What is PSU

[extreme2900]

What is PSU ??
A long description or site links will be great
Thank you in advance...

 

[symsus]

PSU stands for "Power Supply" used to power your whole system..

 

[KillerGamer]

A 'PSU' stands for Power Supply Unit. It is also called an SMPS sometimes. It powers all of your components which are inside the cabinet and is usually a small, black boc with one fan and a bunch of wires hanging out. Without one, no PC will be able to run.

 

[Lmeow]

As symsus said. A PSU is a power supply, and PSU stands for power supply unit. It takes voltage from your wall sockets, and converts it to voltages which your computer system can use, mainly 3.3V, 5V and 12V.

There are three types of PSUs when it comes to cabling - a fully modular PSU allows you to attach the cables necessary, and reduces clutter. A semi-modular PSU essentially a fully modular PSU except it has a couple of attached to the unit, normally important ones such as the motherboard 24-pin and CPU 4/8-pin cables, as opposed to being able to be attached. Non-modular PSUs have cables attached to the unit, and can get quite messy, and result in difficult, and possibly messy cable management as well. Good cable management is important for good case airflow.

Also, high wattage PSUs are not necessarily better. I would not trust a cheap, no-brand or cheap-sounding-brand-with-no-reputation 1000 W PSU over a well-known, reputable brand's 500 W PSUs with the sufficient wattage and efficiency I need. Go for trusted brands such as Corsair, Seasonic and Silverstone - and there are others. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to PSUs. When looking for enough wattage to drive your CPU + GPU, check for sufficient wattage on the 12 V rail, and at least an 80+ Bronze, Silver, Gold or even Platinum safety rating.

While people often over-estimate their power requirements, it certainly is better to be safe than to be sorry - having more power is not going to harm your system, while having not enough will.

For a typical gaming system involving say a high-end Core i5, and a mid to mid-high end range GeForce or Radeon graphics card, a QUALITY 500 W PSU is normally more than sufficient - even taking into factor a large number of hard drives, and a mild overclock on the CPU and GPU.