seeking saturday morning education in power supplies

[Ninepepper]

Not looking to get technical, just an abstract discussion in theory really

What is the mechanisim/application/engineering explanation behind being able to plug a power supply into a 110 outlet and instantly having 400+ watts available to your computer? Quite the concept. I would think energy would be lost rather than gained.

I mean, in more layman terms, doesn't the ps suck more energy from the wall than it uses? IF so, why is that never mentioned on advertisements for power supplies?

What would happen if you were the industrious sort and daisy-chained, oh I don't know, 3 dozen power supplies together. Could you (after changing out the molexs) power the rest of your house from one 110 watt connection? IF so, would your electric bill be higher or lower?

 

[spaceman]

110 volts.

 

[Ornery]

Yeah, it's 120V @ 20 AMPS. Ought to be enough there to run your manly rig, no?

A better question is, how does Dell manage to make stable machines with only a couple hundred quiet watts of power? Sounds like certain PC builders around here, are getting sucked into some hype.

 

[Squisher]

You might find a stimulating discussion in the Hardware Forum.


BTW-the purpose of a computer power supply is to turn your 110v AC into DC of varying voltages.

 

[abracadabra1]

p=vi.....p=110X20 = 2200 W

 

[Colt45]

SMPS isnt 100% efficent, nothing is. so some power is lost during conversion.

the advantage of switchmode over linear is it can have better regulation, you can use smaller transformers because of the increased frequency, and i guess in a mass produced state its probably cheaper to build than a 4 rail linear.