Power Supplies Flashcards
Special box that takes electricity from the wall socket and transforms it into electricity your computer can use
Power Supply Unit (PSU)
Pressure of the electrons in the wire, measured in volts (V)
Voltage
The amount of electrons moving past a certain point on a wire, measured in amperes (amps/A)
Current/Amperage
The amps and volts needed so that a particular device will function. Also called watts/W
Wattage
Connects the cable supplying AC power from a wall outlet into the power supply
IEC-320
US AC Standard
110 - 120V
AC Standard for the rest of the world
220 - 240V
Hot to Neutral AC test
115V
Hot to Ground test
115V
Neutral to Ground test
0V
Device used to measure a number of aspects of electrical current consisting of two probes, an analog or digital meter, and a dial set to the type of test you want to perform
Multimeter/Volt-Ohm Meter (VOM)/Digital Multimeter (DMM)
Unit of electrical energy
Joule
Device that supplies continuous clean power to a computer system the whole time the computer is on. Protects against power outages and sags (and corresponding data loss)
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
Ensuring and adjusting incoming AC wall power to as close to standard as possible. Most UPS devices provide this
Power Conditioning
PC uses this current to power motors on devices such as hard drives and optical drives
12V
PC uses this current for support of onboard electronics
3.3V and 5V
Modern motherboards use this 20- or 24-pin connector
P1 Power Connector
Connector that supplies 5V and 12V current for fans and older drives. Has notches/chamfers that guide its installation
Molex Connector
Connector that supplies 5V and 12V to peripherals. Originally adopted as the standard connector on floppy disk drives
Mini Connector
15-pin connector used for Serial ATA drives. Supports the SATA hot-swappable feature and 3.3V, 5V, and 12V devices. They are L-shaped
SATA Power Connector
Characteristic of ATX motherboards, which can use software to turn the PC on and off. The physical manifestation of it is the power switch. Instead of the thick power cord used in AT systems, an ATX power switch is little more than a pair of small wires leading to the motherboard
Soft Power
Provided additional 12-volt power to assist the 20/24-pin P1 motherboard power connector
P4 Power Connector
Any power supply that provides a P4 connector
ATX12V Power Supply
A 6-pin auxiliary connector that supplied increased 3.3V and 5V current to the motherboard in the ATX12V 1.3 standard
AUX Connector
Separate DC voltage paths within an ATX power supply
Rails
The key circuitry that monitors the amount of amperage going through each rail. Will shut down the power supply if the current goes beyond its cap
Over-Current Protection (OCP)
One OCP to monitor all of the pathways
Single-Rail System
Each pathway has its own OCP
Multi-Rail System
Extra circuitry that smooths out power coming from the will before passing it to the main power supply circuits
Active Power Factor Correction (Active PFC)
