Power supply question

[s37d]

Regarding power supplies, are they always drawing full current? For instance, if I'm using a 700 watt power supply, and I only have the motherboard, 1 hard drive, and 1 dvd-rom hooked up, is it still using the full 700 watts of power?

 

[Shumway]

Nope,It only draws what it needs to power the components

 

[s37d]

Ok thx. I was concerned about energy consumption since computers can really up the energy bill if on for long times. I do all I can to conserve power like have the hard drives not in use(storage) shut off after 15 min.

 

[oldskool]

PSUs fluctuate depending on the needs of the system. Your PSU should always have some headroom to allow for sudden changes of output needed by the psu by the rest of the system, as in hardcore gaming for example.

But as Shum said, you wont be at full-bore all the time.

*Interesting sidenote: Even with the PC off, there will always be a voltage present to the motherboard, (+5 volts), which is used to keep the system at the ready so when you push in the front case switch, the system will start up. A signal is sent to the CPU which tells the PSU to start everything up. But that small constant voltage in itself wont run up your light bill. Your coffee pot or waffle maker uses tons more electricity than your PC.