A powerful power supply for a weak computer. Editor's column: why do you need a powerful power supply? How a Bitcoin block is created

A common misconception for most of us is that the system unit is protected from all sides, and therefore you should not worry about its safety. In fact, if we compare the device of a computer, then the screen is the eyes, and the "system engineer" is the brain. That is why you need to behave as correctly as possible with such a part of the structure, this is the only way the technique will last a long time.

Why it is impossible to put the system unit on the floor without a stand:

1. Large amount of dust... The greatest amount of dust accumulation is on the floor. It settles on the nearest details, tables and lays down as an imperceptible haze on the wallpaper. But in any case, dust mostly settles on the floor. The system unit contains fans that are responsible for stabilizing the temperature of blocks, motherboards and video cards. If you put it directly on the floor, then all the dust is still more will settle on the fan blades, which will further contribute to the fact that the fan stops and some structural element burns out.
2. Smooth surface... To ensure the stability of the system unit, you need to place it on a perfectly flat surface. Unfortunately, 80% of all floor coverings have certain irregularities, and therefore it is impossible to guarantee stability without supply.
3. Temperature drops... The system unit must not be exposed to constant temperature changes. If you put it on a windowsill or near a battery, then you cannot expect the equipment to last a long time. The floors are capable of different time year to accumulate heat, moisture, cold.
4. Mechanical damage... Any scratch on the block surface is potential threat corrosion formation, and therefore it is worth being more careful about where you place the processor. Do not place it near the aisle, in a place where there is a risk of damage or overturning. You should pay particular attention to children's rooms. It is best to place the computer near a wall, but not close to it, so that condensation does not form.

These are the main reasons why programmers do not recommend placing the computer unit directly on the floor without a stand. But there are other common mistakes a PC user makes - blows, mechanical damage, exposure to moisture, accumulation of moisture on systems. All this contributes to the fact that after a short time of use, the computer fails, it has to be repaired or replaced.

The microchips of the system unit are very susceptible to static, and therefore the location of equipment near sources of static will result in breakdown. Also, you cannot install the device on the cat's favorite resting place, and you must not allow her to sleep near the computer.

Where to put?

The first thing that comes to mind when placing a system unit is to buy a table with special stands. And if the table already exists and there is no desire to change it? What to do in this case? In this situation, there are special stands for the system unit, which are universal in their application, easy to operate and not expensive.

The main advantage of the stand is its maneuverability. The wooden base can be placed anywhere under the table, it will not interfere with work, and if necessary, you can easily change the location.

Stand for the computer system unit

A universal and only practical option for arranging a workplace with a table that does not have a stand or place to place a processor is Barsky's wooden stand. Outwardly, it is a simple H-shaped design. But, despite its simplicity, it will make life at your desk incredibly easier for you. Advantages of using a stand for the system unit:

• installed exactly relative to the surface;
• fixation of the system unit is provided due to the side borders;
• you can change the location of the processor: to the left or right side, forward or move back to the wall;
• dust accumulates under the wooden base of the bottom, and not on the processor itself;
• is transferred and does not require fastening to the base of the table, which does not contribute to the deformation of the main structure;
• lightweight natural wood without chemical impregnation will fit into any room interior.

The main task of such a stand is to ensure the stability of the block and protect it from the accumulation of moisture from the floor surface.

How to determine dimensions

System blocks differ not only in memory size, but also in external parameters: some are smaller, others are larger. How, then, to determine the required size of the stand? A special addition to the computer desk - Barsky's stand is universal. Its dimensions allow accommodating both large devices and non-standard system units: width-depth-height - 540x270x120 mm.

Next to the side part, it is possible to put a carrier or install a tee for connecting from the mains. This helps to organize properly workplace at home or in the office.

Barsky offers

Barsky's black and white stand for a computer system unit is a combination of style, simplicity and harmony. It can be installed in any convenient place, which is important for left-handed people (often you need to adapt to the design of furniture designed for right-handers). A sturdy wooden stand with ideal shapes will help you organize your workplace as conveniently and correctly as possible, and black and white colors will suit any color scheme of the table.

I was prompted to write this article by constant questions to the materials of the "" column, which quite often begin with the word " why». Why is a power supply recommended in such and such an assemblyN watt? Why do you offer such expensive solutions, because you can significantly save money? Why is a one kilowatt power supply recommended for an extreme build? This is just a small list of questions that I remembered immediately when I started writing this article. Indeed, users who do not yet have the proper experience in assembling and completing system units want to know the exact and obvious criteria for choosing a “breadwinner” for all PCs. In addition, the choice of power supplies on our market is very, very wide. So, on the website of the "Regard" store at the time of this writing, there were 676 models of computer power supplies - fewer central processors are sold. Therefore, it is necessary to help beginners understand this issue.

It is important to note that in this article I will not recommend any specific power supply models. For these purposes, on our website periodically. This material will consider the features of modern PSU models, as well as the criteria and formats of modern PC platforms that allow you to assemble a full-fledged gaming system.

⇡ How did the power consumption of gaming components change?

Before starting to analyze the main and secondary parameters of any computer power supply, in my opinion, you need to figure out which PC components affect the level of power consumption. More precisely, it is clear that the Stakhanovists in this matter are CPU and a discrete graphics card, but how much does this hardware affect power consumption?

Let's keep it simple. The graphs below show the parameters of all processors and video cards that the 3DNews laboratory has tested over the past five years and which, according to the author of this material, can at least conditionally be classified as game solutions (taking into account the relevance in a certain period of time, of course). In this case, we are talking about such a parameter as TDP - the calculated thermal power. The fact is that many people associate this value with energy consumption.

Intel believes that Thermal Design Power (TDP) is a parameter that “ Indicates the average performance in watts when the processor power is dissipated (at base clock, when all cores are engaged) under complex load conditions definedIntel". We see that the TDP level of modern - and not very modern - central processing units varies over a fairly wide range. The statistics I have collected speak of chips with a design power of 35 and up to 250 watts, respectively. If we consider the most popular devices in their years, we will see that mainly chips with a TDP in the range from 65 to 105 W are installed in gaming computers.

And here we immediately see a certain catch. Undoubtedly, the central processing unit and video card are the main consumers of energy in any computer system. At first glance, it may seem that choosing a power supply unit of the required power is very simple: we add TDP processor with the TDP of the graphics accelerator, plus we take into account that any system unit contains other components (drives, motherboard and hardware with fans). Only now, using the definition of Intel, we see that the calculated thermal power is the average value of the performance in watts when the CPU is running at the base frequency. Quite often, you can find work scenarios when the central processor for a desktop PC goes beyond the level specified by the manufacturer. In general, TDP is not a measure of the actual power consumption of a particular component.

Let me give you a simple example. Above is a screenshot that clearly demonstrates how the central processor works under load in the form of the Prime95 program. According to technical specifications, the base frequency of this 6-core chip is 2.8GHz and the design power is 65W. Only in a program using AVX instructions, all cores work at 3.8 GHz - this is how the technology works Turbo Boost... Our measurements showed that the processor consumes more than 95W, which is clearly outside the limits specified by Intel in the specification. It turns out that in many motherboards the MultiCore Enhancements function, which is responsible for the operation of the CPU within the TDP, is enabled by default - therefore, the restrictions on the maximum power consumption have been removed.

We also recently learned that at the same TDP level - 65 W - it works in a similar way. , the chip frequency ranges from 4.1 to 4.4 GHz with a base value of 3.6 GHz. Naturally, 65 W is out of the question: under a serious load, the processor sets a completely different bar for power consumption - 100+ W. Again, we are talking about the system's operation in default mode, without manual overclocking or raising the voltage, that is, the manufacturer deliberately makes it so that the real power consumption significantly exceeds the declared TDP level. As you can see, both chipmakers have been acting the same lately.

A similar situation is observed among video cards. Here is the most productive gaming model to date, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti with a declared TDP of 260 W at maximum load.

This is the catch. You can't just take and add up the calculated power of the main components of the system.... So, the sum of TDP Core i9-9900K and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is 345 watts. Other components of the system will "eat up" a little more. However, looking ahead, I will say that I managed to load the system so that it consumed more than 450 watts.

And don't forget about overclocking. You can judge about its benefits in terms of, for example, getting additional FPS in games by our reviews - 3DNews does not miss interesting and popular models of central processors and video cards. But how the power consumption of the system changes after overclocking, you will find out in the second part of the article.

Under the phrase "other system components", of course, we mean such hardware as a motherboard, RAM, other discrete devices (in addition to a video card), as well as components of cooling systems (cooler and case fans, an LSS pump, and so on). Only practice shows that all the listed components do not consume very much - against the background of the same processors and video cards.

