PC Power Supply (1 Viewer)

[John*K]

Does anyone actually measure PC power supply wattage in the way that a/v receiver power is measured? i.e., if they produce the power that they claim. I've been looking around, and to my surprise, I have found no data so far. Is there a way to test these claims at home?

 

[KyleS]

Without having some specialized electrical equipment I dont really see how. If I were wanting all of the juice that is possible out of a power supply buying a top rated brand would help to make sure you are getting the most for your $. Antec, Enlight, Vantec, Etc.

KyleS

 

[brentl]

try this

Brent

 

[Scott L]

Brent an extra http in your link.
What you need to look for is the combined wattage output on the +3.3v and +5v rails. Those are the important ones as they power the motherboard/cpu/agp/pci/usb ports. For the newest P4/XP systems 200-220 is ideal.
PCPowerCooling still makes the best quality for consumers imo. Sparkle/Fortron are the best value.
Excellent Anandtech discussion