What's the optimum Amp requirement for a 4 Slot Motherboard...?

chris1 · May 13, 2005

What's the optimum Amp requirement for a 4 Slot Motherboard...?

I'm curious as I look through various MVS manuals..I just can't seem to find the full specs for a 4 slots cabs power supply..
I can find (switch-able)150 Watt/15A....Is 15A what's needed for most four slot mobos to work properly..

I'm trying to learn/understand Amps..just what does 15 Amps mean/do..?

I looks as if my Power supply in the 4 slot Candy cab says 7 Amp.....is that right..Is that enough Amps..?
.....or should I change it to a 15A.The power supply in the candy is it's stock Power Supply that came with the cab..
The cab works fine but if not having the required amps for the cab then I'd like to change that..

What I need is a quick tutorial of Amperage..

ttooddddyy · May 13, 2005

I think the 4 slots draw something like 4 amps, so a 15 amp supply is ideal.
All it means is that you have 11 amps to spare (headroom)

15 A is just the max the psu can supply, you will never draw that unless you got a short circuit on the boards 5 volt rail.

The more headroom the better, within reason. A 100 amp supply gets heavy and expensive and you get pyrotechnics when shorts occur.

John_Smith · May 13, 2005

As much as I feel a little sheepish adding to Toddy's very clued in spiel, the way Amps vs. Volts was once explained to me was that -

(1) You have the voltage, for example +5v, our typical supply for general logic chips on PCB's and

(2) You have the Amperage or Current, which is the amount of said voltage that can be supplied by a PSU.

15 Amps on the 5v line is typical of Arcade PSU's and is well over what most PCBs will ever require. This 'head room' eliminates the potential for problems created by just barely adequate or less than adequate current supply, which will result in intermittent re-booting or simple failure to boot at all even when the voltage is theoretically sufficient.

Hehehe, and yeah, just like Toddy said, if we're talkin' big amp supplies like 100+ Amps then if things go pear shaped then it's certainly gonna be a hell of a show! :eek: