Power supply confusion

Western Digital to end HDD part code confusion

Published on April 01, 2004

Hard disk manufacturer Western Digital today pledged that the confusion surrounding the supply of its ultra-quiet hard drives based on its new Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) technology should come to an end this month. Read more

Tiny power supply cranks out 120 watts

Published on January 27, 2006

For some users, computer designs can't be small and quiet enough. Mini-box.com has begun offering what it claims to be the world's smallest ATX compliant power supply that uses a single 12 volt power source and puts out 120 watts. Read more

CeBIT 2008: Thermaltake Offers 2kW PSU

Published on March 09, 2008

Thermaltake now offers a high performance power supply for users that just can't get enough power. The new model belonging to the Toughpower line provides up to 2 Kilowatts of power. Live demonstrations are given at the company's CeBIT stand Read more

OCZ rolls out 600 watt modular power supply

Published on October 09, 2006

OCZ Technology Group has introduced a new modular power supply with a sustained output of 600 watts. The PSU will hopefully lessen cable clutter because only the necessary power cables need to be attached. The titanium mirrored case comes with two PCI-Express cables and a 4/8 pin CPU auxiliary fan connector. Read more

Latest Reviews & Articles

System Builder Marathon: Performance & Value

Published on October 31, 2008

Three dramatically different builds face off in a show of performance, defining the real value of each. Our mainstream system is designed to meet the needs of most users. Who should spend more and who can live with less? Read more

System Builder Marathon: $500 Gaming PC

Published on October 30, 2008

For the second to last day of our System Builder Marathon series, we add a $500 gaming PC to the mix. It's not going to be as quick as our other two builds, but we think Paul was able to get some serious value from this thing. Read more

Tom's SBM: The $1,500 Mainstream PC

Published on October 29, 2008

We're following up yesterday's $4,500 behemoth with a more affordable $1,500 mid-range build. Let's see what sort of performance (and overclocking headroom) you can get when you spend one third of the money. Read more

System Builder Marathon: The $4,500 Super PC

Published on October 28, 2008

This month's System Builder Marathon spreads the system prices out even further to $4,500, $1,500, and $500. Is today’s $4,500 system really worth three times as much as an upper-mainstream performance machine? Read more

All the Reviews & Articles

Power supply confusion

Word : Username : Filter :
Bottom
Author	Thread : Power supply confusion

JerBu

Profile: stranger

More Information

08-21-2007 at 12:28:12 AM

The first thing I did on this board was read through the faq's. I think i learned quite a bit, but still pretty confused as to whether my 500W powersupply is going to be enough. The biggest confusion comes in with the rails as my PSU has:

12V1 - 15A
12V2 - 18A
3.3V - 32A
+5V - 38A
-12V - 0.5A
+5 VSB - 2.5A

I am running a Gigabyte P35-DS3R with a E6750 processor, 2Gigs of ram, and a Evga 8800 GTS. There is also a SATA hardrive (320gb) and an optical DVD RW drive.

I plugged the cords in where necessary, the video card took up 2 of them. So far I am not having any problems, but then again I have not tried any new games on the system yet. If this is not enough then I don't want to risk messing up my system!

I went through the Extreme Power Supply calc Pro and it told me the following:

398 watts
+3.3 - 8.3 amps
+5 - 16.7 A
+12 - 23.9A

Does that work if my 12V are on two rails?

Anyways, I look forward to any advice you can give!

JerBu

Message edited by JerBu on 08-21-2007 at 12:32:25 AM

Related Product

Groveling_Wyrm

Whe..whe...Where am I????
Profile: old hand

More Information

08-21-2007 at 03:50:15 AM

Hide

That psu could be overloaded if you place 100% load on it. You must also consider the effects of aging, which will decrease the performance of the psu as it gets older.

It will be fine for now, but I would be considering a new psu, which has more power to the 12v rails, before too long.

Another thing you can do to extend the life make it easier on the psu, is to split the power up between the two rails as much as possible, so that you don't overload the psu. And whatever you do, do NOT overclock until you get a new psu, unless you wish to risk damaging or destroying your psu, and possibly damage other components.

It would also be helpful if you had told us what brand the psu is.

---------------
I know everyone has a right to be stupid sometimes, but some people abuse it.

+5 Victim

JerBu

Profile: stranger

More Information

08-21-2007 at 07:21:59 PM

Hide

Thanks for the help. The current PSU is a crappy Best Buy brand called Dynex. I am going to replace it as soon as I can.

I don't have the PC-Power PSU's available here. But I do have Thermaltake, Enermax, Corsair, and OCZ. Can you recommend a good PSU that will take me through some future upgrades? I saw one from Corsair called the HX 620 that looked interesting.

Message quoted 1 times

mousemonkey

Monkey wants to steal peaches
Profile: Faithful Poster

More Information