How to calculate the required power of the power supply. Power from characteristics vs real power. Program for calculating power supply power

Content

Today we will look at the issue of calculating the power of a power supply for a computer and choosing it, we will find out which components consume the most.

The first aspect that must be evaluated when calculating the power of a PC power supply relates to the load with which the power supply will be effectively used. For example, using a 500 watt power supply as a reference, if that PC's internal component consumption is only 500 watts, then the load will be 100%; similarly, if the internal component consumption of this PC is 250 W, then the load in this case will be 50%.

Efficiency expressed as a percentage is very important factor which should be taken into account when choosing good source power supply, because the higher the efficiency of the power supply, the lower the required consumption and the heat produced. However, given that the efficiency unfortunately tends to decrease depending on the amount of energy required from time to time. power unit the best way provides a load of about 70%, that is, at a load of about 60% and 80%. So, if you buy an oversized power supply, the efficiency may not be ideal.

To obtain ideal efficiency, select the power supply wattage according to the maximum system consumption. Therefore, to choose correct source power supply, you need to find a power source that, according to the consumption of internal components, will achieve maximum efficiency.

WHAT POWER SUPPLY SHOULD YOU CHOOSE FOR YOUR COMPUTER?

Let's assume that there is no magic formula that allows you to figure out exactly what is the ideal power supply for a particular PC. However, there are several tools online - calculators - that allow you to calculate the wattage of your power supply by selecting one by one the components you decide to install. But these tools aren't 100% accurate, so they're just good starting points to get an idea of ​​your PC's maximum consumption. How to calculate the power supply power of a PC? The best way- use these tools first, but then do the calculations yourself to understand what consumption is individual components.

WHAT COMPONENTS CONSUME THE MOST?

Typically, the main sources of power consumption for any computer are only two: the processor and the video card (there are cases when one video card consumes as much as the sum of all other system components). Then comes the motherboard, hard drive, SSD, RAM, optical drive and fans that only use a few watts each.

Here is a sample list of consumption:

1. for modules RAM memory consumption of about 3 W per module can be taken into account;
2. for SSD, you can consider a consumption of about 3 W;
3. for traditional hard drive it can be considered to consume about 8/10 W;
4. for an optical drive such as a DVD recorder, a consumption of about 25 W can be considered;
5. for fans, a consumption of about 3/4 W per fan can be taken into account;
6. for a motherboard, it starts at 70/80W for an entry-level model, but you can also get around 120/130W for a high-end motherboard;
7. for a processor we can consider the consumption to be less than 50 Watts if it is a low-end processor, 80 to 100 Watts for a mid-range processor and 160 to 180 Watts for a high-end processor;
8. Finally, for a video card you can consider consumption from 100 W to 300 W depending on the model used.

This is the maximum consumption of each component, i.e. consumption when the computer is under heavy load. For example, especially difficult software or very heavy games. In fact, when normal use PC overall consumption of individual components is significantly lower. To get a more accurate estimate, it is best to rely on those sites or those experts who review the products you are interested in.

To calculate the power of a PC's power supply, simply compare first the maximum consumption of the processor and graphics card, and then the maximum consumption of all other components of the PC. Remember that the power supply must be able to support the PC while it is in the most high load and hence takes only the maximum consumption as reference level individual components. Once you have done this calculation, adding another 20% you will finally find correct power your power source. However, if you intend to overclock your PC, then to find the correct power supply power, in this case, in addition to consumption various components, you will need to add another 30% energy consumption.

On video: Selecting a power supply by power.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

Suppose, for example, a computer assembled with the following components:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-8600;
• video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070;
• motherboard: ASUS PRIME Z370-A;
• hard drive: any;
• SSD: any;
• optical drive: any;
• RAM: any two DDR4 modules;

On average, the processor consumes 75/80 W, video card 180/200 W, motherboard 110/120 W, 7 W hard drive, 3 W SSD, 25 W optical drive, two 5 W DDR4 memory modules and three other 10 - watt fan. Thus, we consume approximately 420-450 Watts of consumption. We added another 20% consumption and so we get a 550 watt power supply, which is already more than enough for this configuration, reaching 600 watts (i.e. 30% more) if you wanted to overclock.

