Custom Systems Best Sellers: Power Supplies

It used to be that 300 or 500 watts were all that a custom PC needed. But many custom-built PCs and workstations today are loaded with power-hungry multiprocessor motherboards and fast video and graphics cards for gaming and other sophisticated applications. And such systems require power supply modules that provide 1,200, even 1,500 watts.

"More realistic graphics systems have really increased the power demands. We have to develop our product line to keep up with the times," said Scott Richards, senior vice president at power supply manufacturer Antec Inc., Fremont, Calif. Antec already makes the 1000-watt TruePower Quattro 1000 and a 1,200-watt product will begin shipping later next month. Dual-core and quad-core processors from Intel and AMD are also pushing up system power demands, he said.

That's to meet the needs of custom systems builders like Richmond, Va.-based Velocity Micro Inc., which purchases "tens of thousands" of power supply modules every year, said CEO Randy Copeland. While some of the company's systems need only 400-watt power supply modules, the average high-end gaming system uses an 850-watt module and the company's top-performing system uses a 1,500-watt power supply that's custom built for Velocity Micro by a manufacturer Copeland declined to identify.

But while power demands in high-performance systems grow, demand for power supply modules remains strong across the wattage spectrum, says John Bach, president of Puget Systems, a Kent, Wash.-based custom system builder that has purchased about 1,200 power supply modules in the last year.

Sales of lower power PCs and laptops in emerging markets such as Latin America is keeping demand for 300- and 400-watt power supplies high, says Paul Sperry, business development director at San Jose, Calif.-based Ma Labs Inc., which is selling about 12,000 power supply modules per month from Antec, Intel, Sparkle and other manufacturers. And new technology such as solid-state drives also keep power use low in some systems.

But if demand for power is up, so is demand for power efficiency, driven by rising electricity costs and the need for desktop computers to be as "green" as possible. Power supply modules covert AC electricity to DC and how efficiently they do that without generating excess heat is increasingly important.

The gold standard today is an "80 Plus" efficiency EPA Energy Star rating, which means that a power supply is converting power at more than 80 percent efficiency and generating less heat. That's in contrast to power supplies that more commonly operated at 65 to 70 percent efficiency just two or three years ago.

"Last year was the year that green computing slipped into the consciousness of systems builders," said Antec's Richards. The company debuted its highly efficient EarthWatts power supply products more than three years ago, but Richards admits they initially didn't sell well. Today those products, which Antec advertises as "the most efficient power supplies on the planet" are strong sellers and all of Antec's products run at 80 percent efficiency or better, Richards said.