Total Power VS Max Power

[RadiatingLight]

I pulled this PSU out of an old prebuilt

the website says it has a Max power of 420W, but total power of 280W

it means that the peak wattage is 420, but the maximum continuous wattage is 280, right?

So I can't use it in a gaming system, right?

 

http://www.outletpc.com/qc9352-replace-power-420w-microps3-power-supply.html

 

(disregard comments about how this thing is literally a bomb. yes I know)

[themctipers]

yup

[Billy_Mays]

13 minutes ago, RadiatingLight said:

I pulled this PSU out of an old prebuilt

the website says it has a Max power of 420W, but total power of 280W

it means that the peak wattage is 420, but the maximum continuous wattage is 280, right?

So I can't use it in a gaming system, right?

 

http://www.outletpc.com/qc9352-replace-power-420w-microps3-power-supply.html

 

(disregard comments about how this thing is literally a bomb. yes I know)

You could in a low power gaming system

[Princess Luna]

Maybe on a gtx 1050? rx 550? still risky because the PSU is no big deal.

[quan289]

That PSU isn't even a 280w unit by today's standard. Probably closer to 150-200w if you go merely on the specification label.

 

Also, how does that have two 6 pin PEG connector? There's two 12V rails rated at 8A or 96W each (combined rating will be lower than 192w, btw as rails aren't additive). Each of those PEG connectors is rated for 75w, the PCIe slot is rated for 75w as well. That doesn't even consider the ATX12V / EPS12V CPU connector...

[RadiatingLight]

6 minutes ago, quan289 said:

That PSU isn't even a 280w unit by today's standard. Probably closer to 150-200w if you go merely on the specification label.

Really?

Why is it different?

 

is it because the power is divided amongst the rails, and therefore if the 12V rail needs power, the max 12v power is less than 280W?

 

12V rail can deliver 192W

[quan289]

18 minutes ago, RadiatingLight said:

Really?

Why is it different?

 

is it because the power is divided amongst the rails, and therefore if the 12V rail needs power, the max 12v power is less than 280W?

 

12V rail can deliver 192W

Check my edit, btw.

 

As I stated in it, rails are not additive. Just a guideline of how wiring and OCP (over current protection) is set up. Basically, you should be able to load of up either the 12V rail to 8A individually but not at the same time. Any competent power supply will provide a combined rating - otherwise, they have something to hide.

 

To give you an example, the Antec HCP-1000 Platinum has four rails rated to 40A each. If you add them together, you will get 160A or 1920w - but the actual rating is 83.33 / 1000w (the reason why it is the same as the rated wattage is because it utilized DC-DC for the minor rails)

 

So the combined rating of this unit isn't 16A / 192W. It's lower than that. So if the 12V has a 12A rating (144w), that's probably around a 200w unit considering the design. And due note, this doesn't consider the quality of the unit