Competently assembled computer– this is very good, and a correctly selected power supply for it is doubly wonderful! How to correctly calculate the power of a computer power supply– a whole science, but I’ll tell you simple and at the same time very effective power calculation method. Go!

Instead of a preface

Power calculation is important because weak block power will not “pull” your hardware, but too much powerful block- unnecessary waste of money. Of course, we are not interested in this, and we will look for the most best option Now to the heart of the matter.

PSU power calculation

Ideally, the power of the power supply is selected based on maximum consumption power of the entire computer hardware at peak load. Why is that? Yes, it’s very simple - so that at the most crucial and intense moment of playing solitaire, the computer does not turn off due to lack of energy

Calculate the power your computer consumes in maximum load It’s no longer fashionable to do it manually, so it would be much easier and more correct to use an online calculator for calculating the power supply. I use this one and I really like it:

Don't be scared in English, in fact, everything is very simple there

Here is an example of how I calculated the power of the power supply for my computer (picture clickable):

1.Motherboard

In chapter Motherboard select the type of computer motherboard. For a regular PC we set Desktop, for the server, respectively – Server. There is also an item Mini-ITX for boards of the corresponding form factor.

2. CPU

Processor specifications section. First you specify the manufacturer, then the processor socket, and then the processor itself.

To the left of the processor name, the number 1 is the number physical processors on the board, not cores, be careful! In most cases, a computer has one physical processor.

Please note that CPUSpeed And CPU Vcore are set automatically, in accordance with the standard values ​​of frequencies and core voltage. You can change them if necessary (this is useful for overlockers).

3. CPU Utilization

This indicates how much load will be placed on the processor. The default value is 90% TDP (recommended)– you can leave it as is, or you can set it to 100%.

4.Memory

This is the section for RAM. Indicate the number of planks and their type with size. On the right you can check the box FBDIMMs. It must be installed if you have RAM type F ully B buffered (fully buffered).

5. Video Cards – Set 1 and Video Cards – Set 2

These sections indicate video cards. Video Cards – Set 2 is needed if you suddenly have video cards from AMD and NVidia installed on your computer at the same time. Here, as with the processor, first select the manufacturer, then the name of the video card, and indicate the quantity.

If there are several video cards and they work in SLI or Crossfire mode, then check the box on the right (SLI/CF).

Similarly, as in the section with processors, CoreClock And MemoryClock are set to the factory values ​​for this video card. If you changed them on your video card, then here you can indicate your frequency values.

6.Storage

Everything is simple here - you indicate how many and which ones hard drives installed on the system.

7. Optical Drives

This indicates how many and what disk drives you have it installed.

8. PCI Express Cards

In this section we set how many and what additional cards extensions are installed in PCI-Express slots. You can specify sound cards, TV tuners, various additional controllers.

9.PCI Cards

Likewise previous point, only here devices in PCI slots are indicated.

10. Bitcoin Mining Modules

Section for specifying modules for bitcoin mining. For those who know, comments are unnecessary, and for those who don’t know, don’t bother and just read on

11.Other Devices

Here you can indicate what other gadgets you have on your computer. This includes devices such as fan control panels, temperature sensors, card readers, and more.

12. Keyboard/Mouse

Keyboard/mouse section. Three options to choose from - nothing, normal device or gaming. Under gaming keyboards/mice mean keyboards/mice with backlight.

13.Fans

Here we set how many fans and what size are installed in the case.

14. Liquid Cooling Kit

Water cooling systems are indicated here, as well as their number.

15. Computer Utilization

Here is the mode of computer use, or more precisely, the approximate operating time of the computer per day. The default is 8 hours, you can leave it like that.

The final

After you have specified all the contents of your computer, click the button Calculate. After this you will get two results − LoadWattage And RecommendedPSUWattage. The first is the actual power consumption of the computer, and the second is the recommended minimum power of the power supply.

It is worth remembering that the power supply is always taken with a power reserve of 5 - 25%. Firstly, no one guarantees that in six months to a year you will not want to upgrade your computer, and secondly, remember about the gradual wear and tear of the power supply.

And that’s all for me. Ask questions in the comments if something is unclear or you just need help, and don’t forget to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.

