[GTALUG] a quick question about power supplies?

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

> From: Lennart Sorensen via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

> At what point did 600W power supplies become budget level power supplies?

My guess is that there are a few forces:

- the only people who buy power supplies are enthusiasts or gamers.  
  Others just buy ready-built PCs.

- Gamers are sure they need a lot of power for their video cards.  
  Unfortunately, it isn't easy to tell how much, so over-specing is the 
  easiest approach.

- people think that a larger PS is more reliable since it isn't likely to 
  be overloaded.

- a larger power supply is more likely to accomodate future additions to 
  your system.

- people seem to perceive the value of a PS to be proportional to the 
  power but the cost to manufacture isn't.  So manufacturers like selling 
  larger ones.