap power supply that has a 12a on the +12v but its got like 24 and 35 on the 3.3v and 5v, should this be enough to run my current system (check my profile, its the first computer)?
 
That PSU sounds good for a P3 system. They use the 5v rail to power the CPU. You may be able to use that with a integrated video system, but it's scary.

I have a FSP-450 and it has worked well for me. It has two 18a 12v rails. It should be able to power a single video card system. Better yet would be this SunbeamTech 550w SLi PSU. A review of it is here.
 
is that one of those psu's that have the removable cables? that would be sweet lol...the one thing that frustrates me most in computers when im fixing one is the powersupply cables :mad:
 
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