At My Power Limit?

[natefish]

I currently have a 600W PSU and just added a fan controller to the mix. Now, my fans do not work properly and I'm not sure if it's a bad fan controller, or if it's a power issue. When hooked up via molex (through the fan controller), the fans "rev." When set to 100% they are constantly reving between 50% and 100% speed (with the fan controller set to manual). Sometimes they do this for a long time, sometimes they run fine. Each time the power to the fans dips, the lights on the fan controller dim as well (but no other fans or items in the PC have issues).

In addition to that, I have to disable my overclock in the bios when the fan controller is connected. I just get a bios post screen that says "overclock failed."

If I turn the power to the fans down to anything other than 100%, it feels like they are actually running at about 10%, pushing almost no air at all. If I hook the fans up through the 3-pin connectors on the controller, they get no power whatsoever.

I'm a bit stumped. I'm leaning towards power supply being maxxed out, but that's hard to comprehend, when it's just sitting idle on the desktop, or even sitting on the bios screen.

Any help/suggestions?

 

[Randomacts]

What brand/model is your PSU

 

[natefish]

Sorry. I should have put that in the OP.

OCZ OCZ600MXSP. Got a good deal on it about 2 years ago, ordering an HX 1050 in a few weeks.

 

[hunter315]

Only the fans on the controller have the speed issue? If you hook a fan directly into the PSU does it have a constant speed? If it does then the fan controller is likely the culprit, especially since setting them slightly lower makes them go significantly slower.

 

[natefish]

Ya. I hooked up my fans normally and left the fan controller plugged in and powered on. The fans run normally. I did just get a BSOD with the fan controller powered on (it was plugged into nothing but my PSU). After unplugging it and booting my machine up I checked the system log and there is a critical error in there.

The link to Windows online help sent me here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff943877%28WS.10%29.aspx

The wierd thing is that it's referencing "kernal-power." I don't think I'm drawing 600W+ just yet with my machine. But, I wouldn't doubt it if the fan controller was broke and pulling more power than .

 

[hunter315]

Does the fan controller plug into the motherboard at all or only into the power supply? If its only into the power supply you can do a creative test on it to see if it does that when its the only thing needing power.

Do the same thing as in this video to jump start the PSU, but for your load use the fan controller hooked to a couple of fans instead of just the single fan he uses, if it still behaves strangely then its definitely the fan controller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

 

[natefish]

It is only into the PSU. This is a good idea. I'll, try it. Thanks.

 

[natefish]

It's the fan controller. It does it, even when it is the ONLY thing with power. Thanks for the idea, hunter315.

Anyone have any recommendations on a good fan controller?