Good luck! 🙂

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When you assemble your computer, this has its own significant advantages, since all components are in personal computer(PCs) play their role with the system unit - processor and RAM for speed of operations, video card for displaying the graphics part, motherboard for connecting all this together. That is why it is important to select components not only by how they will satisfy your needs, but also by how they will interact with each other.
In particular, there are errors when the motherboard does not “accept” the processor or there is no space in the case to install a video card.
But even if you seem to have selected all the components and they fit together, then when choosing a power supply unit (PSU) questions often arise. The most common is how much power is needed to make all components “feel” comfortable.

In order to calculate the power of the power supply, you can go in several ways. For example, you can ask the consultants in the store and hope that the store employee will be sufficiently knowledgeable about this and will be able to advise and select the right one.

Or you can go and buy a power supply with a power of 600-1000 Watts and not think about it at all because... Either way, this is enough. Yes, you can do this and overpay for the extra 600 Watts because... in fact, 400 W for example could be enough for you. It seems to me that this is not a way out of the situation. If only for the lazy and who don’t mind the money.

You can also look on the Internet how much power is needed for each of the components of the future system unit, and then calculate required power. It should be taken into account that the total power of all components must be less than the maximum output power of the power source. It is also worth knowing and remembering that the specifications indicate the maximum power consumption of the components. During operation, energy is consumed unevenly by everyone (turning on, turning off, recording information, launching many programs, a complex episode in a game, etc.).

For example, the power consumption of components looks something like this:

Power supply power- this characteristic is individual for each PC. The power supply is one of the most important elements of a computer. It supplies power to every element of the computer and the stability of all processes depends on it. This is the reason why it is very important to choose the right power supply for your computer.

This is the first thing you need to do in the process of buying/assembling a new power supply. To calculate the power of a computer's power supply, you need to add up the amount of energy consumed by each element of the computer. Naturally for regular user this task is too difficult, especially considering that some computer parts the power is simply not indicated, or the values ​​are obviously overestimated. Therefore, there are special calculators for calculating the power of the power supply, which standard parameters calculate the required power of the power supply.

After you have received the required power supply power, you need to add “spare watts” to this figure - approximately 10-25% of the total power. This is done to ensure that the power supply does not work to the limit of its capabilities at maximum power. If this is not done, it can cause a number of problems: freezing, independent reboots, clicking of the hard drive head, as well as turning off the computer.

Options for correct calculating the power of the power supply:

1. Processor model and its thermal package (power consumption).
2. Video card model and its thermal package (power consumption).
3. Number, type and frequency of RAM.
4. Quantity, type (SATA, IDE) spindle operating speeds - Hard drives.
5. SSD drives from quantity.
6. Coolers, their size, quantity, type (with backlight / without backlight).
7. CPU coolers, their size, quantity, type (with backlight / without backlight).
8. Motherboard, what class it belongs to (simple, medium, high-end).
9. Also, it is necessary to take into account the number of expansion cards that are installed in the computer (sound cards, TV tuners, etc.).
10. Are you planning to overclock your video card, processor, or RAM?
11. DVD-RW drive, their number and type.

What power is the power supply?

What power is the power supply?- this concept will make it possible to choose the right components and characteristics. The first thing you need to know is how much power you need. The power of the power supply directly depends on the components installed on the PC.

Again, we repeat, you don’t need to take a power supply that will only have enough power. It must be taken into account that the actual power of the power supply may be less than that declared by the manufacturer. It is also important to understand that configurations may change over time.

And this is a very simple question, since manufacturers usually indicate the power in large font on the sticker. Power supply wattage is a measure of how much power the power supply can transfer to other components.

As we said above, you can find it out using online calculators calculate the power of the power supply and add 10-25% of “spare power” to it. But in reality, everything is a little more complicated, since the power supply produces different voltage 12V, 5V, -12V, 3.3V, i.e., each of the voltage lines receives only its required power. But there is 1 transformer installed in the power supply itself, which generates all these voltages for transmission to the computer components. Naturally, there are power supplies with 2 transformers, but they are mainly used for servers. Therefore, it is acceptable that in conventional PCs the power of each voltage line can change - increase if the load on the other lines is weak or decrease if other lines are overloaded. And on the power supplies they write exactly the maximum power for each of the lines, and if you add them up, the resulting power will be higher than the power of the power supply.

It turns out that the manufacturer specifically increases rated power power supply that it cannot provide. And all power-hungry computer components (video card and processor) receive power directly from +12 V, so it is very important to pay attention to the current values ​​​​indicated for it. If the power supply is made of high quality, then this data will be indicated on the side sticker in the form of a table or list.

