Power Supply

    Hey!

 Welcome back to Tomexplace! For those who are interested in learning about computers.

 

 Iv'e been inactive for last couple days, had to do alot of perssonal stuff. But here I am, back now.

As I promissed in previous post that I will make new posts, I am making this second post.

Well, actually, I would say that, this is my first post, because it's really about the thing.

In this, my first post, I will writte about Power supply. I will try to make it as much clear for you as I can, so check bellow to understand what a power supply is and why it's necessary.

Power Supply

Power Supply or more correctly, Power Supply Unit (psu), is a big square box with fans inside and cables coming out from it located inside the computer case. You can locate power supply from the backside of the computer where the power cord is plugged in. You will notice it easy when you open up your computer case, it's hard to miss, unless you have problems with your eyes.

  Power supply supplies computer's components with the power. It recives power from an electrical outlet trough the cable plugged into computer.
After it recives the power, it converts the alternating current (AC) line from your home to direct current (DC) needed by the computer.
It converts the AC input to lower DC voltages.

WARNING

Power supply contains capacitators that helps regulate your voltage. They can store power for weeks, even if the computer is not plugged into wall. Do not open the power supply's cover if you dont know what you are doing, it can get you into hospital. If it's necessary for you to open it, better call a technican. Unless the cover is closed, everything is safe.

Voltages 

The typical voltages are;

3.3 volts,

5 volts,

12 volts.
 

12 volts are used to run the bigger parts like, disk drives and fans.
3 and 5 volts are used by digital circuits. 

 

Specification of a power supply is in watts.
Watt is the product of the voltage in volts and the current in amperes or amps.

Simply, It recives power from the wall, converts it to lower volts, and splits them for each part needed.

Without power supplie, you cant turn on the computer, since it requires power.
 

When you turn on the computer with the power button, the push button sends a 5 volt signal to power supply to tell it when to turn on.

They convert the 60 Hertz, Hz or cycles per second current to a much higher frequency, meaning more cycles per second. 

In every power supplie is a small transformer that reduces voltage from the outlet, 110 volts, or 220 in certain countries to the voltage needed by the computer component.
 

The power supplie takes the power it only needs from the AC line.  

The typical voltages and current provided by a power supply are shown on the label on the power supply.

The power consumption values in watts for common items are;

Accelerated Graphics Port AGP card = 20 to 30W
Peripheral Component Interconnect PCI card = 5W
small computer system interface SCSI PCI card = 20 to 25W
network interface card = 4W
50X CD-ROM drive = 10 to 25W
RAM = 10W per 128M
5200 RPM Integrated Drive Electronics IDE hard disk drive = 5 to 11W
7200 RPM IDE hard disk drive = 5-15W
Motherboard without CPU or RAM = 20 to 30W
550 MHz Pentium III = 30W

As you might notice, there is on and off switch on the power supply

The switch itself is used to turn on and off the power supply for maintenance inside the computer's case.
You dont have to use this switch, you can just unplug computer from the wall, it will do the same.
Somethimes when your computer itsn't starting up, the reason can be that the power supply switch is turned off.

You may also have noticed the red little switch.

 Dont touch that switch if your system works. It's there so you can use either 115V or 230V outlets, since different places in the world is using different voltages.

Cables and connectors

 You will notice, there is alot of colored cables coming out from the power supply, connectors at the opposite side of the wires connect to the components inside the computer. There is one big 20 / 24 pin connector that connects into motherboard, others fit into floppy drives, hard drives, fans, optical drives, and somethimes even into video cards.

Standardization 

There are different standarts of power supplies in sizes.
For example, ATX standart power supplies will fit only into ATX case motherboard.
When you are buying power supply, you must make sure that all the pins of connectors will fit into the motherboard,
I will writte about form factors later.

Buying power supply 

When you are buying power supply, you must make sure that all the pins of connectors will fit into the right slots of the motherboard.

The 20+4 pin connector is a connector which can function as 20-pin connector or a 24-pin connector.
6+2 you can snap two of the pins in the connector on or off to suit your needs.

ATX power supplies is the standart mostly for all the common desktop computers.

When you are buying power supply, you need to look at output.
Manufacturers usually list their power supply output ratings in watts. Desktop power supplies have a power output rating starting from 200 watts to 1800 watts.

If you are using your computer for average purposes, like checking e mail, writting some documents, surfing on the web, working, et cetera, then a 300 watt power supply is all you need.
If you're a gamer, doing lots of gaming, or video editing and you have a high-end system, just buy a 600 watt power supply, it will fit good into high-end system. You can search in google for psu calculator if you are not sure by entering the specs of your computer.  

 UPS 

Uninterruptible Power Supply, is a power supply wich is using a battery backup.
 

Your computer is still reciving power when there is no power during unexpected power outages, and protecting computer from the surge. It will only keep your computer runing for like 15 mins, but it is enought of time to save your work and turn off the computer, so you dont lose any of your work.

 Problems

The power supply is the most blameable of computer problems.
It heats and cools most of the time it's used, and it recives the first rush of AC current when the computer is  turned on. Typically, a stopped cooling fan is a predictor of a power supply failure due to overheated components.

Most common power supply problem symptoms are;

1. computer is not turning on when you are pressing the power button,
2. Random rebooting because of overheat,
3. Failure in windows for no reason,
4. Burning smell coming out from the computer case - immediately shut down pc, it can cause fire.
5. the computer shuts down by itself,
6. strange noise coming out from the computer.

 Final thoughts

Well, that's it about the power supplies, I hope that you understood the basic concepts of power supply from this post. Anyways, it is my first blog, and my native language isn't english, I will make more posts about different computer components, but I dont know when, because I got alot, ALOT upcoming stuff to do in this week but, I wont quit this, I will make more, soon as im done with everything else.