Question When my PC components use upto 550 watts of peak power, do they use 550 watts per hour or per minute?

[Sarveshix]

My PC components sum upto 550 watts and I have a 650 watts power supply installed.

1. Is 550 watts used for one hour/minute/second?
2. How powerful of a UPS should I buy at the bare minimum?

 

[Deleted member 14196]

the current is used as needed, just because it can draw 550 Watts does not mean it does so continuously. if you are gaming hard and using tons of resources, yeah, it will draw that power as long as necessary. This is where you want a good quality psu with high efficiency (preferably GOLD, but Bronze and Silver are fine, just less efficient) rating, so it can reliably produce all the power that will be required--while not wasting power on itself (more efficient, produces more, consumes less for itself)

as for UPS (I don't care for them at all) get as big a quality unit that can afford. more battery is better and you can run longer... OR, just get the minimum that would give you time to shut down gracefully in case of power outages (we do this at work so the boxes don't go down hard).

 

[orionfotl]

Your question is phrased in the wrong way. It's equivalent to asking "if a car goes 100 km/h, does it go 100km/h per hour or 100km/h per minute?

If your components use 550 watts, that means they consume 550 joules per second.

 

[Sarveshix]

Your question is phrased in the wrong way. It's equivalent to asking "if a car goes 100 km/h, does it go 100km/h per hour or 100km/h per minute?

If your components use 550 watts, that means they consume 550 joules per second.

thanks and the ups?

 

[retroforlife]

Computers are generally very good at power efficiency and will only use whats needed . My I5 8600k and 2070 super only goes to about 300 w at the most while gaming and 110 w while watching videos online . In real world situations your pc will rarely hit the maximum that's listed on the component specs . But always better to have a power supply that can give more than needed than the other way around .

Ps can buy a plug to see power usage online very useful to have 😁