Programs for calculating the power supply. How to choose a power supply? Calculation of required power
In this article, we will help you choose a Power Supply for your computer in order to manage your funds correctly and not overpay for “unnecessary Watts”.
Many people, when buying a computer, pay little attention to choosing a power supply. They believe that any one installed in the purchased case will do.
But in vain. The power supply is one of the most important components of your work, home or gaming computer.
Because of a cheap (bad, low-quality) power supply costing a couple of tens of dollars, equipment worth several hundred or even thousands of dollars can “go to their forefathers.”
So you shouldn’t skimp on your computer’s power supply. This is a well-known fact, confirmed by regular failures of expensive components.
So, where should you start when choosing a power supply?
First of all
you need to roughly calculate the power consumption of all system components.
That is, we will find out what power supply unit we need.
This can be done using the so-called “power supply calculator”.
In each section, you need to select the components of your computer: type of processor (CPU), motherboard, RAM, video card, hard drive and optical drive, and also indicate the number of installed components. Then click the "Calculate" button.
The resulting number will be the required power for your system (and with a small margin); accordingly, we need to choose a power supply with a power as close as possible to our calculated value.
Power Supply Calculator
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Our calculator takes into account a small power reserve when calculating. Why this is needed can be found in the article.
The second step there will be a choice of power supply type.
Power supplies are distinguished by the type of connection of outgoing lines: modular And standard.
Toward modular You can connect cables as needed, depending on your needs. A very practical property - it allows you to get rid of unused bundles of wires inside the system unit. Used mainly by enthusiasts.
In standard BP all bundles of wires are made non-removable. This is a cheaper and simpler model.
Power supplies are also distinguished by type of Power Factor Correction (PFC): active And passive.
Passive PFC implemented in the form of a conventional choke, smoothing out voltage ripple. But the efficiency of such PFC is very low.
The simplest power supplies are produced with a passive power correction system and are installed in inexpensive budget cases.
A active PFC It is implemented in the form of an additional board and is another switching power supply, which increases the voltage. In addition to the fact that active PFC provides a power factor close to ideal, it also, unlike passive, improves the operation of the power supply - it additionally stabilizes the input voltage, and the unit becomes noticeably less sensitive to low voltage, and also “swallows” short-term (shares seconds) voltage dips.
Later models of high-quality power supplies from well-known manufacturers are produced with an active system: Seasonic, Chieftec, HighPower, FSP, ASUS, CoolerMaster, Zalman.
Note: Conflicts have sometimes been noted between a PSU with an active PFC and some UPS (uninterruptible power supplies).
In addition, you need to pay attention to the power supply cable connectors that will be used to connect your components.
There is a so-called ATX standard power supplies. This standard determines the availability of the necessary connectors for connecting all equipment.
We recommend standard PSU at least ATX 2.3 for all modern gaming systems(where additional power supply for video cards is used), and not lower than ATX 2.2 for office multimedia systems. There should be enough connectors to connect your devices: 6+6 pin video cards or 6+8 pin, motherboard 24+4+4, SATA devices etc.
The third point There will be an overview of the specifications specified by the manufacturer on the label of the Power Supply.
Important! When purchasing, always pay attention to nominal power supply unit, not peak(PEAK) (the peak is always greater).
Rated power of PSU- this is the power that the unit can produce for a long time, constantly.
Peak power- this is the power that the power supply can only provide for a short time.
The most popular parameter today is the power of the power supply through +12V channels.
The more channels the better. It can range from one +12V channel to several: +12V1, +12V2, ..., +12V4, +12V5, etc.
In modern systems, the main load falls on these channels: processor, video cards, coolers, hard drives, etc.
Therefore, when choosing between several power supplies that suit your power, The decisive factor is the total power along the +12V lines.
The greater this total power, the better the PSU components are implemented.
In other words, for example, if you have chosen three power supplies, say, with a total power of 500W, then among them you need to choose the one that has a greater total current (and therefore power) along the lines +12V1..+12V2, etc.
