Chapter Summary

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The following points summarize the key concepts in this chapter:

Power Supplies

• The key to specifying the proper size of a power supply for a computer is to add together the power requirements for all the components. It is important to be sure to add extra power to allow for boot up.
• Electrical power is measured in watts.
• Proper installation of the P8 and P9 connectors is important to prevent damage to the motherboard. The black (ground) wires must be installed side by side.
• Molex and mini connectors are used to connect power to devices such as floppy disk and hard disk drives.

Power-Supply Problems

• The flow of power into a computer must be managed in order to prevent damage and/or loss of data.
• Surge suppressors will eliminate some higher-than-normal voltage problems.
• High-quality UPS devices will eliminate most power fluctuations caused by too much or too little voltage.
• Check power supplies when there are unusual problems with memory and PC operations that do not quickly point to another cause.