Beginners Guide to Power Supplies... How to understand the ratings 

"Power supplies are important because they supply power" -Jay 2021

ElectroBOOM would be proud of your terminology corrections

as someone who has more experience with cars and modifying cars, than i have about computers, i appreciate you making analogies to the motor vehicle world, makes it a lot easier to understand

“How do you know if it’s a good power supply? 80+ rating” 5 months later: It’s not a Gigabyte 🤣

9:18 “But as you can see, the size does matter.” Welp, you heard it here folks!

"I'm bored" "Uhh, power supplies?" At least I can probably buy these things.

I always thought power supplies were pretty awesome. They're probably the hardest working component in your system with the highest build quality compared to any other part.

I upgraded my psu from 350W to 850W and it made a huge difference. My hard drives run smoother and there are no auto shut offs and BSODs anymore.

"Running lean is a bad thing" Civic: Blows up

You know it's good quality if the man at the shop says "hello my friend, special price for you, good quality".

As someone who has been watching this channel for almost two years being a die hard console guy, these guides you do Jay have been amazing! I’ve just ordered parts to build my first one. By far my favorite tech channel especially cause I can relate being nerd about this kinda stuff but also being a car guy! The car analogies help so much 😂.

Found this video as I am searching for a psu for my computer. This was recommended by youtube and I am really happy that I clicked the link - fantastic video - very simple, to the point and easy to follow - love the decision at the end too - that is what I found helpful because it aligned with what I was thinking - helped me with knowing that I am heading in the right direction. Thank you very much once again.

That clip at 11:44 scared crap out of me, i was watching this video on the side while playing games ._. So loud and sharp, lol

"Even the cheapest have an on off switch" hp:"they have a what now?"

Great video Jay, I have been building custom boxes for over 25 years with my first build being off the 386 DX66 CPU if that doesn't date me. Believe me when I tell you that even with all those yeas of building under my belt I learned a ton about PSU's. Thx for revisiting this topic as I believe you helped me figure out what my issues with my current build are.

Just wanted to drop a quick comment to say thank you for this video. I'm building my first PC in 10 years or so and have to re-learn a lot about the industry. This is some really helpful information!

9:00 the “proprietary” connector is a standard “IEC 320 C20” socket. Well known on heavy duty PDUs and by some gear such as the PSUs of Cisco Catalyst 6500-E series switches. They are usually combined with a NEMA 5-20R on the wall socket side of the cable, which has one of the prongs sideways (so it won’t purposely fit a 5-15R receptacle and therefore not be limited to 15A).

Me, staring at my EVGA white 80plus: "We're friends right? You'd never hurt me?"

Building my first PC and these videos by Jay have been really insightful. It's nice to see someone cut through the BS, marketing, and consumer fads and be real about what you actually need and what's a waste of money.

Your understanding of basic electronics and Physics helps. Most people don't really have background in EE and did not pay attention to physics. Good job in explaining it in a way a layman will "potentially" understand. Power delivery is overlooked and causes the most little issues. Even from the wall. I always recommend even a small ups to smoothen out the power the delivery into the PS.

Beginners guide to power supplies: You'll need one in a couple of years when you can actually buy the other parts that go in a PC.

It's always, "What's the best power supply", or "What's the most powerful power supply". Someone finally made a recent guide on my question, "How should I CHOOSE a power supply".

The timing of this video is really convenient. Just last night I was watching Jay’s video about power supplies from 6 years ago and then this video pops up in my recommended section

A very informative video, thank you. Also another must-have is surge protection, either on a power board or in your Electrical switchboard for your home like I have.

The most important part of any PC build.Well said.

I'm a 38 y.o. PC newbie. Thanks to channels like yours, I'm even surprised I owned only Apple computers. Thank you for all the info all the time, you do an excellent job.

Thank you for sharing with us your extraordinary knowledge and thoughful thoughts. I was able to learn so much more than I knew about PSU and how I should connect them properly for my gaming pc. Thank you again and I hope you are having a great time in your life. My best prayer and wishes for you Jayz!

Great video. Was just checking out PSUs for my new build and was absolutely confused. Now it all makes sense. Thanks a lot!

"All modern Power Supplies have this little switch on the back" *Stares at stack of OEM PSU's* they really want to save the 3 cents on that switch don't they?

9:01 If I'm not mistaken that is not a proprietary inlet but one of the standard IEC ones for high current C20 (C19 for the connector) I believe it is called. The more common inlet we see in PC hardware is the C14 (C13 for connector) defined in the same standard.

Great video, So much useful information that people need to know about P/S vs Wow look how big or how cool it looks :) I always find your videos very helpful and enjoyable to watch. I have been building systems since 1997 and would of loved having these videos back then. So many people don't no what it was like in the early days of dial-up hell to get info. Keep the Videos coming !

I wish I could give you a hug. This made so much sense and took a lot of the confusion and anxiety out of things for me!

