Gadgetory

single versus multi rail PC power supplies in truth it's actually pretty simple don't worry about it it doesn't matter if that explanation is good enough for you click here to watch videos of my cats instead if you'd like to know why it doesn't matter then you can keep watching this video at the most basic level a power supply converts AC current from the wall to DC current that your CPU and other components can use and then that octopus of wires carries 12 volt 5 volt and 3.3 volt current to your graphics card motherboard and etc cool Linus but how do rails enter into it good question a rail is just a fancy name for a PCB trace inside your power supply that the octopus wires are soldered to a single rail power supply has all of those external connectors essentially coming off of the same output while a multi rail power supply has some let's say a couple of your PCI Express connectors running off of one and some others let's say your EPS CPU connector or your SATA connectors running off of other ones okay so why would having everything plugged into one spot be considered good great question again basically multi rail power supplies have the misfortune of showing up at a time when Nvidia and ATI we're both having like a you know junk waving competition to see who could build the fastest graphics card without much regard for power consumption and these early multi rail units were sometimes designed with an underpowered rail for the graphics cards or not enough PCI Express connectors which forced the user to use molex adapters that were sharing with a bunch of other stuff either of which meant that the power supply would overload a rail and simply shut off in the middle of an intense gaming session - that sounds terrible I want a single rail power supply well don't get too amped up there Wiz get good power supplies are all about going fast lasting a long time improving efficiency and looking good while doing it right well sure but none of that stuff would matter one lick if they weren't first and foremost about safety any power supply that you should be using in a computer includes a variety of safety cut-offs that will detect dangerous operating conditions and force a shutdown to protect the PSU the rest of your pee see and even your house the main ones we're concerned with here are short-circuit protection and overcurrent protection the issue is that if a power supply fails in some way that your short-circuit protection doesn't catch over current protection is what will trigger your power supply to turn off a high capacity power supply designed to deliver all of its power over a single rail could melt away the insulation on its wires and cause off fire yeah that's tasteless but deal with it before it's over current protection was triggered but don't go throwing away your single rail power supply just yet the chances of all of that happening are really very small and funny story but especially nowadays many power supplies marketed as single rail are Multi rail internally anyway so it all comes back to what I said before don't shop based on how many rails a power supply has because it doesn't really matter these days the way you should shop for a power supply is by reading a credible review site like Johnny guru comm and finding a unit that meets your needs and performs well with the features that you want the number of rails doesn't make your PC run cooler it doesn't make it faster and even if it did do any of those things many manufacturers are just making this all up as they go along anyway speaking of making it up as I go along I've been doing sponsor spots for audible.com for a long time now they're the longest-running sponsor of tech wiki and for that I'm extremely grateful but aside from the bullet points that I have to hit for dem sponsorship bucks I want to address the most common complaint I hear about audiobooks I'd rather just read it I can do it faster that way that's a very valid point but audible has some experiences that simply aren't the same in book form Billy Crystal's own reading of his still fool in a memoir about his career and aging just isn't the same as lifeless text on pages now that I'm 65 I think in the year 2038 I'll be mostly dead or as miracle max and a princess bribe would say slightly alive and its content like that that makes audible great you don't have to choose reading or listening there are certain things that work better on one versus the other and you can enjoy both but I guess I better do the bullet points anyway audible.com is the place to go for audiobooks they've got over 150,000 to choose from with their monthly membership you can have something to listen to on your commute every month or wherever else you listen to audiobooks not to mention the other member benefits like discounts on more audiobooks if you try it out today you can get your first one for free so head on over to audible.com slash tech week to learn more it's also linked in the video description guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it share it if you thought it was somehow useful or someone should benefit from it somehow please share the penny out and as always don't forget to subscribe to tech wiki for more videos just like this one