If I have a 500 watt power supply on my pc does that mean it is running at 500 watt per hour every hour?

Answer 1

A 500 watt power supply will deliver 500 maximum 500 watts of power at a rated amount of time called duty cycle, the supply is probably rated at 30% which means it can maintain 500 watts of output for 30% of the time. Most new computers have energy star which turns off everything that is not in use or puts it in sleep mode so it will use the least amount of wattage, it only uses what you need. the hard drive Video card and others go to sleep if not used after some time. seldom will you reach the full potential of a 500 watt power supply, I have a 600 run 3 hard drives 8 DVD burners and it does not use most of that.

Answer 2

First & Second answers correct. It can only handle 500 watts of power draw. Say you add more things like lighted fans, webcam, play a CD as you surf the web and Water Cooler then you start using more of your Watts.

Answer 3

Man, these answers are long-winded.

Your power supply is capable of using up to 500 watts, theoretically. However, usually it will not use that much, because your hardware will not utilize that much power, even under load.

Answer 4

Nope, that 500 is the maximum output power that the power supply can provide.

For further information, Google, Ohm's Law.

Answer 5

Its like having a Corvette than can hit 180 mph. Mostly you never go over 90 buts its there if you ever need it.

Answer 6

no. it could be using as little 60. it only takes UP to 500 depending on how much it needs. so it depends on how hard your working it.

Answer 7

yeah, if you don't have a bunch of extra hardware installed, like gfx cards or whatever, you're probably not using very much at all.