5 ms·

Houses should come with a separate "Gaming PC" circuit breaker and power plug just like your dryer or oven. /s

112233 4y ago
Ha ha only serious. There were cases on local news when homes burned down because PC caught fire. Not only circuit breaker — please give me something (IR sensor?) that will trip and cut power if anything in the room and in the PC enclosure exceeds, say, 120°C
- undefinedzero 4y ago
  Or a simpler setup would be a smoke detector that turns off a power strip when triggered. Kind of like some 3d printers have.
  - Hamuko 4y ago
    Not sure how useful that would be considering the fire has probably already started.
    - undefinedzero 4y ago
      Things generally smoke before they burn
masklinn 4y ago
The problem is not external, 500 or 1000 W is not that much in the grand scheme of things (a euro plug allows up to 625W, unearthed). The issue is internal: because the top PSU rail is only 12V, high-power devices (mostly GPU) need to push very high amperage totals. And because PC internal layouts, they can’t do that through large wires with huge connectors. Also a legacy of cheap friction fit.
- Eisenstein 4y ago
  Exactly. This is why high wattage USB-C cables rely on the power supply negotiating a higher voltage in order to work. Sending 100W over 5V would be ridiculous (20A). Instead the device tells the power supply to switch to 20V and then the cable only needs to be rated for 5A. Something like that for GPUs would make sense.
- TylerE 4y ago
  It is KINDA external. 1000+w is starting to get into “trip the breaker” pretty easily if you have anything else on that circuit with any kind of transient load - like say a minifridge.
  - lmm 4y ago
    I mean that's half the power of a decent kettle...
  - masklinn 4y ago
    > 1000+w is starting to get into “trip the breaker” pretty easily I was wondering where you'd get that from, and then I remembered that you're probably american so your baseline is only 1800W, in which case... yeah that's true. If you're installing a really powerful PC in the US you probably want either a dedicated circuit or a 20A circuit (or both).
    - kennend3 4y ago
      > I was wondering where you'd get that from, and then I remembered that you're probably american so your baseline is only 1800W, in which case.. In North America, you cant pull 1800W continuous either, it is limited to 1440 by regulation. "This regulation is called the maximum continuous load, which is 80% of the total wattage computed. " This is why space heaters and such are 1200 watt. So while 120v * 15A is 1,800W no electrician would wire a setup like this. if you need 1800W they would use probably use a 20A circuit and wiring rated for 20A. 80% load of this would be 1920W. NOTE: Not an electrician.. if i am mistaken please let me know.
izacus 4y ago
A gaming PC uses maybe 20-30% of power of an average kitchen appliance like a kettle or a blender. Those are plugged into standard wall sockets just fine.
- Hamuko 4y ago
  Yeah, a kettle is gonna pull like 2200 W when it's switched on. I'll be impressed if a gaming PC can pull half of that during a gaming load.
  - nigerianbrince 4y ago
    Ffs don't give them ideas.
  - gruez 4y ago
    >Yeah, a kettle is gonna pull like 2200 W when it's switched on ...in areas that use 220/240V. In north america appliances are limited to around 1500W, because the mains voltage is 120V.
    - andylynch 4y ago
      Might depend on where you are and how seriously they take tea. Our very ordinary British kettle is 3kW.
- jcpham2 4y ago
  Depends on how many GPUs are in the PC. Circa 2011 I had quad-Radeon 6970 machines pulling ~1000w each from 1200 watt power supplies, measured with a kill-a-watt. Those machines ran 24/7 for at least 36 months before I had to start servicing stuff like GPU fans and heat sinks. This stuff can be designed NOT to melt the dang 6 pin 12v rail
- jcpham2 4y ago
  Depends on how many GPUs are in the PC. Circa 2011 I had quad-Radeon 6970 machines pulling ~1000w each from 1200 watt power supplies, measured with a kill-a-watt. Those machines ran 24/7 for at least 36 months before I had to start servicing stuff like GPU fans and heat sinks. This stuff can be designed NOT to melt the dang 12v rail

