ok, i'm confused

[flclisgreat]

my rig
Biostar T-Force 6100
Sempron 2800+ @2.6ghz
2gb G. Skill HZ pc6400 @5-5-5-15/520mhz
x1950xt @ stock for now (working on it)
500w xclio goodpower

my last psu was a fortron 400w. it had 18a on the 2 12v rails. this xclio has 14a and 15a on the 12v rails.

why did my fortron psu make noise when i put load on my vga, and why not the xclio?

[CAD4466HK]

Possible loose transformer coil winding
Surely it has nothing to do with the +12V amp ratings on each said unit

[flclisgreat]

just confused is all. the recommended psu for the card is at least 450w and 30a on the 12v rail. the xclio has the watts, but the fortron has more amps.

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by flclisgreat

just confused is all. the recommended psu for the card is at least 450w and 30a on the 12v rail. the xclio has the watts, but the fortron has more amps.

You are confused. Watts and amps are the same thing.

Look at the combined 12V capability of the two PSU's. Not the amperage of each of two 12V rails.

You can have a PSU with less amperage on each +12V rail and still capable of more combined wattage.

You can have one, two, three or six 12V rails but because 99% of the time the +12V is from the same source, the combined wattage capability is really all that's important.

[flclisgreat]

i thought it was amps times volts=watts

[jonnyGURU]

It is. But since the value of volts is a known variable (+12V) then it goes without saying.

Amps per rail is only determined by an OCP (over current protection) circuit in most power supplies, so it can be any value from 0 to whatever the actual +12V rail is capable of (depending on the transformer and rectifier supplying the voltage to those rails) so you really should never look at how many "amps" each 12V rail is capable of because it all comes down to how many WATTS the combined capability of the 12V rails are. And that's not combined as in 12V1 + 12V2, etc. but combined as in what the label says combined is.

[flclisgreat]

ok. sticker says the 5v and 3.3v are 140w, so the 12v has to be 360w. fortron sticker says 3.3v and 5v are 150w MAX and the 12v1 and 12v2 are 348w max

[jonnyGURU]

Originally Posted by flclisgreat

ok. sticker says the 5v and 3.3v are 140w, so the 12v has to be 360w. fortron sticker says 3.3v and 5v are 150w MAX and the 12v1 and 12v2 are 348w max

Nope. Just like how you can't add +12V rails, you can't add the 3.3V+5V with the +12V.

For example: Your Fortron was a 400W. But 150W + 348W = 498W. That's 98W greater than the PSU's total capability. So you can't assume that the +12V capability of your Xclio is the total minus the 3.3V and 5V combined.

There's no "combined +12V" rating underneath the listing of the two +12V rails, or perhaps in fine print somewhere?

[flclisgreat]

fortron is a 400w. that is what the sticker says. but it emphisises MAX

the xclio is a 500w

[jonnyGURU]

I'm just saying that 3.3V + 5V + 12V isn't typically additive. There's typically an overlap.

Using the FSP as an example: 150 + 348 = 498. 498 > 400W.