* The graph above shows the level of power consumption of the entire system (description - below), not just RAM

Let's take a look at RAM. Unfortunately, I do not know of such a method, which will quite accurately measure the power consumption of separate RAM modules. Therefore, I took two Samsung M378A1G43EB-CRC modules with a total volume of 16 GB and installed them in a system with a Ryzen 5 1600 processor and motherboard... We know that this kit can quietly overclock to 3200 MHz with the same latency, but a slight increase in voltage. For the load, I used the Prime95 29.8 program with the Large FFT test enabled, which loads the RAM to the maximum. Well, the difference between DDR4-2400 and DDR4-3200 is only 14W when comparing power consumption peaks.

It makes little sense to measure the energy consumption of storage devices, because it is extremely small against the background of the same processors and video cards. For example, a review came out on our site hard drives volume of 14-16 TB - that these monsters in read mode do not consume more than 9.5 watts, and in fact such drives have 7-9 platters. It turns out that only a bundle of several HDD / SSD can seriously affect the power consumption of a PC, and even then it must be borne in mind that storage devices must work simultaneously, and this is not very typical for desktops. Usually, when it comes to a home PC, the system uses 1-2 SSDs and the same number of mechanical drives.

The situation with power consumption is approximately the same for fans - parameters such as current strength, voltage and power are often indicated on their cases. Standard impellers suitable for desktop use rarely draw more than 5 watts. Usually, the system uses 3-4 case fans and one or two "Carlsons", which come with the processor cooling. It turns out that even the installation of six impellers will increase the power consumption of the system unit by only 20-25 watts.

As a matter of fact, we come to where we started. The main power consumption in any system unit falls on the central processor and video card. We have already found out that you cannot trust the passport characteristics of the CPU and GPU, and choosing a block by the sum of TDP components is not a good idea. How to understand which block is needed - we will tell you in the second part.

All of the above allows us to draw another conclusion: we see that energy consumption computer technology from year to year does not change much and is within certain limits. That is, the power supply purchased now will last a long time and will surely come in handy during assembly. next system or maybe two. In this vein, buying a known good PSU looks like a very rational idea.

⇡ About cable management of the system unit

Continuing the topic of choosing a power supply unit of a certain power, it is imperative to talk about cable management in modern PCs. The fact is that one thing works here important rule: the more the power supply unit has, the more cables it has. If we talk about gaming systems, then in modern realities, at least two wires may be required from the power source, which will be connected to the motherboard. On average, four to five cables are used. But power supplies often have a lot more of them.

Let's start with video cards, because in most gaming PCs, they are the ones that require the most electricity. As you know, the slot PCI Express x16 motherboard capable of transmitting up to 75 W of electricity to a discrete device (in fact, a little more, but the standard describes just such a value). For example, such a power supply is sufficient for most video cards of the GeForce GTX 1650 level, which can be safely classified as gaming. But on more powerful video cards, you can often find 6- and 8-pin power connectors. In the first case, up to 75 W of energy is transmitted, in the second - up to 150 W.

Mid-range video cards (with a TDP of no more than 200 W), as a rule, are equipped with one 6- or 8-pin connector. More powerful video cards usually have a pair of connectors.

Continuing the topic of cable management, we can say with confidence that in some cases other power supply cables may not be needed at all. For example, if you are using M.2 form factor drives in your system and do not install various peripherals (for example, optical drive). In this case, you only need to power the motherboard and video card from the PSU. NVMe SSDs that are installed on a board and do not require additional connectors have long been recommended in most Computer of the Month builds.

However, any power supply will support a minimum of four SATA devices. And also the set includes MOLEX wires, which are now used in few places. In cheap cases, they can supply power, for example, to fans. In principle, through adapters from MOLEX, you can also power video cards (but I strongly advise against doing this in the case of expensive 3D accelerators!).

In especially neglected cases, when it is necessary to connect a large number of wires, it is better to take a partially or completely modular power supply unit. This approach will make life much easier when assembling the system. It's funny, but if only three or four wires are required from the power supply, then in this case it is also better to use a device with modular cable management - so that the extra "tail" does not stick out and does not interfere.

And yet, aesthetically speaking, assembling a system with a non-modular power supply is not a tragedy. Extra wires easy to hide under the hard drive cage. And even now, even the most inexpensive cases are equipped with a curtain (metal or plastic) on the bottom. It hides both the power supply itself and a bunch of unused cords.

A fully modular power supply will be needed if you want to not only assemble a neat PC, but do it beautifully - using a braid, for example. The same Corsair sells sets of braided wires, or you can make the braid yourself.

A small announcement: I will tell (and show) in more detail about cable management in another article, which will soon be published on our website.

