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Is there any software available to monitor PSU usage? I know it probably depends on the mobo, but is there anything?

(see this quesiton as to why I would want to: Power to USB lost when computer is under load)

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no, to the best of my knowledge there is nothing of accuracy.

for accurate readings you will have to monitor power consumption externally.

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What is the best way to do that? The only tools I know of would tell me how much the PSU is taking from the wall, not how much it is putting out, or doesn't that matter? – Joe Nov 3 '09 at 18:54
anything your PSU takes from the wall that doesn't make it to the system components (mobo, gpu, drives) is a) running the PSU fan or b) heat loss. a) can be ignored as reasonably negligible. – quack quixote Nov 3 '09 at 18:57
@Joe The answer is you get a USB-IDE adaptor then you can plug the device eg CD Drive in externally 'cos it uses an ACDC adaptor then not a PSU, and measure exactly and easily, at a mains socket. It uses more when it's reading/writing, than when just idle. – barlop Jul 18 '11 at 22:20
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Given appropriate motherboard sensors, it would be possible to monitor various voltages (eg CPU, RAM, possibly PCIx bus) and amperages (USB bus comes to mind, possibly others) and then do some fuzzy math to extrapolate. But that's a really-only-slightly-educated guess.

Molly's spot-on; if you want an accurate picture of your system power usage, you need to monitor it externally.

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