- Werd. Here goes:
Discussions on other Forums - Answered by Experts
- Tom's Hardware Forum - Singel vs. Dual Rail PSU discussion.
- Bjorn3d Forum - Myths about Single & Dual Rail PSUs
- Extreme Systems Forum: Single Rail Dominance - These guys go overboard on PC modding regularly. This particular topic on the issue is very interesting.
- SLI Zone: Why Multi-Rail GPUs are not good enough - Here's another topic that bolsters my earlier points. Unless you're running a Mushkin PSU which explicitly fuses the amperage on the multiple rails when the GPU power demands it, you're loosing an average of 10amps for ever secondary rail if you choose a multi-rail PSU over a single rail flavour. Even manufacturers like AlienWare prefer single-rail PSUs for their monster rigs.
Reference Material for this article
These are a list of materials I used as a reference guide to compile all of the information you read on page one. I invite you to read and educate yourselves as well. I merely condensed all this mumbo-jumbo so that it is easily accessible from one point.
- Power Supply Units - Read this reference column before you read anything else. All the basic information you need to know is here.
- Power Ratings on the most recent high end GPUs - This is a relatively comprehensive list of the power ratings of all the GPUs currently in the market as at 2007. Expect this list to be updated as new technology comes on stream. Please note that this list includes the minium power (i.e. wattage) needed to run the GPUs. It does not specify the maximum power required. To determine the amperage from these power ratings, simply divide the wattage by 12, since all GPUs run on a 12v rail.
- Power Supply Fundamentals: How much is Enough? - This article thoroughly explains why buying a monster PSU is not necessarily justified, and shows why manufacturers are only touting watt ratings to scare up some cash.
- All about Power Factor Correction - Why it's important to have in a PSU and the significance it has on your power consumption.
- Power Supply Design Specification 2.2 - This is an Adobe Document developed by Intel. It is highly technical, and specifies the relevance of Dual Rail technology in newer PSUs. This is the official document that describes 2.2 specifications for newer power supply units, circa 2005.
- Voltage - A comprehensive write-up on electrical differentials.
- Drift Speed of Electrical Charges - This will help you understand the significance of why watt rating in a PSU rating is almost irrelevant.
- NewEgg's Exhaustive Power Supply Shopping Guide - Everything you need to know about the devices, what the specs mean and how to decide.
- Common Power Supply Myths - Now here's some reading for those of you who believe that SLI certified PSUs carry enough power on a single rail to power a GPU, or that you need two power supplies to run your rig or that Multi-rail PSUs are better than single rail, or if you've heard any other myth about power supplies (maybe you don't even know that it's a myth), READ THIS ARTICLE. You'll be glad you did.
That's a LOT of information to condense. So I'm going to stop right here until your hunger for knowledge grows. Please bear in mind that there's a 20v specification being developed for Next-next gen PSUs and GPUs. So in a year or so, all of this information will be obsolete.
[Cont'd...]