Why dont PSU makers put in a sensor that reports power draw from the socket?

[Borealis7]

i wonder why dont PSU makers integrate a sensor into their PSUs that reports the power draw in real time and make a software that can read it?

i'm sure its possible. make a little cord that conencts to an available 4 pin fan socket on the M/B or something. if fans can report RPMs, there is no reason why PSUs cant report power draw.

are they hiding the fact that they're 1.21 GIGAWATTS power supplies cant really reach the amount of power advertised on the unit?

i think its the public's right to know, and i dont want to buy a special power measurement unit.

 

[HOOfan 1]

Because it costs extra money....especially if you want something that is fairly accurate. I guess you have to ask yourself, are you prepared to pay an extra $20-$50+ for that feature.

Gigabyte did that with the Odin...which made it cost much more than competing units.

The brands that would be trying to hide that their units aren't capable of reaching the advertised power output ESPECIALLY wouldn't be able to afford to do this.

 

[Gillbot]

cost and it's yet another item to fail and cause RMA's

 

[Yellowbeard]

Read an independent review from a trusted reviewer. They measure current draw and test the output in the good ones.

Also, a "good" power draw measurement device is very expensive as noted. And, a lot of the junk you see online is not very accurate. On top of that, an unscrupulous manufacturer could put a device onto the PSU to tell you anything they wanted to. In fact, it would be easy to come up with a device to show that brand "X" PSUs are 127% efficient.

 

[Rubycon]

It would be neat if they had an indicator that showed % load though.

That is something they probably do NOT want as people would see how much PSU they over-purchased. :laugh:

 

[Ayah]

Originally posted by: Borealis7
i wonder why dont PSU makers integrate a sensor into their PSUs that reports the power draw in real time and make a software that can read it?

i'm sure its possible. make a little cord that conencts to an available 4 pin fan socket on the M/B or something. if fans can report RPMs, there is no reason why PSUs cant report power draw.

are they hiding the fact that they're 1.21 GIGAWATTS power supplies cant really reach the amount of power advertised on the unit?

i think its the public's right to know, and i dont want to buy a special power measurement unit.

No house in known existence can support a 1.21 GIGAwatt load. That's 1 200 000 000 watts.
1000W is a kilowatt fyi.

Edit: Hell, I don't even know if most power plants can support that much load.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Any decent PSU can output its rated power, so no need to worry about it.

Any crappy PSU that cannot wouldn't have an expensive feature like that anyway.

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: Ayah

Originally posted by: Borealis7
i wonder why dont PSU makers integrate a sensor into their PSUs that reports the power draw in real time and make a software that can read it?

i'm sure its possible. make a little cord that conencts to an available 4 pin fan socket on the M/B or something. if fans can report RPMs, there is no reason why PSUs cant report power draw.

are they hiding the fact that they're 1.21 GIGAWATTS power supplies cant really reach the amount of power advertised on the unit?

i think its the public's right to know, and i dont want to buy a special power measurement unit.

No house in known existence can support a 1.21 GIGAwatt load. That's 1 200 000 000 watts.
1000W is a kilowatt fyi.

Edit: Hell, I don't even know if most power plants can support that much load.

*tap tap* sarcasm meter check *tap tap*

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: heymrdj

*tap tap* sarcasm meter check *tap tap*

The pen is not stuck in the left position rather there is not enough energy to actuate the d'Arsonval movement in the meter itself! No doubt due to the 1.21GW requested with 1.1 available. :laugh:

 

[heymrdj]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: heymrdj

*tap tap* sarcasm meter check *tap tap*

The pen is not stuck in the left position rather there is not enough energy to actuate the d'Arsonval movement in the meter itself! No doubt due to the 1.21GW requested with 1.1 available. :laugh:

um yeah...Demolition Man..that is an awsome movie...cool...

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Ayah
No house in known existence can support a 1.21 GIGAwatt load. That's 1 200 000 000 watts.

But if there was, would it be able to run Crysis 2?

But seriously, don't some of the better UPS units have one of those meter thingies? I know some PSUs have featured them in the past but were fairly inaccurate and didn't go over too well with many reviewers.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: Ayah
No house in known existence can support a 1.21 GIGAwatt load. That's 1 200 000 000 watts.

