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450w not enough for system??

1

190proof

Junior Member
Allied 450w PSU

Read many good things, and had no problems until 2 weeks ago. The system is about 7 months old. I started experiencing shutdowns on any graphic-heavy application. So, I thought the graphics card was shot. After exhausting all of my efforts, brought it into a shop. After spending money on a useless diagnostic, they said it was magically fixed. Took it home, and it shut down. Anyway, unplugged all extra fans/lights, checked connections, now runs 100% stable. I'm now assuming it was a problem with the PSU. Is 18A on the 12V line not enough? Did I get a sub-par PSU? I'm open for criticism.

Case has 5 fans on it, and I have a dual pci slot fan plugged in. 2 cold cathode lights as well. Zalman 7000 copper hsf, one floppy drive, one dvd-rom drive, 200Gb WD sata drive, 2 monitors off of ATI 9800pro, lights and displays on front panel of case.

Seems like a lot of power, but I'm not getting it.
 
Yes, all those fans are going to add to instability if your power supply is not adequate enough.
 
ALLIED is manufactured by APEX Technologies in cooperation with FoxConn.

I needed a power-supply in the course of putting this system together, and didn't want wait until I had saved the ducats to buy a Turbo-Cool 510 Dee-Lucks, or until I received it after waiting for the order to be packed, shipped and delivered. PC Club -- down the street -- was selling the ALLIED line.

Before I went down there with my money, I researched some reviews. That included both the 450W model and the AL-B500E -- a 500-watter. Almost all -- ALMOST all -- of the reviews . . . were good, reporting solid, stable voltages on the rails. But ONE USER REVIEW at NEWEGG explained a trail of tears to an RMA, explaining that the 450-watter ran a few weeks and then just crapped out.

I'm not convinced that your power-supply is the problem. But I have to wonder. Quality Control is the attention to the "number of failures per lot", and an attempt to go back to the manufacturing process and fix "assignable" causes to failures which are identifiable has having "assignable causes". It's possible for a company to produce a power supply whose design is basically sound, but to fabricate more than an acceptable number of "duds".

Also, PSU power ratings are notorious for taking liberty with the truth. Cheaper PSU's may provide 450 watts at 80F temperatures, and then degrade to 370 watts at 110 or 120F.

As long as this AL-B500E continues to function reliably, I'm just buying time until I can get one-a-dem Turbo-Cools!
 
Souinds like the PSU to me. Either get rid of some of those fans and lights (5 is overkill) or get a better PSU.
 
I'd say psu, or one of the fans etc you disconnected to get it stable is no good. Has a short or whatever to cause it to draw too much power.
 
Bump on what Fern said. Just cause a fan is rated to draw 'x' ammount of power, doesn't mean that it won't draw more if restricted (say with a filter or something) or has crappy wiring. Forget wattage ratings. Buy a good 'quality' psu with @ least 24 amps on the +12 volt rail.
 
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