David Nguyen said:
Hello,
My question is about standard to fix and insert powersupply. What is
Zippy ? I suppose a manufacturer but also a certain standard. What are
standards to fix the PSU (I am not talking about connector) ? What is
PFC, active or passive what ?
Thanks
I think Zippy is a brand.
There are several standards for computer power supplies. The AT
standard power supplies (which did not support soft off and had to be
switched off manually) have been obsolete since about 1998. More
recent desktop computers generally employ ATX type power supplies. The
ATX standard has gone through several revisions. The latest one is
distinguished by having an additional 4 pin connector which is used to
provide a dedicated connection for the CPU power in P4 and Athlon64
systems. To replace your current supply, you have to determine which
type (ATX etc.) is required and the minimum rating (watts total and
currents for each of the output voltages). Your existing supply
probably has a label that provides this information. If you think you
might upgrade your other hardware at some point, you probably should
get a supply that is rated for at least 350 watts. Power supplies made
by reputable manufacturers such as Antec are preferable, but are also
more expensive.
There are a few special cases to watch out for. Some Dell computers
(older ones I think) had non-standard arrangements for the assignment
of power connector pin numbers and voltages (which could cause nasty
problems).
PFC refers to power factor correction. This causes the AC current
drawn by the power supply to better approximate a sinusoidal waveform.
Passive PFC uses passive components (inductors and capacitors) at the
input of the power supply to shape the current waveform. Active PFC is
a more sophisticated approach that achieves a similar result by
modifying the operation of the power supply. I understand PFC is
required by European standards, but not in North America where it is
quite rare.
Robert