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CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

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the power supply provides enough wattage to run the number of devices in

the system. Also, the power supply needs to be able to support all the types of

devices to be powered in the system. I updated the video card in a system the

other day, for example, from a card that required a single 6-wire power cable

to one that required two 8-wire power cables (see Figure 7-27). The power

supply clearly had to have the latter capability.

Figure 7-27 Big jump in power requirements!

If the power supply cannot produce the wattage a system needs, that PC

won’t work properly or at all. Because most devices in the PC require

maximum wattage when first starting, the most common result of insufficient

wattage is a paperweight that looks like a PC. This can lead to some

embarrassing moments. You might plug in a new hard drive for a client, push

the power button on the case, and nothing happens—a dead PC! Eek! You

can quickly determine if insufficient wattage is the problem. Unplug the drive

and power up the system. If the system boots up, the power supply is a likely

suspect. The only fix for this problem is to replace the power supply with one

that provides more wattage (or leave the new drive out—a less-than-ideal

solution).

NOTE An undersized power supply may not necessarily result in a

complete paperweight. Some graphics cards that are dependent on additional

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