Power supplies

From TheBestCaseScenario

[edit] Definition

The Power Supply Unit (PSU) in your system is one of the most important components, and without it your PC won't turn on. Cheap and unknown branded PSU's could damage vital components in your system. Losing a CPU that cost $400/£200 just because you couldn't spend an extra $50/£25 on a PSU is something no PC builder wants. $80/90 or £40/50 on a good branded PSU thats powerful enough for your system will save you lots of money. You need to look for a good amount of power. 300W will easily run a standard system, 400/500W will give good power to a mid-range system, and for a high end gaming system or workstation then you should be looking for around 600/700W upwards.

There are many connectors avalible on PSUs now.

  + 4 pin Molex (standard for DVD drives, extra fans and other accessories)
  + Floppy power (Power cable for floppy drives)
  + SATA power (Power for your SATA Hard drives)
  + 20/24 Pin Motherboard (Main power cable for the motherboard)
  + 4/8 pin CPU (extra cable to supply power to the CPU(s) on the motherboard)
  + 6 pin PCI-E connector (Power cable for PCI-E graphics cards)
  + 8 pin PCI-E connector (Power cable for PCI-E graphics cards) This 8 pin connector is the newer connector, offering more power to newer power hungry cards

Make sure that the Power Supply you are looking for has enough connectors for all your components. Do not trust cables connecting 4 pin molexs to a PCI-E connector.