Gadgetory

you're not little bad you see in the quarter of almost every power supply box that says 80 plus and then has some kind of a precious metal attached to it we're going to tell you what you need to know about 80 plus as fast as possible the original 80 plus was really simple 80 plus logo goes here the power supply at 20 percent of its maximum load 50 percent of its maximum load and a hundred percent of its maximum load had to be at least 80 percent efficient converting power from AC wall power to the DC power that your computer uses after a while it got to the point where it was becoming easier and cheaper to build power supplies that were 80 plus efficient which is which is great I mean power was being saved money was being saved trees are being saved there's all good things but consumers were looking for ways to continue to differentiate even more efficient power supplies so over 2008 and 2009 80 plus bronze silver gold and platinum were all introduced now some of these particularly 80 plus platinum is almost more like a 90 plus certification because it requires 90 percent 92 percent and 89 percent efficiency at 20 percent 50 percent 100 percent loads but the branding of 80 plus remains power supplies that are extremely efficient but for example have large voltage drops under load or exhibit a lot of ripple can cause long-term damage to your components even though they might be quite efficient with that said most 80 plus gold and platinum power supplies these days do tend to also be very well built inside it just should be noted that you've got to watch out for those other things as well and it's important to still read reviews for power supplies for those of you who were paying really close attention before there's no 80-plus requirement for efficiency under 20% load so that's why it's important to buy a power supply that is appropriate for your system if you have a mid-range gaming rig that only draws 80 to 100 watts from the wall at idle buying a 1200 watt power supply for it is inappropriate because that's less than 10 percent of the overall power supplies capacity that means this 80 plus Platinum power supply could be 90% efficient at 20% load but it could drop all the way down to 70% efficient at a five percent load you don't know I'm not saying this one does in fact the ax 1200 I is one of the best-built power supplies on the market but as a general rule you want to get something that is going to be somewhere near that sweet spot so you want at least 20 percent load at idle and then under load you want to be around 50 to 75 percent to take advantage of the most efficient part of the efficiency curve which is not on this particular power supplies box but I think you guys get the point thanks for watching this episode of fast as possible on tech quickie as always don't forget to subscribe to tech quickie don't forget to like the video it helps us a lot and share the video with anyone who you think might benefit from the information if you have a suggestion for a fast as possible episode click the link in the video description and leave that suggestion for us we'll have a look and there's a very good chance we will produce a fast as possible just for you