But if there was, would it be able to run Crysis 2?

But seriously, don't some of the better UPS units have one of those meter thingies? I know some PSUs have featured them in the past but were fairly inaccurate and didn't go over too well with many reviewers.

APC has software that will show the current watts usage on the UPS. The UPS that have LCD on the front have gotten pretty bad reliability reports. I think adding the extra circuitry must have come from the main UPS parts budget to keep the price low.

Some of the higher end UPS have better monitor features. I have a UPS from HP that runs on 208volt for servers that has a net port. You run the software on a pc and it shows a table with load, noise, frequency, voltage in, voltage out, battery voltage and lots of bar graphs that update every second, along with animations showing the path the power is currently taking. I think it was designed by someone paranoid over power

 

[mpilchfamily]

If you want to monitor your PSU's power usage then go and get yourself a Kill-A-Watt power meter. They are pretty cheap, about $30. While they aren't the most accurate, esspecially at higher wattages, they can give you a good idea about your system's power usage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...#37;20a%20watt

 

[Red Squirrel]

It would be a pretty neat feature to have. Sure you can plug it into a killawatt but having it actually display in software and maybe even graph it, would be cool.

But the cost and extra complexity is probably why they wont do it.

Though, THIS, is what I want. Maybe later on I'll buy one. It plugs straight into your electrical panel and also has options to measure individual circuits I think (you could measure your PC room for example).

 

[dank69]

No house in known existence can support a 1.21 GIGAwatt load. That's 1 200 000 000 watts.
1000W is a kilowatt fyi.

Edit: Hell, I don't even know if most power plants can support that much load.

I'm sorry. But the only power source capable of generating 1.21 gigawatts of electricity is a bolt of lightning.

 

[RebateMonger]

You can tell the really good power supplies because their power meter goes to 11 instead of 10.

 

[HumblePie]

Does anyone else smell something burning?

 

[Modelworks]

I am still waiting for motherboard makers to put in reliable voltage monitoring. It isn't rocket science to make it accurate and readable via software.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I am still waiting for motherboard makers to put in reliable voltage monitoring. It isn't rocket science to make it accurate and readable via software.

Especially when a $5 meter from china-imports-R-us is more than accurate enough. I mean come on....

 

[Gillbot]

I am still waiting for motherboard makers to put in reliable voltage monitoring. It isn't rocket science to make it accurate and readable via software.

I covered this already:

cost and it's yet another item to fail and cause RMA's

 

[mpilchfamily]

Actually the voltage monitors onboard motherboards are accurate. The problem is there placement on the board in relation to the power source. Generally the chip respocible for the voltage and temp readings are on the oposite end of the board from the 24 pin power connector. Add to that how small the traces are on the board and there is a decent amount of resistance there so but the time the power reaches the chip the reading is off. Since each brand and model of motherboard is laid out differently there is no way to standardise this so that the chip accounts for the discrepency. An no manufacture is going to put for the time and money to do the testing needed to determin the dicrepency on each of there motherboard models.

 

[Modelworks]

Actually it adds almost zero cost to make the readings accurate. I think it is more just the attitude of "we don't care about it" . When I designed boards we had accurate voltage readings and this was 10 years ago and not for a high end market either , this was for consumer devices like satellite and set top boxes. A technician who was servicing the box could plug in to the diagnostic port and read any of the voltages on the attached pc and they were .1 volt accurate.

All it takes is some consideration in laying out the board. We had to do it by hand almost, now the software is pretty damn good at routing so really they have no excuse not to make it accurate other than being lazy.

 

[Yellowbeard]

I am still waiting for motherboard makers to put in reliable voltage monitoring. It isn't rocket science to make it accurate and readable via software.

One thing you would have to do first is have the MOBO makers admit that the current monitoring methods are not accurate. Good luck there.

 

[Modelworks]

One thing you would have to do first is have the MOBO makers admit that the current monitoring methods are not accurate. Good luck there.

I think that is the biggest reason , they don't see it as an issue. People that read teh voltages are a very small minority.