Are power supplies still relevant beyond the $120 threshold?
Are power supplies still relevant beyond the $120 threshold?
I think I should have rephrased my original question. I’m really curious if it’s even possible for the PSU to generate enough power just barely, staying close to underpowered, and then manage everything smoothly but cut a small amount of power when hitting its limit—just enough to adjust CPU clock speeds without triggering overprotection. If that’s the case, then a newer PSU seems more reasonable, probably because my current one is only a couple years old. I don’t want to waste if it makes sense.
It wouldn't be the PSU doing that, they are fairly simple components. To some degree there will always be voltage drop during sudden load changes, but this is what the main capacitors and board capacitors are meant to handle. If they become drained too much, the system might shut down due to insufficient voltage or current (possibly overcurrent if the voltage drops quickly).
Now if the voltage begins to decrease, the CPU/GPU VRMs could detect this and start reducing their output to preserve voltage. This would lead to slower clock speeds.
Imagine a scenario where a high-quality PSU consistently maintains 12.1 volts under all conditions, while a lower-quality PSU drops to around 11.8 volts. To keep the same power output, the current demand would increase. This added load would slightly raise temperatures and require more power to compensate for the growing inefficiency. The VRM feedback system might make corrections, and the CPU/GPU control loop could further reduce consumption so that voltage recovers.
Of course, this is just a theory. To truly observe such effects, one would need to use an oscilloscope, logic analyzer, or SPI/I2C communication on all components and analyze the actual behavior.