tom patton wkdiyvomicronetcom sat 20080209 1252 0500 james knott wrote tom patton wrote thu 20080207 1013 0100 per jessen wrote randall r schulz wrote offhand dont know efficiency todays power supplies varies percentage rated output theyre producing words highercapacity psu consume mains power given level consumption output side wouldnt want large psu since would wasteful havent looked switchmode technology quite time would expect fairly fixed efficiency 8090 range quite probably minimum consumption required order achieve optimal operation otherwise think output power eg 80 input power rest turned heat say another wayat 80 efficiency 150 watt supply 500 watt supply either one pull current mains alternately supply 80 watt load ie mbapproximately 100 watts mains example would wasteful environmentbut maybe wallet tom nm youre forgetting may additional power consumed power supply might bit larger supply even load power supplies draw power correcting previous post seemed say rest would turned heat 500w supply pull 500w load 100 without comparing efficiency curves two specific supplies speculative best supplies standby load would likely rather poor efficiency zonebut would still small percentage small loadand thus close one another previous post seemed also say output current would 80 input currentand correct way look subject tom nm tue 05 aug 2008 174703 0700 opensuse unstable system culprit