Let's look at examples of where to look for the information we need on a sticker.
The first will be the power supply from ZALMAN.
There is one +12V line, only 18A and only 216 W.
But it contains active PFC, which is an undeniable advantage.
This block is quite enough for an average budget system.
The second one will be BP FSP.
In it we already see two +12V lines (15A and 16A). Despite the fact that the marking indicates a power of 500 watts, in the “nominal” it is 460 watts.
This is a high-quality, but inexpensive power supply in the budget sector. It is quite capable of providing a lightweight gaming system.
Unfortunately, there is no information about PFC on the label, you can get it on the website FSP.
Well, the third will be a power supply also from ZALMAN.
It has 6 (!) +12V lines with a total power of 960 Watts. The table shows a diagram of connecting devices by branches.
This power supply is suitable for the most demanding and “charged” gaming overclocking system.
Another very important parameter for a power supply is the Coefficient of Efficiency (COP).
Power supplies are distinguished mainly by their threshold value Efficiency, which is 80%. All power supplies that have an efficiency below 80% are classified as simple-budget ones, which are used mainly in office systems.
And those power supplies whose efficiency is above 80% are classified as productivity-gaming ones. Such power supplies have an international certificate 80PLUS.
In turn, the standard 80PLUS has categories BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD, PLATINUM:
Latest feature
The thing you should pay attention to when choosing a power supply is the cooler or fan.
Everything is simple here: the larger the cooler, the less noise it makes.
Current power supplies are equipped with fans measuring 120 mm or larger. Moreover, in good, branded power supplies, the fan changes the number of revolutions depending on the load. This helps reduce noise.
I would not recommend purchasing a PSU with one 80mm fan.
Now let's summarize the material learned.
To buy the best power supply you need:
- buy a high-quality power supply from a trusted/verified manufacturer with “honest watts”;
- select a power supply with active PFC (APFC);
- determine the power supply with the maximum total current along the +12V lines;
- ATX 2.3 standard (ATX 2.2 as a last resort) with the maximum set of connectors for our devices, and also where the main power is transferred to the +12V branches;
- necessarily with an efficiency of at least 80%, one that has an 80PLUS certificate;
- the fan (cooler) must be at least 120 mm.
So, I think we have given you enough information to choose the right power supply.
The job of a computer power supply is to turn 220 Volts AC into three different DC voltages. The incoming network voltage constantly fluctuates slightly, and the load on the video card, central processor and other components often “jumps” very strongly. At the same time, the power supply is required to constantly and accurately maintain the required voltage.
The power supply is one of the key components that affects the safety of the system as a whole.: If there is any defect, the currents passing through it can damage the components connected to it and even cause a fire. In general, there are plenty of arguments for a serious approach to choosing a high-quality power supply.
A good PSU should operate as efficiently as possible (that is, with low heat loss). It is also undesirable for its fans to make a lot of noise. And electrical elements must be completely silent at low loads (the noise of the chokes should not be heard).
Power
Depending on the components, computers can consume power from several watts to several kilowatts. The power supply must be designed to cope with the maximum load, and it is advisable to have reserves - only in this case will it work efficiently and quietly.
The optimal power of a power supply can be calculated by the sum of TDP(thermal package) of the processor and video card, multiplied by 1.5. So, for the Core i5-8600 processor (TDP 65 Watt) and the AMD Radeon RX 560 video card (TDP 75 Watt), a power supply with a power of at least 450 Watt is suitable. A 450-watt unit would be loaded at about 50%, a 750-watt unit at 30%. For an accurate calculation, use the power supply power calculator: bequiet.com/ru/psucalculator.
| PSU power | 400 Watt | 550 Watt | 800+ Watt | |
| CPU | middle class | high class | high class | high class |
| Video card | middle class | high class | ||
| Second video card | - | - | - | high class |
| SATA connectors | >8 |
Power supply for office PC
If you are building a simple PC for office tasks, then it is not at all necessary to buy a powerful power supply. 300 W is enough. But you still need to have a reserve. After all, you can work not only in Word, but also edit graphics and even build 3D models. A 500 W power supply is perfect for these purposes; you won’t feel much savings when buying a device with less output (if you buy high-quality ones).
