We need a dedicated Power Supply Forum

[Bobaganoosh]

It seems like a section where you'd have ~2 stickies and not much else of importance.
1. buying guide that includes reading reviews, checking the tier list for reference (pros and cons to this task), explanations of different topologies or features that new buyers (or people who haven't bought one in a long time) should look for, power calculator, etc.
2. A list of all PSU reviews that TPU has done (or others if it's worth expanding). There's already a review database, so this seems redundant, but if someone wanted to they could create what is essentially a new tier list or just index of all PSUs (which already exists as a searchable site on TPU)...so maybe it's just the one sticky that includes a link to this lol.

There used to be a helpful thread on EVGA's site when the Nvidia 3090's launched that had user reports of power supplies people were using with 3080's and 3090s that had zero issues (as so many reports of problems due to 3090 power spikes). For a while, this was helpful information, then newer PSUs launched that specifically intended to handle the spikes of new cards and the thread got derailed after a while. At this point, you just suggest a supply with the latest ATX/PCIE spec. In between situational crises like that one, most of the time it's just "has anybody used these? did they blow up your stuff? was it loud? Cool..." and people move on.

I'm not voting against a section...I just don't think it'll be very busy most of the time.

 

[TimatPSUTest.com]

Would people be interested in the following topics:


Power supply supervisors. How exactly does OPP, OCP, and short circuit protection work?
Complete explanation of power factor.
What really causes power supplies to fail?
Random FET failures? Are they caused by ESD damage during production?
Do MOV’s improve reliability? Is there a better way?
Running a power supply without an earth ground?
AC Hypot? Safety agency testing? How and why?
What are the requirements to work on an energized system?
How does remote sense work?
Are Japanese capacitors the best?

I do have 45 years’ experience in the power supply field including 21 years as Senior Engineer at PC Power & Cooling, Inc. (15 years full-time 6 years as a consultant.)

However, I am enjoying my retirement.
Another option would be to open a discussion group in the TechPowerUp Club Forum section.

 

[Shrek]

I for one would greatly appreciate an education.

 

[dirtyferret]

Are Japanese capacitors the best?

What is a Japanese capacitor? If it's made by a Chinese company from a lower "tier" for a Japanese brand of a higher "tier" which "tier" is it? Could probably have a three page conversation just Japanese capacitors but most likely would bore a lot of people to tears.

 

[Shrek]

There are so many issues that can't really be covered like bad design where a capacitor is placed near a heatsink.

And the reasoning that 105°C capacitors are always better than 85°C
Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of Small Switchmode Power Supplies (repairfaq.org)
"Electrolytic capacitors exist in (at least) two different temperature ratings: 85 C and 105 C. The latter are obviously more temperature resistant. Unfortunately they also tend to have a higher ESR than their 85 C counterparts. So in an application where the heat is due to I^2 * ESR dissipation, the 105 C type may actually be a *worse* choice! If the heat is due to a nearby hot heatsink then 105 C is indeed a better choice."


I seem to recall that for solid state capacitors the tier does not really matter.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Are you willing to pay someone for their participation? Or do you feel entitled to have all their expertise for free?

I am not interested in shelling out lots of money for this, I'd rather just stick to the tier list. Maybe it might be nice for some to be able to ask a question to a paid expert but for me I'd rather see what volunteer pundits have to say.

The number of people on the greater Internet who are A.) knowledgeable about PSUs and B.) can communicate effectively in written English is a pretty small group of individuals. Not sure how many frequent TPU on a regular basis.

Does TPU even have a PSU reviewer at this time? It's not like there are hordes of them banging at W1zzard's door.

Where did you get the money deal from?

There's tons and tons of FREE information on this 2 decade old site that was brought by every day visitors.

I guess I was asking if there's a person/s here that would frequent the forum and give information. Perhaps a TPU PSU tier list. Don't think pay needs to be involved.

