OK, so as of right now I'm running a WD800JB, WD1200JB for my HD's... a 52/32/52x burner, 16x DVD/CDRW combo, Radeon 9700, 1GB Corsair 3200LL, AXP 2500+ Mobile and 8 case fans on an Antec SmartPower 400w PSU. I've not had any power related issues as of yet. However, this week sometime I'll be swapping motherboards from an A7N8X-Deluxe to an NF7-S. Also, I'll be adding a Seagate Cheetah X15 36LP SCSI drive. I'm trying to figure out if this PSU is going to be able to take all that load or should I go ahead and upgrade? I did a little bit of research and found that the startup load on the 12v rail for my 3 HD's alone is going to be 5A. 1.44A for the Cheetah, 2.2A for the WD800JB and 1.3A for the 1200JB. That's not even counting what the Radeon 9700 takes to startup along with the two optical drives... along with the case fans. The Antec SL-400 does 18A on the 12v rail, it says. Any opinions?
400w PSU enough?
- Thread starter cryogenic666
- Start date
I didn't think all that stuff would really suck 18A at one time, but I'm not trying to blow up a PSU. Also, from what I've heard in various places... Antec PSU's are pretty stout. If I blow it up, I'll just upgrade. I was just hoping that I don't get this sucker together, flip the power switch, and hear *pop*. That would suck majorly.
i'd keep w/ the antec- they make great PSUs and that set-up definitely isnt pushing your power supply
The biggest problem with the SmartPower series vs the TruePower is that the 3.3v & 5v rails have a combined limit whereas the TruePower have 3 separate voltage rails and there are no combined limits aside from the one for the PSU as a whole. However, it doesn't appear that my hardware is really drawing much 3.3 or 5v power from what I have read.
The SL400 is a solid power supply but not very efficient (55%-60%). I just replaced a SL400 with a Neopower and ran some tests with a "Kill A Watt" meter.
Sys specs
A8V
3500+
2 x 160gb SATA
1 gb Mushkin LII
2X optical
9800 Pro
Just at idle the Neopower drew 32 less watts than the SL400
From there the difference got even more pronounced when gaming started, to a max wattage savings of almost 60watts
In short the more efficient power supplies (like the Seasonic listed) will save some $$ and give you more usable power
Sys specs
A8V
3500+
2 x 160gb SATA
1 gb Mushkin LII
2X optical
9800 Pro
Just at idle the Neopower drew 32 less watts than the SL400
From there the difference got even more pronounced when gaming started, to a max wattage savings of almost 60watts
In short the more efficient power supplies (like the Seasonic listed) will save some $$ and give you more usable power
Well, I'm aware that the SL isn't their top of the line PSU. It's more their mid-range and I've been quite happy with it as is. I actually bought it at CompUSSR when the PSU that came in my original case (some stupid no-name crappo) popped an hour after booting the system. I paid $89 for it like 2 yrs ago, which is entirely too much to spend on said power supply but I had to have it right then. Anyway, it's not given me any troubles yet but I was kinda looking into upgrading for future-proofness or whatever. Interesting observation about the efficiency. In theory, that would reduce utility bills by some amount (though no idea how substantial).
Assuming a 30-40 watt average power savings, and assuming you're like many here and usually let the system run 24/7, you'd save $2-3 per month--nothing spectacular, but not bad, IMO. The price difference between an average PSU and an ultra-efficient one could be made up in a year or so, and in the mean time, you can console yourself with the fact that you're using less energy. The actual amount saved with a more efficient PSU depends on your specific system, how you use it (running a DC project 24/7, for example, will use substantially more power than letting it idle most of the time) and of course, how much you pay for electricity--for most folks, this is usually from $0.06 to $0.10 per KW/h.
More than the $$ savings is the fact that more of the rated power is actually available for use by your system. If my Neopower is wasting less power, then it has more of it's rated power available.
So for example a newer ATX V2.0 power supply which is rated at 400 watts will offer you more useable power, since less is being wasted than an older unit.
Upgrading is a win win
1) Support for 24 pin MB's
2) Less power consumption (Pays for itself in about a yr.)
3) More power available
4) Substantially quieter
5) Less heat generated
So for example a newer ATX V2.0 power supply which is rated at 400 watts will offer you more useable power, since less is being wasted than an older unit.
Upgrading is a win win
1) Support for 24 pin MB's
2) Less power consumption (Pays for itself in about a yr.)
