PSU Help

[spartan611]

Ok so I am getting a computer soon, and I am putting a Silverstone Zeus 650 watt SLI power supply in it. I was talking to my dad about it and he was concerned that because where I will be putting my computer, my room, it will run on the same circuit of the house as the other upstairs bedroom. He said that most circuits or houses(not sure which one) has an average ampeage capacity of 15-20 amps. My question is, how many amps will my power supply require for its input amperage? If it is 10-15 then I am screwed. Because wouldn't the computer that draws that much power under load and even not load cause the circuit to short a lot? Please help me you guys and please respond ASAP. THANKS!

 

[john3]

i highly doubt that a house would not have the capacity to run a computer, i dun think you should worry about it, and ill check the psu see if i can find anything. wait i think its 18 amps...............? two rails i tink. not sure. eeek, u might be screwed. or you can get an Antec TruePower II, it might need less, and is more than enough.

 

[spartan611]

Are you serious? It takes 18 amps?! Cus someone else told me it would take 7 amps at max but normally 4-5.

 

[HAVOC]

The job of a PC power supply is to convert AC POWER into DC power.
Amperage is a measurement of electron flow. (Think of the pressure of water moving threw a pipe.) Since the Power Supply isn't using AC directly and is using DC that it has converted, the amperage of a power supply is created by dividing wattage by voltage.

Don't worry about the amperage of your house circuitry. It has nothing to do with the amperage of your power supply. You do want to make sure you have a solid 110v or 230v outlet.

 

[spartan611]

Are you 100% positive that I don't have to worry about the amps? Nothing will short circuit because of it? If I do have to worry about the volts I think my socket will be ok because I have a PC running off it right now but not nearly as powerful though. Although at one time I had 2 computers, 1 PC and 1 old imac running off the same socket. So should I worry about it?

 

[Nitestick]

it will be fine. current, voltage and resistance are related by the following formula: V(Voltage)=I(Current in Amperes)R(Resistance in Ohms). say a wire in your pc has the same resistance as a wire in your house, for this we shall say 75 ohm. a house mains supply (i'm going to say 240v as its what i'm familiar) flowing through this wire has a current of 3.2 Amps (Voltage divide by resistance=current, e.g. 240/75=3.2). whereas say 12v from the power supply runs across the same wire, the current is 0.16 Amps. so basically what i am trying to say is the Amp ratings of the power supply are different to those of the house circuitry because current varies with voltage.

 

[spartan611]

Ok so you are saying that it wont need to draw more than 7 or so amps(that is what someone else told me) from the socket? So I am fine even if I get the most powerful computer in the world, I can still plug it in and not worry about anything.

 

[spartan611]

Can anyone answer the above questions that are in the reply right above this one? Thanks.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I have allways heard that some PSU's depending on the PSU can pull a full 15 amps on the home circuit.... Like that 1000 watt PSU....

 

[Nitestick]

well in theory the very maximum your psu should draw wouldn't much exceed its rating in watts (assuming some inefficiency) so for instance your 650w psu would not draw more than 2.7 amps if you have 240v mains electricity or 5.9 amps if you use 110v