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power usage on power supply

E

eddie500

Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Messages
1,009
Just a stupid thing I was wondering about. If I have a 550 watt power supply but only use say 300 watts of it.. will it only produce 300watts of power? Or will it still produce the 550watts of power?

Reason I'm wondering is becuaes will I pay for the extra wattage I don't use on the power supply? IT says 550watts continuous on the power supply.
 
You get what you need. The continuous means that is what the PSU is rated for as aconstant not a short term spike (peak load).
 
Yes it only uses what it needs, but it will generally also reduce efficiency to put a low load on a higher wattage PSU. Example if you put 475 watt load on a 500 watt PSU it's efficiency is generally higher (thus less wasted AC power coming out in the form of heat) than if you put a 300 watt load on the same unit.
 
tdg said:
Yes it only uses what it needs, but it will generally also reduce efficiency to put a low load on a higher wattage PSU. Example if you put 475 watt load on a 500 watt PSU it's efficiency is generally higher (thus less wasted AC power coming out in the form of heat) than if you put a 300 watt load on the same unit.
Click to expand...
In the bad old days, yes,
but not so with the new ATX12VV2.xx specs requiring a min of 70% over a broad range of output loads. ;)
 
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