Keep going around the pc with all the parts with analogies like you did for everyone to understand. You already have great content for the deep dive. Sometimes I just want a quick overview refresher on ram timings vs ram frequency without going cross-eyed on physics.

If only this vid came out yesterday, I just bought mine!

Your channel has been a god send. I have been out of the loop since 2015 so these refreshers a great.

These beginners videos are so helpful thank you for this :)

Jay: 850w, 80+ gold is the way to go Me, a Vietnamese, checking prices: holy f**,, that's almost a 1050 ti. Greetings from Nam, guys.

Fact check: PSUs are more efficient at 240v than 110v (it can be quite a substantial amount). Voltages being 'close' isn't a thing between DC and AC. Plus most fans and lighting use a negligible amount of power, so not really a factor.

Brilliant!! Thanks man. This really helped with my friend's daughter's build. Great channel.

Very nice one! Please in future can you go more in depth about the cables and connection interfaces on power supplies. They are so many, sometimes it hard to tell what goes where, what you need and what you don't need

Super Flower now sells directly to the consumer. They were the OEM for some of EVGA's high end PSU's. So if anyone is looking for a good quality 80+ gold PSU, check them out. Their prices are really good!

I KNEW me sitting down and adding up all the Power of my units in my Extension wasn't a waste of time! Phew, avoided a fire. Or did I. 🤫

Great video and clear-cut content! Thanks for the information!

I'm really glad the first thing I researched when I decided I wanted a new PC was power supplies. I didn't quite understand why, but I figured the best thing I could do for my system was research max power draw for the components that I was planning to get, and what I would potentially be willing to upgrade to. I'm not big in to OC, water cooling, or "high end" graphics cards, so for me a 750w PS was perfect for both now and any upgrades I plan. My max power draw in my current system is about 550w, so the overhead will let me reliably use this thing for years, upgrades be damned.

The best quote in this video “Size does matter”

really appreciating these recent videos aimed at beginners and at dispelling common misconceptions

As a guy who is more into motorsport that is looking at building a PC, comparing power supply to a cars fuel system has made this so much easier for me to understand what i'm looking at!

Learned so much... Now I know what PSU to go for. Thanks Jay! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I just have to say I love that Jay is into cars too. The comparisons to automotive stuff are always just spot on

*Beginners' Guide to Graphics Cards* "Jay, nobody can BUY graphics cards right now." *Fine - Beginners' Guide to Power Supplies* "..."

Hey Jay! Love the videos! I came here because I’m looking to build my first PC and because of your thoroughness, I feel confident that I can pull it off. Question: I haven’t seen anyone bring up using a power conditioner ahead of your power supply. Does the power supply have a built power conditioner regulating the voltage to a steady 118v? I’ve played music for years and I have always used a power conditioner to keep the grid power that constantly moves up and down as local demand changes regulated. From what I know, those types of changes are what eventually wears down internals of power demanding electronics. Thanks again for the great content! You’re the GOAT!

Thanks Jayz this is what I really need to know more about the power supply.

"Gold-rated is quite affordable these days." *cries in European electronics market*

Literally was in the process of switching my power supply for a new one while watching this. I was not planning on changing the cords but just the box. Jay you may have saved a component of mine from getting blown up since I was going to use the old EVGA cords not the Corsair ones. Thank you

I want to thank you, your guides have helped me understand pc's and are helping me select my parts for my own first build and i have seen the video for beginners hopefully i remember what you said in that and don't have to go back lol

That was very helpful and taught me a lot more than I knew, it showed me how little and wrong my knowledge on the subject was, thanks again. U saved me money n time trying to decide what to do based on my best guess which it seems had little to do with the facts. I'd have bought based on the Wattage number and price but now I can go on what I'll likely need and quality, then price.

Corsair has a handy chart about which cables work on which PSU, saved me from blowing my stuff up.

thanks for mentioning about not reusing cables, I currently have a modular and was thinking of upgrading power supplies and just reusing the cables so i would not need to redo the cabling.

Awesome video, very confident, great presentation! I'm grateful, thank you! (Y)

Perfectly explained, thanks Jay

Just to clear up something Jay said, there isn't a specific protection device for overcurrent. No relay or fuse. These are all what are called switch mode power supplies. They take a transistor and turn it on and off really fast. Think of it as a switch. So it turns on and off really fast to keep the voltage in the right area. To pretend we're doing this with light let's say that you have a hundred volts going to your light but you want 50 volts going out to it. Well if you turn the light on and off really really fast with half the time being on and half the time being off it would get an average of 50 volts. So then you have certain components to average the voltage and the current (capacitors and inductors) and this lets it even out to a nice smooth voltage. The feedback loop of voltage also gets a feedback from the current being drawn. If the current goes too high it just keeps it off longer. This makes the power effectively shut off. The nicer ones have a dead man switch that "flip" electronically... this turns it off until power is removed... if you didn't do this and just connected the feedback directly, It would see the overcurrent, and then cut off but then there's no more overcurrent problems so it cuts back on and then there's an overcurrent problem so it cuts off and effectively you would be switching it to a lower voltage but it would still be popping on and off and giving you a brownout condition. In any case I was just saying there's no fuse in there. It's just the logic for the power supply itself with the feedback of a shunt. As far as I know none of these power supplies use a hall effect sensor

That point about not using the modular cables supplied and not from another psu leads to an important point that is often overlooked - whether its a mobo, cpu, gpu or psu when you buy a high end component KEEP THE BOX and keep all the documents and unused accessories in it. You may need them later, and you'll know where to find them. It also makes it easier to sell on the part in the future, or store it if you're not using it but don't want to let it go.

12/10 video!! Thank you so much for explaining this so thoroughly!

I really needed this explanation. Thank you

Thanks for always providing easy to understand insight on pcs, really helps a person who knows little about building em

"The plugs haven't changed in decades" Despite nvidia trying to force it down our throats...

you recommended what i already added to my list, great minds think alike!

Thanks! Currently thinking about building a PC and your channel has helped me a bunch 👍😃

The AC connector on the EVGA 1600W power supply isn't proprietary. It's a standard IEC C19/C20. The conventional 'Kettle Cord' connectors (C13/C14) are only rated for up to 10A -- which would be a 950/1000W power supply on NA voltages. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#C19/C20_coupler

Jay: "Your Molex" People building their first PC in 2021: "WTF is a Molex"

This is the only video I ever needed. Thanks.

This was super helpful, thank you!

Jay in every thumbnail looking like he doesn’t understand how he got here.

Can't wait for this to be in my recommended in like a year

Thank you for informative guide!

Meanwhile me using a 250W PSU in an 11 year old PC be like: "Okay Jay, alright Jay.. 👁️👄👁️"

dude, here in mexico we still have those free psu's that come with some "el cheapo" cases, and people really piss me off because they just won't understand that their $800 computer is just gonna blow up and all their investment is gonna go to hell if they don't spend at least the $50 bucks an 80 plus bronze psu costs

Thanks a lot, this was the exact type of information I was looking for!

This video helped me understand the PSU. Thank you for this video.

8:57 It's not proprietary - it's a C19 socket for a C20 plug, standardized in IEC 60320-1. C19/C20 is rated for 16A, rather than the common 10A of C13/C14. ;)

Indeed, this was straight forward and simple to understand. I am by no means an expert in this field, but I have built one PC and regret not paying $50 more to get a higher watt PSU. Lesson learned

I was just thinking of this topic yesterday, many thanks

very good and to the point info. shared with my pc groups.

Add me to that list of people that didn’t know modular PSU cables weren’t interchangeable. I’ve toasted multiple components before I realized what was wrong.

I love Jay's Beginners Guides - I may not need them, but I love being able to help those who may be new to PC building :D.

best video on power supplies yet! thanks man!

Good to know. I'll keep this in mind when building mine.

0:01 He said no so I quit the video again. I like when youtubers are straightforward with this

One of the VERY BEST vids I think you've ever done jay. Straight forward and extremely USEFUL subject. You're very much on your game here. No fluff! Personally I always buy Seasonic (they actually MAKE the unit, not just stick their name on it like Corsair or Coolermaster et al!), they've proven to me over the years they are THE best, if not one of the best 2 or 3. I always buy at LEAST 850 GOLD and usually Titanium 1000W for my top systems. You're right, top quality PSUs are money VERY well spent - no gain whatsoever in economising on a PSU - always buy the best you can lay your hands on! Well done mate, cheers from Sydney Australia.

Thanx for explaining so well.

Great introduction, told me exactly what I needed for PSUs.

Thanks for the video. On longevity, I'd add that I have to replace a 10 year old 850W Cooler Master because it doesn't have the 8-pin PCIEs required for the new GPUs, 3080s and the like. So the PSU has done well, there's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't have the right stuff for newer hardware.

I’ve been into car audio since 2018 and my pet peeve is that if you can get a power supply that is 3/4 more or double what your PC is pushing (especially if you’re just owning your first PC) is the better because you can guarantee that (if you chose white or bronze rated) you won’t under power your PC and having a higher power supply will no way shape or form damage your component unless you have a shitty power supply. in the case of amplifier it’s the same thing, the only difference you have to tune your Amplifier to match what your speakers can handle

Thank you so much! Really nice guide

Thank you for making this video! I really wish you made this video sooner before i made my first pc.

I know about PSUs,but I still love Papa Jayz explanations. Just someone telling you, "You're doing fine. Keep on track." so soothing.

Suggestion for the next PSU video: single vs. multiple rails.

@11:44 you scared the coffee right out of my mouth as I had your video playing in the background while compiling code. Good job Jay, you got me lol!

another great vid Jay, thanks a bunch.

It would be interesting if Jay talks about multirail PSUs; how to load balance them and when one should choose them over single rail