Depending on the components used in them and the cooling system, their price varies from 2,000 to 7,000 rubles. To ensure that your PC lasts a long time, we recommend not saving too much and opting for a power supply from a well-known brand, for example, Thermaltake TR2 S 500W, costing about 3,200 rubles.
It has a very quiet cooler, high-quality elastic braiding of wires and produces 75 W on the 5 V line and 420 W on the +12 V line.
Work efficiency
So, a good power supply provides the maximum possible power consumption to all PC components. So that you can evaluate the efficiency of the power supply before purchasing, manufacturers certify them to the 80 Plus energy efficiency standard with additional levels of Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and the very rare Titan.
Each power supply generates heat, which in rare models with a passive cooling system is removed only by the heatsink, requiring precise planning and constant optimal environmental conditions. For users who are extremely noise sensitive, we recommend a power supply with a hybrid cooling system, e.g. Corsair RM550x, costing about 8,000 rubles.
Corsair RM550x notable in that its fan only turns on when the load exceeds 40% or the temperature rises. This ensures stable, continuous operation under any circumstances. For other users, we recommend regular power supplies with an active cooling system - for example, be quiet Straight Power 10. Its fan operates almost silently under light load. The noise only appears when full power is required.
Expensive capacitors last longer
The first step to high quality is choosing well-known manufacturers: be quiet!, Cooler Master, Corsair, Enermax, Thermaltake Xilence and others. As for equipment, when choosing a power supply, you should pay attention to the presence of all the necessary plugs - available models often do without a power connector for SATA devices, and some may even comply with an outdated standard.
Also check that the exact number of 12V plugs (6 or 8 pin) matches your video card. And modern modular connection technology Cable management allows you to connect only the necessary cables to the power supply and not create a mess in the case.
Expensive capacitors of top power supply models can withstand high temperatures (for example, not 85°, but 105°C), due to which they last longer. Manufacturers can anticipate this fact quite accurately. Long-lasting power supplies can be found among models with a five-year warranty. For example, Cooler Master G650M, with a power of 650 Watts and a cost of about 5,600 rubles.
Photo: manufacturing companies
To avoid freezes, reboots, sudden shutdowns and other problems associated with the power supply, you need to correctly calculate its power. Below is a calculator for calculating the power supply.
Enter sequential information about the components installed in the computer and as a result you will receive a figure for the minimum power consumption of the system and the required minimum power value of the power supply.
Please note that before choosing the type of video card and processor, you must first specify the component manufacturer. When choosing a processor, multi-core ones are considered as one. Don't forget to indicate the number of installed components.
To calculate power, select
system configuration
Motherboard
Select board type Budget Desktop Advanced Desktop Workstation ServerRAM
Select memory type 256MB DDR 512MB DDR 1GB DDR 512MB DDR2 1GB DDR2 2GB DDR2 4GB DDR2 1GB DDR3 2GB DDR3 4GB DDR3 8GB DDR3 x 1 2 3 4 5 6Video card
ATINVIDIAVideo card type
Select video card x 0 1 2 3 4CPU
AMDINTELProcessor type
Select processor x 1 2Hard drives
x 0 1 2 3 4Select drive SSD 5400RPM 3.5" HDD 7200RPM 3.5" HDD 10,000RPM 2.5" HDD 10,000RPM 3.5" HDD 15,000RPM 2.5" HDD 15,000RPM 3.5" HDD x 0 1 2 3 4
Optical drives
x 0 1 2 3 4Select a Blu-Ray DVD-RW COMBO CD-RW DVD-ROM CD-ROM drive x 0 1 2 3 4
PCI
x 0 1 2 3 4Select device Modem Network (LAN) Sound card SCSI/IDE/SATA x 0 1 2 3 4
Fan
x 0 1 2 3Type 80mm 92mm 120mm 140mm 250mm Normal With display High speed x 0 1 2 3
Minimum system power - 0 Watt
Required power supply - 0 Watt
Software
Following the successful opening of the international technical support forum, Enermax offers its customers a new useful “advisor service”: The new online power supply power calculator allows users to quickly and easily calculate the energy consumption of the system. On the occasion of the opening of the new service, users can win three popular power supplies from Enermax.
