Theory behind PSUs

[K404]

Hey. In theory I could take a 240V line from the mains (U.K.) tranform it to 12V, rectify it, filter it, and apply it as a TEC PSU, or maybe for PCI-E GPU(s)

I see that PSUs use switching transistors as a 1st stage to up the mains frequency before the transformer to make it easier on the transformer. How important is this? Do I NEED to have a transistor stage? If I skip that, build a 12V "PSU" for an SLI/CF setup...will it all go bang?

(assuming I build it right)

Will it hurt my system if I switch this home-made effort and my "real" PSU on with a delay between them?

K

[Mad Max]

Hey. In theory I could take a 240V line from the mains (U.K.) tranform it to 12V, rectify it, filter it, and apply it as a TEC PSU, or maybe for PCI-E GPU(s)

I see that PSUs use switching transistors as a 1st stage to up the mains frequency before the transformer to make it easier on the transformer. How important is this? Do I NEED to have a transistor stage? If I skip that, build a 12V "PSU" for an SLI/CF setup...will it all go bang?

(assuming I build it right)

Will it hurt my system if I switch this home-made effort and my "real" PSU on with a delay between them?

K

http://www.icecoldcomputing.com/
Look under the articles section .

And I would only use it as a TEC power supply since A GPU is more expesive and also needs a more stable voltage then a TEC.