Ha ha only serious. There were cases on local news when homes burned down because PC caught fire. Not only circuit breaker — please give me something (IR sensor?) that will trip and cut power if anything in the room and in the PC enclosure exceeds, say, 120°C

undefinedzero 4y ago
Or a simpler setup would be a smoke detector that turns off a power strip when triggered. Kind of like some 3d printers have.
- Hamuko 4y ago
  Not sure how useful that would be considering the fire has probably already started.
  - undefinedzero 4y ago
    Things generally smoke before they burn

masklinn 4y ago

The problem is not external, 500 or 1000 W is not that much in the grand scheme of things (a euro plug allows up to 625W, unearthed). The issue is internal: because the top PSU rail is only 12V, high-power devices (mostly GPU) need to push very high amperage totals. And because PC internal layouts, they can’t do that through large wires with huge connectors. Also a legacy of cheap friction fit.

Eisenstein 4y ago
Exactly. This is why high wattage USB-C cables rely on the power supply negotiating a higher voltage in order to work. Sending 100W over 5V would be ridiculous (20A). Instead the device tells the power supply to switch to 20V and then the cable only needs to be rated for 5A. Something like that for GPUs would make sense.
TylerE 4y ago
It is KINDA external. 1000+w is starting to get into “trip the breaker” pretty easily if you have anything else on that circuit with any kind of transient load - like say a minifridge.
- lmm 4y ago
  I mean that's half the power of a decent kettle...
- masklinn 4y ago
  > 1000+w is starting to get into “trip the breaker” pretty easily I was wondering where you'd get that from, and then I remembered that you're probably american so your baseline is only 1800W, in which case... yeah that's true. If you're installing a really powerful PC in the US you probably want either a dedicated circuit or a 20A circuit (or both).
  - kennend3 4y ago
    > I was wondering where you'd get that from, and then I remembered that you're probably american so your baseline is only 1800W, in which case.. In North America, you cant pull 1800W continuous either, it is limited to 1440 by regulation. "This regulation is called the maximum continuous load, which is 80% of the total wattage computed. " This is why space heaters and such are 1200 watt. So while 120v * 15A is 1,800W no electrician would wire a setup like this. if you need 1800W they would use probably use a 20A circuit and wiring rated for 20A. 80% load of this would be 1920W. NOTE: Not an electrician.. if i am mistaken please let me know.

izacus 4y ago

A gaming PC uses maybe 20-30% of power of an average kitchen appliance like a kettle or a blender. Those are plugged into standard wall sockets just fine.

Hamuko 4y ago
Yeah, a kettle is gonna pull like 2200 W when it's switched on. I'll be impressed if a gaming PC can pull half of that during a gaming load.
- nigerianbrince 4y ago
  Ffs don't give them ideas.
- gruez 4y ago
  >Yeah, a kettle is gonna pull like 2200 W when it's switched on ...in areas that use 220/240V. In north america appliances are limited to around 1500W, because the mains voltage is 120V.
  - andylynch 4y ago
    Might depend on where you are and how seriously they take tea. Our very ordinary British kettle is 3kW.
jcpham2 4y ago
Depends on how many GPUs are in the PC. Circa 2011 I had quad-Radeon 6970 machines pulling ~1000w each from 1200 watt power supplies, measured with a kill-a-watt. Those machines ran 24/7 for at least 36 months before I had to start servicing stuff like GPU fans and heat sinks. This stuff can be designed NOT to melt the dang 6 pin 12v rail
jcpham2 4y ago
Depends on how many GPUs are in the PC. Circa 2011 I had quad-Radeon 6970 machines pulling ~1000w each from 1200 watt power supplies, measured with a kill-a-watt. Those machines ran 24/7 for at least 36 months before I had to start servicing stuff like GPU fans and heat sinks. This stuff can be designed NOT to melt the dang 12v rail