Cable length is another important performance parameter for any power supply. Of course, a lot depends on the computer case as well. But for most Midi-Tower models ranging in height from 400 to 500 mm with a bottom-mounted PSU, it is enough for a 4/8-pin CPU power cable to be 500-550 mm long. For Full / Ultra Tower with a height of 600-800 mm - you need at least 600 mm. It turns out to be a fairly simple rule: The length of the EPS cord should be equal to the height of the case, if we are talking about the lower location of the PSU... Then no surprises will happen during assembly. The length of the other power supply cables in the case of tower cases is of little interest to us. In some models, the length of the cord with a 24-pin port reaches 700 mm - in which case it is even more problematic to properly tuck it behind the case chassis.

An attentive reader must have noticed that I did not in any way touch on the form factor of the power supply units themselves - they are different, sometimes computer case... But this article is tied to the "Computer of the Month" heading, and it recommends assemblies in classic tower cases. I promise that I will devote a separate detailed article to the assembly of compact gaming PCs.

However, make sure your PSU fits into the case before purchasing. For example, the previously listed Corsair PSU models will fit 99% of Midi-Tower cases. But for some Corsair AX1200i with a length of 225 mm (and the connected wires will also take 50-100 mm), you will have to look for a more spacious computer "dwelling".

⇡ How much does a new power supply cost?

I will be brief in this section. Quite often, in the comments to "Computer of the Month" or to any other article related to power supplies, one has to observe a message in the style of " Why is there such a power supply unit? There is also enough model forN W". On the one hand, such commentators are sometimes right. On the other hand, the table below clearly shows that the lower power supply unit does not always cost significantly less than the model with a large number declared watts. This rule is especially true for models with a power of 400-600 W.

We see that more powerful devices of a similar class (for example, those with the 80 PLUS Bronze certification), if they cost more, then quite a bit. Comparing the average prices, we see that the difference between 400-450 W and 500-550 W power supplies is a little more than 600 rubles. In this situation, it is definitely worth paying this amount, but getting a more powerful device in return. The difference in price between 600-650 and 700-750 W units turns out to be even less.

And such comparisons, looking at the table, you can make a fairly large number. And therefore another question arises: if there is an opportunity for the same or a slightly larger amount to take a power supply unit of higher power, then why not use it? The question, however, is rhetorical.

To collect statistics, I went to the Regard store website, chose six popular manufacturers and calculated the average cost of power supplies of a certain power and a certain 80 PLUS standard.

⇡ Methodology and stand

In today's testing, a large amount of computer hardware was used to show how much power real-life gaming systems consume. In this regard, I relied on assemblies of the "Computer of the month" section. A complete list of all components is shown in the table below.

Test benches were loaded with the following software:

• Prime95 29.8- Small FFT test, which maximizes the load on the central processor. This is a very resource-intensive application, in most cases, programs that use all cores are not able to load the chips more.
• AdobePremierPro 2019- rendering of 4K video by means of the central processor. An example of resource-intensive software that uses all processor cores, as well as available reserves random access memory and storage.
• "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt"- testing was carried out in full screen mode in 4K resolution using maximum graphics quality settings. This game puts a heavy load on not only the video card (even two RTX 2080 Ti in the SLI array are 95% loaded), but also the central processor. As a result, the system unit is loaded more heavily than, for example, using FurMark synthetics.
• "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" +Prime95 29.8(Small FFT test) - a test for the maximum power consumption of the system when both the CPU and GPU are loaded at 100%. And yet, it should not be ruled out that there are more resource-intensive bundles.

Energy consumption was measured using a watts up? PRO - despite such a comical name, the device can be connected to a computer, and using special software, it allows you to monitor its various parameters. So, the graphs below will show the average and maximum power consumption levels of the entire system.

The period of each power measurement was 10 minutes.

⇡ What power is needed for a modern gaming PC

I will note again: this article is to a certain extent tied to the "Computer of the Month" section. Therefore, if you have dropped by to see us for the first time, then I recommend that you familiarize yourself with at least. In each "Computer of the Month" six assemblies are considered - mostly game ones. I used similar systems for this article. Let's get acquainted:

• A bundle of Ryzen 5 1600 + Radeon RX 570 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of the starting assembly (35,000-37,000 rubles for a system unit, excluding the cost of software).
• A bundle of Ryzen 5 2600X + GeForce GTX 1660 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of the basic assembly (50,000-55,000 rubles).
• A bundle of Core i5-9500F + GeForce RTX 2060 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of the optimal assembly (70,000-75,000 rubles).
• A bundle of Core i5-9600K + GeForce RTX 2060 + 16 GB of RAM is another option for the optimal assembly.
• A bundle of Ryzen 7 2700X + GeForce RTX 2070 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of an advanced assembly (100,000 rubles).
• A bundle of Ryzen 7 2700X + Radeon VII + 32 GB of RAM is an analogue of the maximum assembly (130,000-140,000 rubles).
• A bundle of Core i7-9700K + Radeon VII + 32 GB of RAM is another option for the maximum build.
• A bundle of Core i9-9900K + GeForce RTX 2080 Ti + 32 GB of RAM is an analogue of an extreme assembly (220,000-235,000 rubles).

Unfortunately, I could not get the Ryzen 3000 processors at the time of all the tests, but the results obtained from this will not become less useful. The same Ryzen 9 3900X, consumes less Core i9-9900K - it turns out that in the framework of an extreme assembly, it will be even more interesting and important to study the power consumption of an 8-core Intel.

And also, as you may have noticed, the article uses only mainstream platforms, namely AMD AM4 and Intel LGA1151-v2. I did not use HEDT systems like TR4 and LGA2066. First, we have long since abandoned them in Computer of the Month. Secondly, with the appearance in the mass segment of the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X and in anticipation of the imminent release of the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, such systems have become painfully highly specialized. Thirdly, because the Core i9-9900K still gives everyone a light in terms of energy consumption, once again proving that the calculated thermal power declared by the manufacturer says little to the consumer.

Now let's move on to the test results.

To be honest, the test results in programs such as Prime95 and Adobe Premier Pro 2019, I cite more for your information - for those who do not play and do not use discrete graphics cards. You can safely focus on this data. Basically, here we are interested in behavior test systems in loads close to maximum.

And here are very interesting things. In general, we see that all considered systems do not consume very much energy. The most gluttonous, which is quite logical, was the system with Core i9-9900K and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, but even it in stock (read - without overclocking) consumes 338 W when it comes to games, and 468 W at maximum PC load. It turns out that such a system will have enough power supply for an honest 500 watts. It is so?

⇡ It's not just about watts

It would seem that this is the end of the article: recommend everyone a power supply with a capacity of 500 honest watts - and live in peace. However, let's do some additional experimentation to get a complete picture of what's going on with your PC.

In the screenshot above, we see that the power supplies work as efficiently as possible at 50% load, that is, half of the declared power. It may seem to someone that the difference between a device with a basic 80 PLUS certification with an efficiency at the peak of about 85% in a 230 V network and, say, a "platinum" PSU with an efficiency of about 94% is not so great, but this is a delusion. my colleague Dmitry Vasiliev points out quite accurately: “A source of energy with an efficiency of 85% uselessly spends 15% of its power on heating the ambient air, while only 6% of the power is converted into heat by the“ breadwinner ”with an efficiency of 94%. It turns out that the difference is not “ some there"10%, but x2.5". Obviously, in such conditions, a more efficient power supply unit runs quieter (it makes no sense for the manufacturer to adjust the fan of the device to the maximum speed), and it heats up less.

And here is the proof of the above words.

The graphs above show the efficiency of some power supplies participating in the tests, as well as the rotational speed of their fans at different degrees of load. Unfortunately, the equipment used does not allow us to accurately measure the noise level, but by the number of revolutions per minute of the built-in fans, we can judge how noisy the power supply will be. It should be noted here that this does not mean at all that under load the power supply unit will stand out “from the crowd”. Still, usually the noisiest components of a gaming computer are the CPU cooler and graphics card.

Practice, as you can see, converges with theory. The power supplies do operate at their maximum efficiency at about 50 percent load. Moreover, in this regard, I would like to note the Corsair AX1000 model - this power supply reaches its peak efficiency with a power of 300 W, and then its efficiency does not fall below 92%. But other Corsair blocks on the charts have the expected "hump".

At the same time, the Corsair AX1000 can operate in a semi-passive mode. Only at a load of 400 W does its fan start spinning at a frequency of ~ 750 rpm. The RM850x has the same characteristic, but in it the impeller starts to rotate at a power of ~ 200 W.

Now let's take a look at the temperatures. To do this, I disassembled all the power supplies. The fans from the top cover were removed and installed on a homemade tripod so that the distance between it and the rest of the PSU was about 10 cm. I'm sure the device did not work worse in terms of cooling, but this design allowed me to take pictures with a thermal imager. In the graph above, "Temperature 1" refers to the maximum temperature of the power supply inside when the fan is running. "Temperature 2" is the maximum heating of the PSU ... without additional cooling. Please do not repeat such experiments at home on your equipment! However, such a bold move allows you to clearly show how the power supply heats up and how its temperature depends on the rated power, build quality and the used component base.

Heating the CX450 to 117 degrees Celsius is quite a logical phenomenon, because this power supply operates at a load of 400 W at almost maximum, and even does not cool down in any way. The fact that the power supply has passed this test at all is an excellent sign. Here is a high-quality budget model.

Comparing the results of other power supplies, one can come to the conclusion that they seem quite logical: yes, the Corsair CX450 model heats the most, and the RM850x least of all. At the same time, the difference in the maximum heating rates is 42 degrees Celsius.

It is important here to define the concept of “honest power”. Here is a Corsair CX450 model on a 12-volt line can transfer 449 watts of power. It is this parameter that must be looked at when choosing a device, because there are models that do not work as efficiently. In cheaper units of similar power, noticeably fewer watts can be transmitted over a 12-volt line. It comes to the point that the manufacturer claims support for 450 watts, but in fact it is only about 320-360 watts. So let's write it down: when choosing a power supply, you need to look, among other things, at how many watts the device produces over a 12-volt line.

Let's compare the Corsair TX650M and CX650, which have the same power rating but are certified to different 80PLUS gold and bronze standards respectively. I think the images of the thermal imager attached above speak more eloquently than any words. Really, support for a specific standard 80PLUS indirectly speaks about the quality of the element base of the power supply... The higher the certificate class, the better block nutrition.

It is important to note here that the Corsair TX650M transmits up to 612 watts over the 12-volt line, and the CX650 up to 648 watts.

Above in the pictures you can compare the heating of the RM850x and AX1000 models, but already at a load of 600 watts. Here, too, there is an obvious difference in temperatures. Overall, we can see that Corsair PSUs do a good job of handling the load they put on them - and even in stressful situations. At the same time, I think it is now clear why the above graph did not show the temperature of the AX1000 - it does not get too hot, even if you remove the cover with the fan from it.

Considering the results obtained, you can see that it is completely unreasonable to use a power supply in the system with a power twice the maximum power of the PC itself. In this operating mode, the power supply unit heats up less and makes noise - these are facts that we have just proved once again. It turns out that a PSU with an honest power of 450 W is suitable for a starting assembly, for a basic one - 500 W, for an optimal one - 500 W, for an advanced one - 600 W, for a maximum one - 800 W, and for an extreme one - 1000 W. Plus, in the first part of the article, we found out that it is not so a big difference in the price between power supplies, the declared power of which differs by 100-200 watts.

However, let's not rush to final conclusions.

⇡ A few words about the upgrade

The assemblies in "Computer of the Month" are designed not only to work in the default mode. In each issue, I talk about the overclocking capabilities of some components (or the pointlessness of overclocking in the case of some processors, memory and video cards), as well as the possibilities of the subsequent upgrade. There is an axiom: the cheaper the system unit, the more compromises it has... Compromises that will allow you to use a PC here and now, but the desire to get something more productive, quiet, efficient, beautiful or comfortable (necessary - emphasize) will not leave you anyway. Captain Evidence suggests that in such situations, a power supply unit with a good margin of watts is very useful.

Let me give you an illustrative example of an upgrade of a starter assembly.

I took the AM4 platform. 6-core Ryzen 5 1600, Radeon RX 570 and 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM were recommended. Even with a stock cooler (a cooling system that comes with the CPU), our chip can be easily overclocked to 3.8 GHz. Let's say I took a radical step and changed the CO for a much more efficient model, which allowed me to raise the frequency from 3.3 to 4.0 GHz while loading all six cores. To do this, I needed to raise the voltage to 1.39 V, and also set the fourth Load-Line Calibration level of the motherboard. This overclocking essentially turned my Ryzen 5 1600 into a Ryzen 5 2600X.

Let's say I bought Radeon graphics RX Vega 64 - on the Computeruniverse website a month ago it could be taken for 17,000 rubles (excluding delivery), and even cheaper from hands. And in the comments to "Computer of the Month" they talk so sweetly about used GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, sold for 25-30 thousand rubles ...

Finally, instead of the Ryzen 5 1600, you can take the Ryzen 2700X, which has dropped significantly in price after the release of the third-generation AMD family of chips. There is no particular need to disperse it. As a result, we see that in both cases of the upgrade I proposed, the power consumption of the system has more than doubled!

This is just an example, and the characters in the described situation may be completely different. However, this example, in my opinion, clearly shows that even in the starting assembly, a power supply with an honest power of 500 W, and even better 600 W, does not interfere at all.