 

[Onasi]

PSUs are boring. That’s not to say that there isn’t anything to discuss or no topics that can be educational potentially, but the thing is that from the end-user perspective it’s just a box that converts power from the wall to your PC. That’s it. In terms of practical purposes it isn’t something that can be appreciated beyond the “it’s good quality (according to reviews) and provides enough power for my components”. Not a lot of people, I’d say, are PC PSU enthusiasts. Even less are actual electrical engineers. And if TPU doesn’t have a dedicated mouse or keyboard forum, where there is a ton more to discuss from the hobbyist perspective, especially for keyboards, then the PSU sub-forum will be a desert with a sticky linking to the tier list, some reputable review sites and several recurring topics of people endlessly debating the merits of running a 4090 off a Uncle Chong Power 1500 Real Watts 80+ Totally Certified PSU that someone got off Wish for 50 bucks.

 

[Vayra86]

Yes, precisely because there are GPU discussion points that ordinary forum participants can engage in.

And people change GPUs far more frequently than PSUs anyhow. And spend more money per each discrete GPU purchase to begin with.

$200 will buy a very nice PSU that should stick around until the mid 2030s. $200 doesn't buy squat in GPUs in 2024.

Well there are QUITE some topics that involve PSU talk, to be fair.

But, they're also mostly 'this doesn't work proper, halp' topics, so not really PSU topics

Also I'm still puzzling why the OP thought of an enema writing it. This might keep me up all night

 

[dirtyferret]

Also I'm still puzzling why the OP thought of an enema writing it. This might keep me up all night

Like a melatonin gummy, I will give you the gift of sleep. , It's a play on an old Jack Nicholson line of "this town needs an enema"

​

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Honestly I didn't even know we didn't have one... Tells you how much I care about others opinions on a public forum about PSU... Honestly the PSU is the easiest thing not only to pick out but also diagnose with a spare, most people who have issues don't really have the tools or the know how to properly diagnose psu me included really.

The only advice I would ever give is don't skimp on it within reason it's the most important component in a pc it is also the one that will last the longest and even that isn't foolproof every maker has duds.

I have 3 quality backups that can use the same cables as my 3 systems so I'm probably in the minority of users that takes this sort of thing seriously but at the same time doesn't care what people think online.

That being said I don't really care one way or the other. It's mildly entertaining seeing people fight over Brands, capacities etc because just like with any PC component people are biased.

 

[ty_ger]

We need another thread on the same day saying the same thing.

 

[W1zzard]

I like the idea of a PSU forum .. could someone count how many recent threads, like from the last week, could be moved into such a new forum?

 

[Onasi]

@W1zzard
I actually decided to check and, weirdly, not that many. Just two that are an obvious shoe in, actually (one, two). Three, I guess, if we count this one.

Must have been a slow week, admittedly. Just one “halp, I’ve bought an ex-mining 480/580, what do?” thread too, at that.

 

[dirtyferret]

I like the idea of a PSU forum .. could someone count how many recent threads, like from the last week, could be moved into such a new forum?

but you also create a place for topics to be created that generally don't appear on these forums such as the ones @TimatPSUTest.com, @Bill_Bright and I mentioned as well as others

 

[azrael]

I, for one, welcome our new PSU overlords.

 

[Frick]

There really isn't very much to talk about PSUs, though. Regarding purchasing it boils down to "consult the cultist tier list", "never cheap out" and "if it seems too good to be true, it is". Regarding the actual technical bits and bobs... let's be honest, how many people actually care about that? Looking at the other subforums for e.g. GPUs, we don't have threads about why X company's PCB design is better than Y company's, or similar; that's the kind of stuff that buildzoid covers with his videos and quite honestly, he's done more harm to the enthusiast community than good because every fucking manufacturer now builds GPUs as if each one is a Porsche, and charges Porsche prices, when all consumers need and want are VWs.

The problem is that there is maybe =<1 handful of people on any given forum that actually knows anything about the technical bits and bobs when it comes to modern power supplies. The technical side of PSU's are much more technical than say the technical side of GPU's and much more archaic because you can't infer any of it from Google. You need techincal expertise from the actual industry, you can't just watch Youtube videos.

But yeah, PSU forum, lets do it. I can have Opinions.