Before purchasing a power supply, most buyers wonder what level of power consumption is needed to power their system. Indications from individual manufacturers are not always accurate enough to calculate the total energy consumption of the entire system. Many users follow the motto “more is better than less” in this case. Result: choosing a power supply that is too powerful and more expensive, which will only be loaded at 20-30 percent of the system's full power. It should be borne in mind that modern power supplies, such as Enermax, achieve efficiency above 90 percent only when the power supply load is about 50 percent.
Count and win
To celebrate the opening of the power supply power calculator, Enermax is presenting an exclusive competition. Eligibility Requirements: Enermax offers three different system configurations. Participants must use a power supply calculator to calculate the system's power consumption. Between all the correct answers, Enermax is giving away three popular power supplies:
More detailed information about the competition is available.
BP calculator saves time and money
Enermax's new "Power Supply Calculator" is designed to help users reliably and accurately calculate their system's power consumption. The calculator is based on an extensive and constantly updated database with all types of system components, from the processor, video card to small things like the case fan. This will not only save users the time-consuming search for energy consumption data for individual components, but will also save costs in many cases. Since for most simple office and gaming systems a power supply with a power of 300 - 500 W is more than enough.
Enermax professional support
More than a month ago, Enermax announced the opening of an international support forum. At the Enermax forum, participants have the opportunity to receive qualified assistance in solving technical problems and answers to all questions regarding Enermax products. Additionally, the new forum provides a platform for enthusiasts from around the world to share experiences and tips on customizing and optimizing their computers. Enermax product managers and engineers are responsible for professional assistance on the forum - that is, company employees who are primarily responsible for the development of Enermax products.
Following the successful opening of the international technical support forum, Enermax offers its customers a new useful “advisor service”: The new online power supply power calculator allows users to quickly and easily calculate the energy consumption of the system. On the occasion of the opening of the new service, users can win three popular power supplies from Enermax.
Before purchasing a power supply, most buyers wonder what level of power consumption is needed to power their system. Indications from individual manufacturers are not always accurate enough to calculate the total energy consumption of the entire system. Many users follow the motto “more is better than less” in this case. Result: choosing a power supply that is too powerful and more expensive, which will only be loaded at 20-30 percent of the system's full power. It should be borne in mind that modern power supplies, such as Enermax, achieve efficiency above 90 percent only when the power supply load is about 50 percent.
Count and win
To celebrate the opening of the power supply power calculator, Enermax is presenting an exclusive competition. Eligibility Requirements: Enermax offers three different system configurations. Participants must use a power supply calculator to calculate the system's power consumption. Between all the correct answers, Enermax is giving away three popular power supplies:
More detailed information about the competition is available.
BP calculator saves time and money
Enermax's new "Power Supply Calculator" is designed to help users reliably and accurately calculate their system's power consumption. The calculator is based on an extensive and constantly updated database with all types of system components, from the processor, video card to small things like the case fan. This will not only save users the time-consuming search for energy consumption data for individual components, but will also save costs in many cases. Since for most simple office and gaming systems a power supply with a power of 300 - 500 W is more than enough.
Enermax professional support
More than a month ago, Enermax announced the opening of an international support forum. At the Enermax forum, participants have the opportunity to receive qualified assistance in solving technical problems and answers to all questions regarding Enermax products. Additionally, the new forum provides a platform for enthusiasts from around the world to share experiences and tips on customizing and optimizing their computers. Enermax product managers and engineers are responsible for professional assistance on the forum - that is, company employees who are primarily responsible for the development of Enermax products.