3) More power available
4) Substantially quieter
5) Less heat generated
you might even be ok overclocking
best way is to try it out and see if you get any stability problems
best way is to try it out and see if you get any stability problems
Yeah... I was planning on running the Mobile barton @ 200x12.. maybe a bit higher. I'm not one for uber-overclocking. I just think 2.4ghz sounds good. 
It's @ 191x11.5 now and I've never had any stability problems and my voltage rails don't fluctuate much at all (not outside standard deviations). I think my PSU is safe as of now. I was just curious about whether or not adding the SCSI hardware and TV tuner card might make any substantial difference in power draw. It doesn't appear as though it will, though. I'll definitely upgrade my PSU when I go A64. That's a given.
It's @ 191x11.5 now and I've never had any stability problems and my voltage rails don't fluctuate much at all (not outside standard deviations). I think my PSU is safe as of now. I was just curious about whether or not adding the SCSI hardware and TV tuner card might make any substantial difference in power draw. It doesn't appear as though it will, though. I'll definitely upgrade my PSU when I go A64. That's a given.A 360W Chieftec-branded PSU on test here at work powered twelve hard disks (half of them SCSI), a P4 3.2Ghz and several sticks of DDR-II RAM flawlessly for three days. Nothing to worry about.
[Edit] I'm entirely surprised that someone hasn't come in here shouting "OMGWTF 700W Ultra-X-1337-edition-with-UV-cables-and-see-through-sides needed!!!111!!!oneoneeleven!!".
[Edit] I'm entirely surprised that someone hasn't come in here shouting "OMGWTF 700W Ultra-X-1337-edition-with-UV-cables-and-see-through-sides needed!!!111!!!oneoneeleven!!".
Unless you expect it to run for more than three days.
Nah, just kidding. I've run three hard drives, three opticals, a Radeon 9800 Pro, and a P4 Northwood 3.0 at 3.3 (that's about 80-90 watts right there) on an Antec True 330 without issue.
The thing is, I think you're near the edge of 18A at startup, but you'll probably be OK for now. I think any well made PSU has a few amps in reserve for momentary surges such as boot-up. Of course, if your drives don't spin up on the first try, or your system turns itself immediately, you know what you need to do.
Originally posted by: Thegonagle
Unless you expect it to run for more than three days.
Nah, just kidding. I've run three hard drives, three opticals, a Radeon 9800 Pro, and a P4 Northwood 3.0 at 3.3 (that's about 80-90 watts right there) on an Antec True 330 without issue.
The thing is, I think you're near the edge of 18A at startup, but you'll probably be OK for now. I think any well made PSU has a few amps in reserve for momentary surges such as boot-up. Of course, if your drives don't spin up on the first try, or your system turns itself immediately, you know what you need to do.
Or if I hear "pop" and smell something raunchy, I'll know what I need to do.
All kidding aside, my guess was that I *should* be ok as that SCSI drive doesn't really seem to be a HUGE power hog. Heck, my 80GB WD drive sucks more power than that SCSI drive does. Being that the card is in a PCI slot, it would pull more from the 3.3v rail, correct? Also, I kinda figured being that my AXP is a mobile, it doesn't require quite as much voltage as a normal barton core would to get to 200x12. As far as the PSU goes, I'm tempted to think that Antec actually understates their power supplies by a fair bit. I've heard more stories than I can count of people running P4's crazy overclocked and multiple drives and fans on 350w Antec PSU's.
Originally posted by: Thegonagle
Unless you expect it to run for more than three days.
Nah, just kidding. I've run three hard drives, three opticals, a Radeon 9800 Pro, and a P4 Northwood 3.0 at 3.3 (that's about 80-90 watts right there) on an Antec True 330 without issue.
The thing is, I think you're near the edge of 18A at startup, but you'll probably be OK for now. I think any well made PSU has a few amps in reserve for momentary surges such as boot-up. Of course, if your drives don't spin up on the first try, or your system turns itself immediately, you know what you need to do.
Exactly
I simply hooked up a digital multimeter to one of the free molex connectors (hah! I had to use about four splitters to get all the drives powered...).
On first power-on, the 12v rail dipped to about 11.7v, then went straight back up to 12.02v- in the space of around 1.5-2 seconds.
Chieftec rebrand/make nice PSUs
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 24K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter