Basics of Electricity, Circuits, Transistors, Processors, and CPU Temps

[(sin)morpheus]

That's not a transformer. It's a solenoid, it cleans the power that's why it's right by the 12V line. The way you can tell is that it only has 2 legs, a transformer has 4.

[ether.real]

Can you transform DC? I am thinking you can only transform AC, and everything on the motherboard is DC AFAIK.

[(sin)morpheus]

You can transform AC or pulsed DC. You are correct, everything on it is DC.

[onewecallgod]

Originally Posted by (sin)morpheus

That's not a transformer. It's a solenoid, it cleans the power that's why it's right by the 12V line. The way you can tell is that it only has 2 legs, a transformer has 4.

no, a solenoid is a type of switch. that is some sort of coil/choke/inductor. it does exactly what you just described.

by definition, transforming is going converting AC.

[(sin)morpheus]

A solenoid actually is the same thing as a capacitor, except it stores the current in a magnetic feild rather than on poles seperated by a dielectric. I suppose you could refer to it as a switch, but that's a rather crude reference. Usually a transformer operates using AC but it can use pulsed DC, just not regular DC.

[ether.real]

I kind of doubt that the DC from the PSU is pulsed....I am wondering if the CPU itself pulses the incoming power, is it possible that the CPU is also capable of transforming it?

[(sin)morpheus]

It's not very hard to turn regular DC to pulsed DC and back again. This can easily be done on the board. The powersupply doesn't give out pulsed DC, if it did, nothing else on the rails would work.

[ether.real]

lol that would be bad. So, is it possible for the CPU to transform the power on the chip itself?

[onewecallgod]

very possible, highly unlikely. space and heat are big factors

[(sin)morpheus]

Hmmm, with something as small as a die I doubt you could fit a decent transformer in such a small space, the thing would explode from heat.

[XT-ChAce]

Hm... I don't want to take anybody down but I can read that in my physics book anyday... But for those who don't know I guess it could be useful.

[ether.real]

well then tell us, oh wise one....how do they calculate TDP, and where does all the power come from?

[(sin)morpheus]

Well, not where all the power comes from but rather where do all the amps come from?

[ether.real]

OK, talked to my techie friends. They say the MOSFETs do all the work in converting the 12V to 1.5V. They werent sure how it did it though. They also said to disregard the max amperage, as this changes as voltage changes. in other words, if your PSU can deliver 20A @ 12V, it delivers 240W of max power. So, 240/1.5=160A that can be delivered if the entire 12V rail was converted to 1.5V.

[onewecallgod]

of course....****, i knew that. thats why we cool our vcore mosfets and use them as a voltage checkpoint....

well 20A@12v wouldnt be 1.5v@160A because nothing is 100% efficient

[ether.real]

well.....in a perfect world lol. At least we know we can get our 70A for sure. Just seems like a crazy amount of current.

[onewecallgod]

nah...its not really that much. high current is easy with low voltage

[ether.real]

well considering 300mA is enough to kill you.....70A seems like a lot.

[(sin)morpheus]

**** I knew that too. I forgot all about MOSFETs.

[ether.real]

lol, looks like we all brainfarted on this one.