Not the amperage. Current is current.
Isn't amp & current one and the same?
Think of it as tennis balls hitting a wall. If you throw two tennis balls at the same time, you have twice as many balls, but still only one impact, because they're thrown at the same time.
Is having 2 seperate areas of impact from those balls factored in as well? i.e. # of balls*area of impact.
The balls are voltage, the impacts are amps. You're getting twice as much voltage, but the problem is it's not constant. The gaps between amps, or impacts, are still there, and that's what's causing the problem.
Doesn't make sense to me since some dual rail PSUs (Rail 1=PCIe slot, Rail 2=PCIe 6-pin) have no problems powering dual 6800 GTs & according to your ideology (& others?) dual rail PSUs not in-sync on both rails @ impact (amp) will cause problems which I don't see happening under the most optimistic scenarios for a dual rail PSU. Also why exactly does the amp flow between both rails have to be in-sync to be additive? IDK, wouldn't that cause a overload if 2A were sent (one from each rail) to the same device concurrently instead of sequentially? I suppose I'm asking cause I happen to see it somewhat differently.
If a PCIe 16X slot gives off a pulse (amp/impact) every so often & the PCIe 6-pin connector gives pulses during a PCIe 16X slot's pulse gaps - both drawing same amperage from the PSU for argument sake, I'd imagine you'd get the following.
+ = 12V pulse (amp)
- = unit of time (not accurate due to type spacing)
Ex. (Not real life example; PCIe 16X has 5.5A, not 5A among other variables)
PCIe 16X slot
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----- 5A*12V = 60W
PCIe 6-pin connector
------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ 5A*12V = 60W
Both combined
+----+-----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ 10A*12V = 120W
Since you said amperage isn't additive, I suppose what's really additive is wattage/power from both 12V lines (PCIe slot/6-pin) but if you were to add the amps together from both rails's respective watt output. It would be 5A+5A=10A*12V=120W. IDK seems additive to me, but of course it's under how I see it to be possible.
It's that the parts aren't getting power often enough, not that they're not getting enough of it.
Parts that aren't getting power/watts often enough (I assume due to current/amp)
is also not getting enough of it. Wattage is amp*voltage (flow*amount) from what I understand.
Ex. 60W required for device
Enough current
+-----+-----+-----+-----+ 5A*12V = 60W
Lacking
+-------+-------+--------+ 4A*12V = 48W
If + is a 12V pulse, the lacking line is not sending enough wattage/power regardless if 12V is delivered in full (within +/-5%) per time.
The problem is, as I see it, that one of those seperate rails is not powerful enough to power the MB, HDDs, Optical Drives, Case Fans, etc.
AFAIK one PSU that distributes power like that among it's 12V rails is the old Neopower & not all dual rail PSUs follow that same design. One example that I mentioned in my earlier post was MB/CPU on one rail & drives, 6-pin, fans, etc on the other rail - more dual rail designs out there. Therefore with that design one of the two rails are not responsible for powering up the MB, HDDs, Optical Drives, Case Fans, etc. on one rail but are more equally shared (system load) among both rails.
You throw all that stuff on an 18amp rail, it's just NOT going to work. Thus, it becomes a balancing act, and you end up with, as that article put it, connector hell, trying to connect everything so that your 12v load is balanced between the two rails.
I thought EZ plug was for PSUs lacking a 24-pin connector, not because of dual rail specifically. I think the reason EZ plug helps older dual rail designs is because some if not all, lack the power necessary for the main atx power draw (& raised 75W requirement from 60W?). IMO these older dual railed PSU designs weren't geared for SLI in contrast to newer dual rail PSUs that are - like the SLI marked Enermax PSUs. So I wouldn't say all dual rail PSU owners experience "connector hell", if that one extra plug is reason to call it that. Unless I'm assuming wrong & EZ plug is not what that extra connector is.