How Does a Computer Power Supply Work?

Video Transcript

"Okay let her riaahhhh! Today we're going to show you how a computer power supply work. Well it's the... what, power what? How does a computer power supply work? It's quite complicated, the power supply actually works by doing an ac to a dc conversion to give you proper wattage supply. Now look, it's not quite that easy but it's not quite that complicated either. This octopus looking thing right here with two fans on it and a plug on the back and usually a switch is the power supply. Inside the computer are many different things that require power. There's the mother board, there's the processor. There are the drives. All of these things have different power requirements. That's where the confusion of cables come from. Even though we plug that right into our wall, which is ac, inside the power supply, energy and power is converted to dc, from alternating current to direct current, kind of like a car battery system. Now the nice thing about computers in the 21st century is that it's almost impossible to plug your power supply in incorrectly. They can only fit one way. Here's the main power for the motherboard. Now look and I'm going to do it here. Ah, it clicks into place and as you'll notice nothing else has a connector quite like that. It takes alternating current, ac current, it transforms it into dc current, and then it sends it out to various different wires to power different things inside your computer. Like the fan, like the processor. The nice thing is, read the flippin' manual, it's going to tell you everything you need to know."