On occasion it has been in a situation where you do not know what type of power source is determined using desktop PC and there is even confusion with the terms, energy, power, voltage, amperage, TDP (Thermal Design Power) current, potential difference, rails, 12V, 18A peak current, power factor, etc.
The aim of this paper is to classify all these concepts in a practical and simple for clear understanding.
Energy: Beyond the concept of Isaac Newton that "energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed" can be defined as: the ability to perform work.
Electric Power (P): The amount of work (W) per unit time by an electric current.
Electricity (I): The flow of electrons that move from place to place due to a potential difference or different voltage.
Voltage (V): A physical quantity which drives the electrons, inside a conductor, from one point to another. Now
How do these concepts with the power supply I need?
A unit of measurement known as Watt or Watt.
Watt: The unit of power and is equivalent to 1 July (jule) / second (1 J / s). Electricity is the power produced by a potential difference of 1 Volt and an electric current of 1 amp (1 VA).
are the famous Watts on the label describing the source of power: 350 Watts.
But is the same Watts Watts-Time?, Of course not.
Watts-Time is the unit of energy equivalent to one watt (1 W) of power expended in one hour (1 h) time.
We would be more clarity with the following example:
We've all gone shopping a focus for domestic use, for example, 100 Watts, but we use that focus for a certain number of hours per month at the end of this we got a utility bill showing how much was the total consumption of a house.
is, a 60-watt bulb consumes in 1 hour 0.06 kilowatt hours of electricity, used for 1000 hours consumes 60 kilowatt hours electricity.
If a 100 watt bulb is turned on for an hour a day for 30 days, the energy used is:
100 WX 30 * 1 hr = 3000 W * hr = 3 kW * h.
far were the basic concepts to understand what is power. Now let's see what is a source of power:
A power supply is the component that makes a system always have electricity. If you have an unreliable power supply, you can spend all day losing my mind to think why the system crashes? Or why your data is corrupted frequently?
is for this reason it is necessary to choose an appropriate power source with specific parameters for the system being designed or have.
The power supply converts alternating current to direct current plug low voltage for operating computer components. If that voltage fails, either too low or too high, the computer will not boot.
Basically there are 4 phases to perform the power supply to get to provide a controlled voltage and current needed.
Transform: Use a transformer (coil) that changes the magnitude of voltage of 102 Volts (plug) to 5 Volts and 12 Volts. Rectify
: As the voltage that gives us the CFE is alternate (varies from positive to negative) and varies in time, not always about the same magnitude. This variation would be fatal for the electrical components of our team, for this reason it requires a ground to ensure that these voltage values \u200b\u200bare always positive. In this phase gets to have a voltage of not less than OV values.
Filter: DC already have, however, does not work because there is constant and is fed into a circuit, for this reason, in filter is required to "flatten" the most signal and prevent its variations. And how is this done? With an electronic component called a capacitor. A capacitor retains the power to pass slowly and help smooth the signal.
Phase: Also known as "regular." Is to ensure that, despite large variations in input power of the CFE (either to raise or lower the voltage), one always has the same output voltage. For this purpose real regulators.
The label is on one side of the power supply, there is valuable information.
important thing to distinguish is that the power supply is 600W and 12V ATX \u200b\u200b2.2, 12v outputs (12V1, 12V2, 12V3 and 12V4) has a maximum current of 18A and 5V has a maximum current of 28A.
The regulation of these outputs is + / - 3%, which makes a very reliable source of power.
Remember, if you choose the right power supply can cause problems. If the source can not provide enough voltage and current for all devices, they may have flaws, that is, if it requires more to a power source can result in a burnt motherboard, processor, or burned video card burned.
Remember that each processor has a TDP (Thermal Desing Power). This concept represents the maximum amount of power a cooling system needs to dissipate or move within a team.
TDP is the set of electrical conditions, voltage, current and power that characterize an processor which must be taken into account to move the heat through a thermal solution (heatsink and fan).
The TDP is expressed in Watts, as is energy consumption, like the processor, all are components of a PC power consumption.
One recommendation when choosing a power supply is to the sum of all, absolutely all loads that will be taken, ie a summation of all components Watts.
Here are some numbers for each component. Do not forget that these numbers can vary, especially the number that has more input is the discrete video card.
1 .- An Intel Core 2 Duo E6500 (45nm) has a TDP of 65 W.
2 .- Mothearboard that supports this processor performs an approximate consumption of 50 W.
3 .- Each DIMM memory consumption is approximately 20 W.
4 .- Each hard drive, on average consumes 20 W.
5 .- The video cards have a variable consumption, depending on which one place and also relates to the quality of the card, this can consume more than 150 W.
6 .- If we make the summation of all components: 65 +50 +20 +20 +20 +150 = 325 Watts
7 .- In this case and to give a little more headroom and space, would use a power supply of 350 Watts.
8 .- Remember to take into account all the requirements peak current for each family of processors.
Finally I recommend entering the web sites of suppliers of power supplies, cabinets, etc. Because you can find on-line applications for specific calculations.
For example you can visit the site they can www.thermaltake.outervision.com be very interesting.