⇡ "Gaming PCs do not need 1 kW units" - commentators under the articles on the site

Comments like this are often seen when it comes to gaming PCs. In the vast majority of cases - and we found it out in practice - this is how it is. However, in 2019 there is a system that is able to impress with its power consumption.

We are talking, of course, about an extreme assembly in its, so to speak, maximum combat form. Not so long ago, an article "" was published on our site - in it we talked in detail about the performance of a pair of the fastest GeForce video cards in 4K and 8K resolutions. The system is fast, but the components are selected in such a way that it is very easy to make it even faster. In addition, it turned out that overclocking the Core i9-9900K to 5.2 GHz turns out to be completely useful in the case of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti SLI array and Ultra HD games. Only at its peak, as we can see, such an overclocked configuration consumes more than 800 watts. Therefore, for such a system in such conditions, a kilowatt power supply will definitely not be superfluous.

⇡ Conclusions

If you have carefully read the article, then you have identified for yourself several main points that you need to keep in mind when choosing a power supply. Let's list them all again:

• unfortunately, it is impossible to rely on the TDP indicators declared by the manufacturer of the video card or processor;
• the power consumption of computer equipment does not change much from year to year and is within certain limits - therefore, a high-quality power supply unit purchased now will last a long time and will serve faithfully and will definitely come in handy during the assembly of the next system;
• the needs for cable management of the system unit also affect the choice of a power supply unit of a certain power;
• not all power connectors on the motherboard need to be used;
• the power supply unit of lower power is not always more profitable (in terms of price) than a more powerful model;
• when choosing a power supply, one must look, among other things, at how many watts the device produces over a 12-volt line;
• support for a certain standard 80 PLUS indirectly speaks of the quality of the element base of the power supply;
• it is completely unjustifiable to use a power supply whose honest power is twice (or even more) the maximum power consumption of the computer.

Quite often you can hear the phrase: “ More is not less". This very laconic aphorism perfectly describes the situation when choosing a power supply. Take a model with a good power reserve for your new PC - it will definitely not be worse, but in most cases it will only be better. Even for an inexpensive gaming system unit, which consumes about 220-250 W at maximum load, it still makes sense to take good model with honest 600-650 watts. Because a block like this:

• will work quieter, and in the case of some models - absolutely silent;
• it will be colder;
• will be more efficient;
• will allow you to easily overclock the system, increasing the performance of the central processor, video card and RAM;
• will allow you to easily upgrade the main components of the system;
• will survive several upgrades, and also (if the power supply is really good) will settle in the second or third system unit;
• will also allow you to save money during the subsequent assembly of the system unit.

I think very few readers will refuse a good power supply. It is clear that it is not always possible to immediately buy a high-quality device with a large reserve for the future. Sometimes when buying a new system unit and a limited budget, you want to take a more powerful processor, and faster video cards, and a higher-capacity SSD - all this is understandable. But if the opportunity to buy good block there is plenty of food - you don't need to save on it.

We express our gratitude to the companiesASUS andCorsair, as well as the computer store "Regard" for the equipment provided for testing.

The measurements of the power consumption of the systems turned out to be quite expected. The simplest system without a discrete video card could, perhaps, do without any compatible power supply at all. We can also see that the now fairly old AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor makes a decent difference in power consumption when compared to the less demanding Intel Core i7-3770K. However, technically, all four systems would be able to function properly even on a 450W power supply (of adequate quality with honest watts).

So who needs 1000W power supplies then? Obviously, they can also be used in real life, for example, in the presence of a fancy gaming system worth about one hundred thousand rubles with three video cards. Some storage enthusiasts have a weakness to install about twenty hard drives with a bunch of additional controllers, but for most ordinary, even powerful systems, an honest (read: high-quality) 550 W power supply will be enough. Office computer without discrete video (or with devices entry level) will probably be able to get by with one of the lowest-power devices.

Conclusion

The results we got speak for themselves. Even powerful gaming computer with overclocked components does not consume more than 360 W. That is, it is obvious that you will not need a kilowatt power supply until you decide to build a 3-Way SLI configuration. Of course, you shouldn't be fooled by the results. They do not mean at all that you can use a 400 W PSU for such an assembly from cases with a total cost of 900 rubles. But in the end, there is no reason to take a really high-quality 750-1000 W power supply, you can get by with a cheaper and rather reliable model that will work on your computer - and still with a large margin.

The power supply is an essential component of any personal computer, which determines the reliability and stability of your assembly. There is a fairly large selection of products from various manufacturers on the market. Each of them has two or three lines and more, which include a dozen more models, which seriously confuses buyers. Many do not pay due attention to this issue, which is why they often overpay for excess capacity and unnecessary "bells and whistles". In this article, we will figure out which power supply is best for your PC?

