Be sure to make an informed decision on power supplies. I don't see any information here but opinions. If you can't determine your rail amperages at each voltage rail, how the heck are you going to buy the right supply? Who cares who makes it. Better be sure you know it's rating is at 50C and allow for efficient operation at 60-70% of rated current loads at each voltage rail. Go over that load rating and hysteresis transformer losses will just turn your supply into a toaster oven.
And, 20C rated supplies have high internal resistance with small transformer windings and leaky filter capacitors (dielectric film leakage)all leading to a dramatic drop in rail currents and internal voltage drops across the supply and NOT your CPU or video card.
The 12 volt rail on modern PC's is being ridden harder than in the past with 12-volt VPU's sucking power along with the CPU and hard drives, all 12-volt devices. Heaven help you if you set-up a RAID or SCSI drive. Power in the wrong place WON'T buy you anything. So you better make sure that 20-24amps at 12 volts is enough on a typical 400-430watt supply. If not, about the only supply out there that is 50C rated and ATX compatible is the ATX510 Power Cooler. Looking at the PC Power supply tells you it is essentially a server type supply set-up for ATX use. It will push 34 to 38 amps across 12 - volts. Just the thing for two (CPU + VPU) processors and a dual drive RAID array! But, ypu can't get good but 510 watts TOTAL fro the supply even though all the drive rails will ad up to a third more than the supply is rated at. Why do they do this? To make sure what ever rail is loaded to the limit will deliver what they advertise. But not simultaneously. So, you better know where you're going with your computer BEFORE you purchase a supply.
Go find my post (Why your video card won't run) in the graphics card forum on this subject and how to figure out where you are. I bought a pre 12-volt video power supply based on 3.3volt requirements (Enermax EG465) and it is too small a supply at the 12-volt rail with just 20 amps or so. A good supply, but still too small.
No one wants to address the fact that even the PC Power, inc. ATX510 supply is not logically spread across the voltage rails. 40amps at 5-volts? for what guys? ANTEC has addressed this issue based on my complaints and ADMIT that the supplies out there are PIII generation voltage rail current capable at best.
We'll spend 300-400 dollars on a video card and shell out only 100.00 bucks for a Sparkle 500 watt supply that is only 20C rated. The 36 amps will drop to less than 25amps at 45-50c. So your upgrade ends up being the same as a 50C 400 watt supply. Ever stick a temperature probe against your power supply? It runs at 40-45C internally.
Buy opinions or buy with the facts. Its up to you.
Regards,
rower30@earthlink.net
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