Power Supplies

Question 1

Special box that takes electricity from the wall socket and transforms it into electricity your computer can use

Answer 1

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Question 2

Pressure of the electrons in the wire, measured in volts (V)

Answer 2

Voltage

Question 3

The amount of electrons moving past a certain point on a wire, measured in amperes (amps/A)

Answer 3

Current/Amperage

Question 4

The amps and volts needed so that a particular device will function. Also called watts/W

Answer 4

Wattage

Question 5

Connects the cable supplying AC power from a wall outlet into the power supply

Answer 5

IEC-320

Question 6

US AC Standard

Answer 6

110 - 120V

Question 7

AC Standard for the rest of the world

Answer 7

220 - 240V

Question 8

Hot to Neutral AC test

Answer 8

115V

Question 9

Hot to Ground test

Answer 9

115V

Question 10

Neutral to Ground test

Answer 10

0V

Question 11

Device used to measure a number of aspects of electrical current consisting of two probes, an analog or digital meter, and a dial set to the type of test you want to perform

Answer 11

Multimeter/Volt-Ohm Meter (VOM)/Digital Multimeter (DMM)

Question 12

Unit of electrical energy

Answer 12

Joule

Question 13

Device that supplies continuous clean power to a computer system the whole time the computer is on. Protects against power outages and sags (and corresponding data loss)

Answer 13

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

Question 14

Ensuring and adjusting incoming AC wall power to as close to standard as possible. Most UPS devices provide this

Answer 14

Power Conditioning

Question 15

PC uses this current to power motors on devices such as hard drives and optical drives

Answer 15

12V

Question 16

PC uses this current for support of onboard electronics

Answer 16

3.3V and 5V

Question 17

Modern motherboards use this 20- or 24-pin connector

Answer 17

P1 Power Connector

Question 18

Connector that supplies 5V and 12V current for fans and older drives. Has notches/chamfers that guide its installation

Answer 18

Molex Connector

Question 19

Connector that supplies 5V and 12V to peripherals. Originally adopted as the standard connector on floppy disk drives

Answer 19

Mini Connector

Question 20

15-pin connector used for Serial ATA drives. Supports the SATA hot-swappable feature and 3.3V, 5V, and 12V devices. They are L-shaped

Answer 20

SATA Power Connector

Question 21

Characteristic of ATX motherboards, which can use software to turn the PC on and off. The physical manifestation of it is the power switch. Instead of the thick power cord used in AT systems, an ATX power switch is little more than a pair of small wires leading to the motherboard

Answer 21

Soft Power

Question 22

Provided additional 12-volt power to assist the 20/24-pin P1 motherboard power connector

Answer 22

P4 Power Connector

Question 23

Any power supply that provides a P4 connector

Answer 23

ATX12V Power Supply

Question 24

A 6-pin auxiliary connector that supplied increased 3.3V and 5V current to the motherboard in the ATX12V 1.3 standard

Answer 24

AUX Connector

Question 25

Separate DC voltage paths within an ATX power supply

Answer 25

Rails

Question 26

The key circuitry that monitors the amount of amperage going through each rail. Will shut down the power supply if the current goes beyond its cap

Answer 26

Over-Current Protection (OCP)

Question 27

One OCP to monitor all of the pathways

Answer 27

Single-Rail System

Question 28

Each pathway has its own OCP

Answer 28

Multi-Rail System

Question 29

Extra circuitry that smooths out power coming from the will before passing it to the main power supply circuits

Answer 29

Active Power Factor Correction (Active PFC)