PC power supply power.

PC power supply power- this information is necessary because the power supply is essential component computer. It powers all other components and the correct operation of the entire computer directly depends on it.

Again, we repeat, you don’t need to take a power supply that will only have enough power. It must be taken into account that the actual power of the power supply may be less than that declared by the manufacturer. It is also important to understand that configurations may change over time. This is done to ensure that the power supply does not work to the limit of its capabilities at maximum power. If this is not done, it can cause a number of problems: freezing, self-rebooting, clicking of the hard drive head, and also turning off the computer.

Hello friends! When assembling a computer main parameter power supply - its power. Today I will give several ways to calculate the power of a power supply for a computer if you decide to assemble it yourself.

PSU power calculator

This is the simplest option, since you do not need to look for a specification for each part. There are both online calculators and specialized software. Personally, I don’t recommend using this option, and here’s why.

Each program or website is created by a programmer who enters these parameters manually. He may have erroneous data, and in the absence of information, take it out of thin air, relying on his experience and intuition. Also, one should not exclude the possibility of a simple mistake.

Taken together, these factors lead to the fact that different calculators As a result, they demonstrate different consumption for computers with the same configuration. Do we need it? Of course not!

Option for the lazy

The easiest way to select the required power supply power is to remember simple rules:

• For an office PC with a weak video card, 400 watts of energy is enough;
• A computer with an average video card requires a 500-watt power supply;
• Powerful video cards require a power supply of 600 watts or more.

Another tip is to look at the manufacturer’s website for the specification of the video card: usually the manufacturer indicates the recommended power of the power supply.

We count on our own

Most reliable way, calculate the required output energy - do it yourself using a calculator (or in your head, if the “thinking tool” works well). The principle is simple: you just need to calculate the sum of the power consumed by all PC components.

The task is greatly simplified if you are going to buy all the components in an online store: the description of each item usually indicates the characteristic we are interested in.

To make it more clear, I will give an example of calculating electricity for a specific configuration:

• Intel processor Core i5-7400 3.0GHz/8GT/s/6MB (BX80677I57400) – 65 W;
• Maternal Gigabyte board GA-H110M-S2 – 20 W;
• RAM Goodram SODIMM DDR4-2133 4096MB PC4-17000 (GR2133S464L15S/4G) (2 pcs) – 2x15 W;
• HDD Western Digital Blue 1TB 7200rpm 64MB WD10EZEX – 7 W;
• MSI graphics card PCI-Ex GeForce GTX 1060 Aero ITX (GTX 1060 AERO ITX 3G OC) – 120 W.

After calculating the sum, we get 242 watts at the output. That is, a 400 Watt power supply is quite enough for normal operation such a system. The manufacturer also indicates the same required power in the characteristics of the video card.

For a PC that will be used for mining, as well as for a farm, the principle is the same: having thought through the configuration, you should calculate the amount of energy consumed and, based on this, select power supplies.

Why are blocks plural? A well-designed farm is made from several clusters, where 3-4 video cards are mounted on one motherboard. Each such cluster requires a separate power supply unit.

If you are an advanced user and decide to build a cryptocurrency mining farm, keep in mind that this method lost its relevance a few years ago. Special devices– miners tailored specifically for this task show a higher hashrate, while the purchase is usually cheaper.

A few notes

In this simple way you can calculate whether the power supply is enough to power the system. What happens if there is not enough power? In general, it’s okay: the computer either won’t start at all, or will shut down during peak loads.

When making calculations, I recommend taking a power supply “with a reserve” - even if you are assembling a gaming device capable of running the latest new products, it is unknown what will happen in a few years and whether you will want to upgrade by installing a more powerful video card. In addition, power supplies usually demonstrate the best efficiency at 50% load.

Also note that not all online stores indicate the power of devices in the specifications. Perhaps for some part you will have to look for the parameters of interest on the manufacturer’s website - they are definitely there.

When going to a regular store, you should not rely on the fact that you will come across a competent consultant who remembers everything by heart required parameters and will be able to accurately determine the required power.

Practice shows that for one such specialist there are 10 half-educated people with whom it is better not to mess with - they are guaranteed to try to sell you a device with excessive characteristics, for which you will have to overpay.