- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
ok you guy know nothing about power supplys
watts=the max amount of watts the PSU can give out wile giving the components a consistent flow of electricity
(ill copy and paste this from the pure pwnage forums, thanks komet :P)
Step 3: Amps, amps, amps.
Why are amps important in selecting a PSU? Simple; if your PSU cannot provide enough amps to your components, your PC will not function correctly because its components are trying to draw more amps than the PSU can provide, regardless of how many watts the PSU has available. A lot of the components in a PC are powered off the +12 rail, so this is the most important area to notice when looking at the specifications of a PSU. When looking at a PSU with multiple +12 rails, simply add all the +12 amps together, because they all work together anyway. I'm obviously not an Electrical Engineer, but that's the layman's version. How many amps do you need? Again, that depends on what hardware you have selected. A single graphics card PC with 2-4 hard drives and 2 optical drives will be happy with 25amps on the +12 rail. When you start getting into SLI or Crossfire gaming machines, expect to shell out some cash on a stable PSU. For a mid-range dual graphics card setup (2x7600GT, 2x7900GS, 2x x1600xt, 2x x1900gt), you will want at least 500w with about 28-30a total on the +12 rail. For high end dual graphics card setups (2x7900GT, 2x7900GTX, 2x x1800xt, 2x x1900xt(x)), look for something in the 600-700w range with 40-60a on the +12. Yes that may be overkill, but it's better to be safe rather than sorry.
Single card: 425w with >= 28a on the +12 for a single 8800gts
Try this
@trekkie a PSU decreases the amount of electricity going into the computer, there is so little electricity going into a computer that a static shock can fry your computer (electrostatic shock)
[Edited on 04.08.2007 8:53 PM PDT]