Go multi-rail or go home.

I get to kick back and relax a little these days at work.  I recently moved into a side-graded position where the workload is smaller and less hectic, which is nice for my psyche.  Don't get all butthurt just yet, I beg my supervisor for extra work and try to make his job easier.  I spend time putting thing together, coming up with fun and interesting initiatives and playing on the internet.  The last one is why I am even typing this up.

I love PCs, maybe you've noticed.  I really want to buy another PC and since my job is also begging for overtime (where I have to actually come in and get beaten and battered with "normal" work), it works out pretty well.  Sure, I put in some OT to pay the bills, but doing a little extra and adding it to the tax money will get Daddy something nice, for sure.  I spend some timve over at pcpartpicker.com and put together different builds.  Dream builds, normal builds, Intel and AMD builds, HTPC and builds for my mom.  While I was piecing one together today I noticed something strange....

Almost all of the higher end PSUs are using a single rail.  WTF?!!

For years I've sworn by multi-rail PSUs.  I don't understand the quick downturn of manufacturers making multi-rail PSUs.  =(  I'll do my best to explain the difference.

A single rail PSU (power supply unit) has ONE 12V rail that is going to carry the power to your components.  It can obviously distribute power to all of the parts and pieces, but it has a limit.  Once it hits that limit the PSU should shut down and avoid damaging your components.  Think of it like this: There is one huge keg and everyone takes from it, when it's empty the party is over.  This system isn't my sort of thing.  I want to make sure that certain parts of my PC get the power that they need and don't want to risk a short or something else potentially blowing up the PC.

A multi-rail PSU has MANY 12V rails, normally 2-8.  You get to pick where the power goes.  Dedicate one 25A rail to your GPU, dedicate another to your CPU, dedicate a third to your hard drive, RAM, optical drive, etc.  In this system you will "pop" the power supply once it hits 25A (in this situation that is the number I chose).  This general results in no damaged parts in the case of a short, whereas the single rail that goes up to 85 will have to hit that number before it turns of.  Think of it like this:  There are 4 kegs that are 25% of the size of the huge key, people take from all of the kegs and whenever the first one runs out the party is over.  It's good and bad.  I prefer this method because I have a habit of investing in quality and expensive parts (or being poor) and not wanting to spend the cash to replace them.

I wish there were more people making these kind of supplies, I really like them and I actually understand their value.  Obviously a lot of consumers don't care and a majority of the overclockers assume they will get better results with a single-rail.  While this may have been true nearly a decade ago, today things are much different and technology and engineering is a lot better.