Hey you guys so I've been doing some research and I wanted to know what you all thought about multi and single rail PSU's.
-LinuxForYou
I've heard that it really just depends on the quality of the components in the PSU (good brands). Even heard that multiple rails can be beneficial.
Not an expert though, haven't done much research on it either. Not an issue most people deal with regularly.
Depends on the oem design.
OP if your keen for a read >> http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Everything-You-Need-to-Know-About-Power-Supplies/181/12
In all honesty I prefer a strong single rail. I would only consider a multi rail unit in say a >1000w unit.
will i personaly look at the quality of the units offcourse and the wattage.
i personaly prefer single rail psu upto 650W. Because then you have one strong rail, instead of multiple low current ones.
Everything above 750W multiple rail is totaly fine to me. Basicly i even prefer multiple rail at higher wattage psu´s, like 850W+, because more rails means less heat on each rail.
Give this a good read: http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3990
Single, otherwise you have to deal with lots of load balancing which sucks. And I don't think they are actually proper multiple rails.
It means you need to know how much power each thing plugged into the PSU is drawing and what 'rail' it isplugged into. This means it is not a good solution..
No, it is a safety feature and they were never supposed to be "proper" multiple rails. And you don't have to worry about anything with a decent multirail PSU either, since every rail is overbuilt anyway and can deliver more than enough power for a single GPU. The only issue would be extreme overclocking and cards like the R9 295X2.
After buying PC Power and Cooling PSUs for years before OCZ bought them, I've been a fan of Single rail PSUs.
Take a look at an example of what a single rail 1kW PSU could do...7 years ago! Both of these are excellent, but pay close attention to the ripple and crossload testing of the PC P&C
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&file=print&reid=33
As long as they are quality units it doesn't matter too much. Usually you'll be okay either way. So long as each rail isn't like really weak (20A or less). Generally I prefer a single rail. I have had better experience with that.
One rail is totally fine for higher wattages. I believe the Corsair AX1500i has something like 125A on the one? It is a great PSU too.
multi rail has multiple advantage
- less current per rails mean less heat
- less current mean less power lost
- higher the current the bigger the wire you need to avoid massive power lost ... the bigger the wire the farder away it endup from the other side of the rail ... magnetic field lose strength by the square of the distance ...
single rail has a few good side too
- don't need to balance your load just plug and play
- often your 5 volt rail run off the 12 volt rail with only one 12v rail u don't have to worry about it being a specific one
- on multi rail psu often the mb connector, the cpu, all the mollex, all the sata all run on rail one and then u have other rails for video card if u want to run a lot of hard drive your rail one become an isue and force you to make custom wire or opt for a single rail psu that wont have that isue