tell me about power supplies...

[xdementia]

Hi everyone, I just got a new rig, a decent one core 2 duo 2.4ghz with a Asus P5N32 Motherboard etc. My issue right now is that it is pretty unstable, it crashes all the time completely freezing up everything. I am suspecting the power supply right now because I was listening to some music and the volume was jumping from quiet to loud and back.

I am pretty new at this so could someone please give me a run down on power supplies? What do the numbers on the switch mean (mine has 115 showing), what should I have it set to?

Thanks.

 

[Valtiel]

PSU 101

If you are in the U.S it should be set to 115

 

[tool_462]

If it indeed is the PSU, see Valtiel's sig for a great article on PSU quality rankings by some very trusted individuals. The list is constantly under the microscope and they delve further into details than you or I could ever care enough about to rank the PSU's well.

What PSU do you have? Also what graphics card/sound card do you have?

 

[xdementia]

Yea just read the 101 page - good info.

My specs are:

graphics card - NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE
audio card - m-audio audiophile 192 PCI card
PSU - NZXT. PP500 (I think it's pretty generic) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817116003

the power calculator said I needed at least 299W

 

[tool_462]

Should easily power your system. I suspect sound card issues. Are onboard drivers uninstalled and onboard sound turned off in BIOS? New sound card drivers installed correctly?

 

[outlw6669]

Your PSU looks fine so start by checking your drivers as tool sugests.

Also, what are the rest of your system componets?
Have you overclocked anything or changed any of your bios settings?

 

[sailer]

Yea just read the 101 page - good info.

My specs are:

graphics card - NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE
audio card - m-audio audiophile 192 PCI card
PSU - NZXT. PP500 (I think it's pretty generic) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817116003

the power calculator said I needed at least 299W

I'm going to diagree with the couple people that said your psu should work fine. If you go to psu 101 and read the list of psu recommendations, you'll find the NZXT listed in the Tier Five-NOT Recommended column. Further, when looking at the spec posted on Newegg, the efficiency of this psu is around 65%, which is pretty bad. Also, the specs on the 12V rails are 12v1@16A and 12v2@17A, which is a bit on the low side. Technically the amp rating will work, but if the psu has bad efficiency and is of low quality to begin with, you might be best off to look for a better psu. Of course, this is only my opinion and don't misunderstand, its not that it lists as a 500wt unit, but the other problems that go along with this particular psu that I don't like.

 

[xdementia]

Cool, yea, I'll probably look into getting a better power supply in a few months.

The audio card that was giving me the strange artifacts (which is not the one I listed) was actually my on board audio card which I'm not even using anymore (yep I had it disabled in BIOS when I wasn't using it), so that's not a big deal my system instability is really what I'm worried about.

I'm not overclocking nor have I tried so I would hope my BIOS settings are cool. I spent tonight running memtest on my RAM and the results are strange:

When I tested both sticks of RAM together the first 2 times I got a frozen CPU, one time with some very pretty colors (major video artifacts). Testing both sticks alone passed everything 100% with no errors. Then I put both sticks in again and the test passed 100% but I had 120 errors!

So I have no idea where my RAM stands at this point. But to mix things up even more when I was putzing around in my case I found that when I had my PCI components and video card screwed in they were actually not all the way into the slot! And since the last few hard crashes had some video artifacts involved I'm hoping this was the issue, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see. So I unscrewed the cards and pushed them all the way into the slots. Here's hoping for the best...

Thanks for your help either way.

 

[outlw6669]

Could you post exactaly what ram you have??
Many of the higher end sticks require you to run them at higher than stock voltages.
Running some of these sticks @1.8V could cause the problems you are describing.

Also, Sailer is more correct than I.
While your PSU should work fine to power your system, it is not really a quality unit.
A better unit would be a verry good idea when you decide it can be afforded.