power supply.....confusion

bongas · 22 Aug 2010 at 16:16

hello.
i am new to this forum and so i think that i wud need a bit of a welcome...........

my querry is about the wattage of psu's.....currently i have the coolermaster 460 watts psu , here's the link:
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=3686

the link says that it is 70% efficient (typically)
now does this mean that it has a maximum output capacity of 460 watts OR

a maximum capacity of 70% of 460 watts ie 322watts.

the reason i am askink this is that i am planning to replace my e7400 with a quad core , which i obviously plan to overclock. If my psu can only output 322 watts, then i think there is a problem and then probably i will have to buy a new psu or will have to stick with my current setup.

Regards Bongas

cmndr_andi · 22 Aug 2010 at 16:23

Hi there, welcome to the forums

If your PSU is 70% efficient @ 460W then that means that the PSU is providing 460W to the PC components and drawing ~650W from the wall. The difference (30%) is lost mainly in heat.

Therefore, depending on what graphics card you will be using - you should be fine with an overclocked quad core.

However, you may want to consider getting a new PSU anyway.Your PSU is only 70% efficient- this is pretty bad. Decent Modern PSUs are 85-90% efficient and some of the more expensive ones go all the way up to ~92%. If you got one of these you would be paying a good deal less in power to keep your PC running and your system will be cooler (and most likely quieter) under the same load.

stulid · 22 Aug 2010 at 16:24

it means for every .7watt it outputs, it needs 1w from the wall socket.

Cycrow · 22 Aug 2010 at 16:24

the efficiency is how much power it needs to draw.

so for 460W supplied to the pc, requires the PSU to draw about 650W from the wall.

althou the cheaper the PSU the less accurate the stated wattage tends to be.
the cheap psus may state soemthing like 500W but will never actually be able to deliever that to the pc.

so its not just about the wattage/efficency, there are other factors involved as well

bongas · 22 Aug 2010 at 18:47

thanks for the quick reply..........i think i am gonnah like this forum. :cool:

and dont worry abt the gpu........its not a power hog, its the gts 250 btw.