A power supply unit (hereinafter referred to as PSU) is a device that converts high voltage 220 V from an outlet into values ​​digestible for a computer and is equipped with the necessary set of connectors for connecting components. It seems to be nothing complicated, but after opening the catalog, the buyer is faced with a huge number of different models with a bunch of often incomprehensible characteristics. Before talking about choice specific models, we will analyze which characteristics are key and what should be paid attention to first of all.

Main parameters.

1. Form factor... In order for the power supply to fit corny into your case, you must decide on the form factors, based on from the parameters of the case of the system unit itself ... The form factor determines the dimensions of the PSU in width, height and depth. Most come in the ATX form factor for standard cases. In small system units of the microATX, FlexATX standard, desktops and others, units of smaller sizes such as SFX, Flex-ATX and TFX are installed.

The required form factor is spelled out in the characteristics of the case, and it is on it that you need to navigate when choosing a power supply.

2. Power. The power depends on what components you can install in your computer, and in what quantity.

It's important to know! The number on the power supply is the total power across all its voltage lines. Since the main consumers of electricity in a computer are the central processor and a video card, the main power line is 12 V, when there is still 3.3 V and 5 V to power some of the motherboard nodes, components in the expansion slots, power drives and USB ports. The power consumption of any computer on the 3.3 and 5 V lines is insignificant, therefore, when choosing a power supply unit in terms of power, you should always look at the characteristics " power on the 12 V line", which ideally should be as close as possible to the total power.

3. Connectors for connecting accessories, the number and set of which depends on whether you can, for example, power a multiprocessor configuration, connect a couple or more video cards, install a dozen hard drives, and so on.

Main connectors, except ATX 24 pin, this is:

To power the processor, these are 4 pin or 8 pin connectors (the latter can be collapsible and have a 4 + 4 pin entry).

To power the video card - 6 pin or 8 pin connectors (8 pin is most often collapsible and is designated 6 + 2 pin).

For connecting 15-pin SATA drives

Additional:

4pin MOLEX type for connecting outdated HDDs with IDE interface, similar disk drives and various optional components such as reobases, fans, etc.

4-pin Floppy - for connecting floppy drives. It is a rarity these days, so such connectors most often come in the form of adapters with MOLEX.

Extra options

Additional characteristics are not as critical as the main ones, in the question: "Will this PSU work with my PC?", But they are also key when choosing. affect the efficiency of the unit, its noise level and ease of connection.

1. Certificate 80 PLUS determines the efficiency of the power supply unit, its efficiency (efficiency). List of certificates 80 PLUS:

They can be divided into basic 80 PLUS, the far left (white), and colored 80 PLUS, ranging from Bronze to the top Titanium.

What is efficiency? Let's say we are dealing with a unit whose efficiency is 80% at maximum load. This means that at maximum power, the PSU will consume 20% more energy from the outlet, and all this energy will be converted into heat.

Remember one simple rule: the higher the 80 PLUS certificate in the hierarchy, the higher the efficiency, which means it will consume less excess electricity, heat less, and often make less noise.

In order to achieve the best efficiency and receive the 80 PLUS "color" certificate, especially the highest level, manufacturers use their entire arsenal of technologies, the most efficient circuitry and semiconductor components with the lowest possible losses. Therefore, the 80 PLUS badge on the case also speaks of the high reliability, durability of the power supply, as well as a serious approach to creating the product as a whole.

2. Type of cooling system. Low level of heat dissipation of power supplies with high efficiency, allows the use of silent cooling systems. These are passive (where there is no fan at all), or semi-passive systems in which the fan does not rotate at low powers, and starts working when the PSU becomes "hot" in the load.

When selecting a power supply unit, you should pay attention and by the length of cables, main ATX24 pin and CPU power cable when installed in a case with a bottom-mounted power supply.

For optimal routing of the supply cables behind the rear wall, they should be at least 60-65 cm long, depending on the size of the enclosure. Be sure to take this point into account so that you do not mess with extension cords later.

You need to pay attention to the number of MOLEX only if you are looking for a replacement for your old and antediluvian system unit with IDE drives and drives, and even in a solid amount, because even the simplest PSUs have at least a couple of old MOLEX, and in more expensive models there are dozens of them.

I hope this small guide to the DNS catalog will help you with such a difficult issue at the initial stage of your acquaintance with power supplies. Enjoy the shopping!