Paul
Fri May 23 11:19:34 PDT 2008
OR wrote:
> Hi there,
> How do I find out what are the specifications of my ATX power supply? There
> is nothing about that in the (MS-6330 ATX) manual. I am beginning to wonder
> if it is adequate enough for all my periferals.
>
> OR
>
The rating of the power supply itself, would be printed on a
label which is pasted to the side of the supply. In some cases,
the label is on the side of the supply you cannot see. But most
of the time, it should be visible as soon as you take the side
cover off your PC. The label will list total power allowed,
and also show the maximum current which can be drawn from
each DC output voltage.
It is up to the system integrator (the person who built your
PC), to see that an adequate power supply is provided for the
intended purpose of the PC.
To work out the power requirement, a complete inventory of
the hardware in the computer is required. I sometimes work
them out for people, if the inventory is complete.
There are web sites, which have power calculator tools,
but I don't particularly like them. The worst of those
power estimation sites, used to predict a size of power
supply which was twice as big as was really necessary.
Such exaggeration is unnecessary.
These are examples of tools I don't like. The second one,
does not give an estimate of the 12V current on 12V1 and 12V2,
which is essential to selecting a supply (so the outervision.com
"free" tool is useless).
http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalculator/PSCalculator.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
The best site for estimates, used to be the takaman.jp
site. They had a spread sheet style, so you could see
the power consumption contribution of each piece of hardware.
But that site closed several years ago, and there aren't
estimates for newer pieces of hardware on there.
Paul