 

[Onasi]

but you also create a place for topics to be created that generally don't appear on these forums such as the ones @TimatPSUTest.com, @Bill_Bright and I mentioned as well as others

I would argue that topics like these haven’t popped up before not because of the lack of a dedicated sub-forum, but because, being brutally honest, not a lot of people care. As an example, not many end-users actually needs or even wants to know how protections on modern PSUs work. What matters is that they DO and that’s something that can only be confirmed via specialized reviewers. But in practical terms, it doesn’t really matter. As I and others have said - 99% of PSU threads here (and in many other places) simply boil down to either “is this PSU good enough for X”, or troubleshooting, which is essentially only possible for an end-user via swapping units and checking the system again. And the solution is invariably “you need a new PSU there”, because nobody sane would recommend actual self-done repairs on those.

 

[Crazybc]

Well I'm very new here with a very old account because I'll be assembling a new computer in the fall hopefully when the next gen comes out from intel or amd. I very recently bought a new power supply and case for it and I'm currently using the power supply as mine was acting up in the old computer . I read a ton of reviews before shelling out good money for a new one I tend to trust a lot of the knowledge here that's why I've been lurking here daily for a long long while reading posts catching up on the latest news. There is a lot of crap out there for sale and it would be nice if a forum could steer people away from that junk and provide people with better choices and some troubleshooting also recommending better units based on ownership.

 

[Shrek]

I wish I understood the various topologies

• Buck
• Synchronous Buck
• Boost
• Inverted Buck-Boost
• Septic
• Culk
• Zeta
• Fly-Buck
• Flyback
• Two Switch Flyback
• Active Clamp Forward
• Single Switch Forward
• Push-Pull
• Weinberg
• Half-Bridge
• Full-Bridge
• Phase Shifted Full-Bridge
• LLC Half-Bridge
• LLC Full-Bridge

and their pros and cons.

 

[Onasi]

There is a lot of crap out there for sale and it would be nice if a forum could steer people away from that junk and provide people with better choices and some troubleshooting also recommending better units based on ownership.

No need for a PSU sub for that. All you need is literally like a couple of bookmarks.
One, two.
Congratulations, problem solved.

I wish I understood the various topologies

• Buck
• Synchronous Buck
• Boost
• Inverted Buck-Boost
• Septic
• Culk
• Zeta
• Fly-Buck

Cool, there are some links in Aris’s article with more info. I don’t think it would be useful for a layperson though, since “understanding the topology” implies having some knowledge of electrical engineering already.

 

[Crazybc]

No need for a PSU sub for that. All you need is literally like a couple of bookmarks.
One, two.
Congratulations, problem solved.


Cool, there are some links in Aris’s article with more info. I don’t think it would be useful for a layperson though, since “understanding the topology” implies having some knowledge of electrical engineering already.

I used both those sites after I found them and a few others but I still found it odd looking around here that No power supply forum was located here. But the choice is with the people who run this place but I will guarantee you the power supply questions wont simply stop because of the lack of a sub forum..

 

[Onasi]

I will guarantee you the power supply questions wont simply stop because of the lack of a sub forum

True, people as a rule are stupid and lazy and are unwilling to do any basic research, even if it’s easy and takes barely 10 minutes.

But at this point a question can be asked - why is there no PC Display sub? No Mouse sub? No Keyboards sub? There is a GPU forum, it even has sub-sub-forums for NVidia and Radeon, but no dedicated CPU forum? Why not just DELETE General Hardware and make a sub for every little thing?

Overall, I am a proponent of minimizing excessive sub-forum bloat, not facilitating more. But, of course, it’s up to W1zz. If this is just about quarantining “Help me choose a PSU” threads by sending them into the shadow realm… sure?

 

[dirtyferret]

but because, being brutally honest, not a lot of people care

I'm not naive to that fact or disagree, I just believe having a forum is better than not having one

 

[Dr. Dro]

I, for one, propose a trimming of the forum. There are subforums that haven't seen posts in several years. Consolidate certain subforums and sections into something that covers a larger area rather than creating another niche, that encourages engagement IMHO. While at it, archive (tuck it all away and set as read-only) the forums concerning obsolete software that is of no practical use today, like the old timey ATI BIOS editors and the old software that got scrapped like SSD-Z.

 

[Shrek]

There is a Linux/BSD/Mac OS X forum, but no Windows forum

so I agree, some trimming might be beneficial