Thermaltake unveils massive 2000W PSU, but it's too powerful for U.S. outlets

Just because you have 3 outlets does not mean you have 3 separate 20a services in that room that you can draw from. I can guarantee your garage is all on the same breaker, maybe 2 at best.

The average new home can only utilize up to 200a of service from the pole for the whole house. Up until the last few years the average home only has 100a service from the pole.
No each room has 3 circuits, the lights are usually on there own with the ceiling fan. Then the 4-6 outlet boxes are on the two other circuits. Each outlet in the garage is it's own circuit and a couple of the outlets in the kitchen are a single circuit. It's massively overdone.
 
Can the wires in the walls handle it though?
Here's the thing, there are two different wire gauges commonly used in home wiring; 14 gauge is suitable for 15 amp circuits. Whereas 12 gauge must be used for 20 amp lines.

I rewired my house going on 30 years ago, and used a mix of 14 & 12 gauge, depending on the intended purpose of each specific circuit. My 15 amp/ 14 gauge are dedicated to lighting circuits, while the 20 amp lines are dedicated to specific tasks like air conditioners, table saws, with one dedicated to solely my air compressor. With capacitor start motors such as a compressor, slow blow fuses or breakers must be used, due to high, (over 20 amps), inrush currents, that will take a normal "fast blow" fuse out, every time the tool starts.

Mixed 14 & 12 gauge was typically used, at least partly due to the cost of the wire itself. For the lighting circuit, a 20 amp / 12 gauge outlet or line is overkill and unnecessary. Even more so now, with the advent of LED lighting.

However permitting for new construction requires all wire be 12 gauge, no exceptions. I believe for electric whole house heating, dryer and range circuits, and perhaps for that new Tesla charger, 10 gauge wire is required and 30 amp (?) breakers. The Tesla I expect, is predicated on how fast you want to charge it.

The moral of the story, is ThermalTake, is taking no chances by overestimating the intelligence of the average American, in refusing to sell us something with which we might burn our houses down in the middle of an intense gaming session. Now all Nvidia has to figure out, is how to prevent their xx90 series GPUs from committing suicide, and burning the rest of the house down in the process.

FWIW, 20 amps at 120 volts is about 2400 watts So, a 20 amp line would sneer at their "puny" 2000 watt PSU. (As long as nothing else was on at the same time.) :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
-> For a 15A breaker, the peak power is limited to P_max = 120V*15A = 1,800W
FWIW 15 amp circuits are normally tagged at 1875 watts, which places the line voltage @125 volts. There pretty much is no such thing as 115 or 120 VAC, at least in the"big city" where I'm from..

When they were still selling incandescent bulbs, the ones at the dollar store always highlighted the fact they were "130 volt rated", which meant that if you bought them, they should last "a lifetime". <somewhere back in that mess is an untended pun.
 
Back