Absolutely need a 300Watt PSU?

[kimcheeboy]

I got a problem. My system sometimes just dies (monitor just blanks out) occassionally and randomly. Recently, I've been upgrading my system and this problem just began to occur. This is what I have:

Celeron II 566 overclocked to 876MHz @ 1.6V
Abit BH6
256Meg RAM (3 sticks of DIMMS)
one 7200RPM HDD, one 5400RPM HDD
Geforce2 MX 32Meg AGP overclocked
DVD-Rom drive
CD-ROM drive
ATI TV Wonder PCI tv tuner
ATI Graphics Pro PCI (dual monitor)
SB Live Value
Highpoint Ultra66 PCI
Zip 100 Internal
NIC ISA
Optical mouse USB
Webcam USB
Floppy drive
1 x HDD cooler, 1 x Slot cooler, 2 x 80mm Case fans

Ok, here's the question. I have all this running off a generic 250Watt PSU. Do you think my problem is attributed to my PSU. Any other suggestions? And the system is running cool at 31C inside the case.

 

[hyperphate]

When you say your monitor blanks out, does the picture come back when you move the mouse or press a key?
Are the upgrades related to video?

 

[jsbush]

I don't think that the power supply is your problem! A good test would be to take out everything but the bare minimun like one video card a sound card a network one hard drive. And check to see if the problem still happens. If the problem is still there then it's not your PS. One of my pc's with the following specs:
P3 450mhz
Asus P2B-LS
18.2 gig IMB scsi
Intel pro nic (onboard)
Scsi card (onboard)
D-Link 538 nic
Asus 3800 TNT 2 ultra 32megs
3 fan hard drive cooler
Case fan
DXR 3 decoder card
CL 5x DVD
HP 7200 cd burner
HP 8100 external USB cd burner
13 gig IDE hard drive
SB 128 sound card
256megs of ram

Now this system probably uses about the same amout of WATTS as yours. Maybe a little less. But these scsi hard drives really use a lot of power. There is no power related issuse with this system. It has a 250watt power supply.

Another of my system (well it's sold now)
Celeron 566 @ 850 1.65
Golden orb
20 gig hd
13gig hd
6.4gig hd
52x cd-rom
intel pro nic
Asus P3v4x
slocket adapter
sb live
128megs of ram
geforce 256 32megs

This one has a 235watt power supply and it doesn't have any power related problems. Your system has a LOT more hard ware in it though.

I would try the test. Or even just disconnect a hard drive and try that first.

Oh forgot to mention. I heard somewhere that there was problems with have 3 dimms. That it worked but could cause instablity.

 

[kimcheeboy]

Basically, I'll be working then the monitor just shuts down and goes into power saving mode. I don't have any screen saver or power saving settings active. The monitor is set to "Always On". The system freezes and can only be restarted with a hard reboot.

 

[Usul]

Cech Mobo manual for dim location, remember something that you can't plug in that mobo but in a specifical configuration (order of modules).
And also IRQ sharing: that was te cause of a simil problem w/ the old Abit AH6.
At least for me.