Things to look for

[hentaiboi_]

what are the things to look for in choosing a power supply?

is it better to have many 12V rails than having few?

is it better to have higher amperes?

 

[jsc]

Brand name - some brands are simply much better than others.
(Didn't expect that, did you?

High ampereage on the 12 volt output. Nowadays, the 12 volt output does all the heavy lifting - that is, it powers the CPU and graphics cards.

I tend to favor one massive 12 volt rail. you do not need to worry about load balancing.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

+1 what jsc said.

A lot of those psu's designed for home use that indicate mutiple 12 volt rails are usually just one large rail split into several "virtual rails".

 

[theAnimal]

1. Good quality, good reviews (from the small number of sites which properly test PSUs).

2. 12V rail wattage. The number of rails doesn't really matter.

3. Correct type and number of connectors for your system.