Big troubles - PSU Advice/Comments

[bozilla]

Hi guys, I've been having a crapload of trouble with power supplies. I'm afraid to even think it's the motherboard, but if someone thinks it's the motherboard please say so.

Here' the problem:

I've spend a crapload of money on the new Dual Xeon computer, all the best components, 4 Gb of ram X800XT PE card etc and bought Thermaltake 680W PSU. When I placed everything together, I've noticed that TT PSU doesn't come with 8-pin 12V server connector. Instead it comes with regular 4-pin 12V connector. I tried it out and noticed that only one CPU was getting powered. Ok, no big deal.

I found on newegg also from Thermaltake a 4-pin to 8-pin cable adapter exclusively because of this reason. Now, because I had to wait, I bought a temporary PSU from Vantec (520W) from a local store. Everything worked ok with Vantec, I installed the XP (but keep in mind that I plugged in only the DVD-ROM, DVD-R, 2 HDDs, regular low power ATI Radeon 8500 and these dual CPUs). I also bought 2 Swiftech coolers and Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer for the X800XT PE but I didn't include those components when I was installing everything.

Now this is where the problem started appearing. The 4-pin to 8-pin adapter came and I took out Vantec, placed TT PSU inside and booted the system. Went into BIOS, saw both CPUs are recognized, voltages are good and CPU temperatures were ok for these type of processors (~45-50C). BUT, when I made some changes to the BIOS and tried to save, the whole machine shuts down. I can't even turn it on anymore.

I had to wait for 10 minutes, turn off and on the PSU switch manually and then the system reboots. This time I decide to go into Windows XP and everything boots fine. After I downloaded ATI drivers, I wanted to reboot..the same crap happens. The system shuts down. Now I'm really pissed. I take out the TT PSU and replace it again with Vantec 520. This time I boot the system and everything goes ok. I decide to put in the X800XT PE and replace the coolers to install the system properly.

Everything goes great and I install Steam to see how this thing rocks in CS:S. After I played for an hour. The system reboots by itself. I quickly go inside the BIOS and I see horrible things. One CPU fan is not recognized, the CPU1 temp is like 70C and the voltage on 3.3V is like 0! I turn off the system and start cursing everything. WTF is wrong with this SH*T.

Finally I RMA-ed the TT power supply and bought a 250 freaking dollars Enermax 660W with Active PFC and all the crap. Now my question is this: What seems to be a problem here? Did all this PSU fooking around messed up my motherboard, or the TT PSU is screwed up and the Vantec PSU can't handle the load or what? Is this Enermax PSU good or what? Am I to expect the same crap with it too?

Please help.

Thank you very very much.

BTW here's the list of components:

Dual Xeon 3.6Ghz EMT64
Dual Swiftech Coolers "MCX604-V" @ 28 dBA
ASUS NCCH-DL Mobo
4Gb DDR400 OCZ Performance Series (4x1gb)
ATI X800XT Platinum AGP
Arctic ATI Silencer 4
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive
ASUS 16x DVD-ROM
WD Raptor 74Gb + 300GB Seagate 7200.8 SATA NCQ
Thermaltake Silent PurePower 680W PSU
Lian Li Black Aluminum Case, "PC-V1200B"
===

 

[Slappy00]

well wait till you get the new Enermax 660W ( ) ps and see what happens.

 

[bozilla]

God DAMN! I just got the Enermax 660W PSU and when I plugged it in no life at all. It starts supplying power to the motherboard for a second and then NOTHING. In addition I think my X800XT PE got screwed up as well. Sh!t. I just can't believe this. In addition to this horrible experience and $6000 later (in total paying for additional PSUs and crap) this computer still doesn't work. But what really pisses me off is that the computer boots with stinking Vantec 520W PSU (but now when X800XT PE is in the slot it won't boot at all, but when I replace it with the old 8500LE card it works). WTF?!

Guys can you help me out here. I just order another ASUS NCCH-DL motherboard to replace this one (although I think I wasted money because if it was the motherboard it wouldn't boot with Vantec PSU either).

And what's with this Enermax 660W EPS12/ATX GES (crap) comes with like 24pin connector, 8pin 12V connector, but 24pin connector has some additional one pin on the side and has like 2 additional adapters. One with another 24pin and 12V 8pin but with that 1 pin on the cable female plug to match the original cable, and the other with 24 to 20pin regular ATX adapter. Can someone enlighten me what do with that as well.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Zepper]

There are two 24-pin pinouts. One is EPS12V (for dual Xeon, etc.) The other (perhaps called GES) is for something else, maybe Opterons - I'm not sure. Just be sure the pinouts of the connectors match the ones on your equipment and you'll be OK.
. Failure to start may be a cooling thing - make sure your heatsinks are oriented properly and you are using the proper TIM (thermal interface material). If overheating was a problem, you may need to clear the CMOS before you can restart.
.bh.

 

[anpictum]

Hi, I've been searching some threads on 2cpu.com and there is a growing theory among members there that a PSU with only one "strong" 12v railis the way to go with the NCCH-DL. I'm still trying to sort my Xeon machine out as I have had nearly identical problems to yours. I've summarised the history below. Please let me know if and how you resolved things. Thanks.

System specs:
Coolermaster Stacker
NCCH-DL Rev 1.02 bios 1.03
2 x Nocona 3.6GHZ with Swiftech MCX604-V coolers
2 x Crucial 1GB PC3200 CL3
1 x NEC ND3500AG DVD-RW
6 x Western Digital SATA Raptor (boot - 2 x 73GB on 6300ESB, storage 4 x 36Gb on Promise controller)
2 x Western Digital SATA 250GB Caviar on PCI Raid card using PCI-X slot
1 x Hitachi ATA 100 40gb
1 x HIS ATI X800XT PE
1 x Creative SB Audigy2 using PCI 32 slot
6 fans controlled using Cobalt V Pyramid controllers
Windows XP Pro SP1 (up to date)


As my system requirements came to over 600 watts, I decided to go for a dual psu set up with 2 x 400W dual 12v (14A, 15A) rail Akasa PaxPower PSU's. However, this didn't work. I did manage to install the O/S with only two Raptors on the 6300ESB ports despite frequent crashes on reboot. To try something new, I hooked up my old Thermaltake PurePower 560W single 12v (22A) rail PSU (not EPS but has adaptor cables) and everything ran fine. I then installed four more Raptors on the Promise controller and also the ATA 100 40Gb drive. Still everything was fine.

I tried different combinations of controllers and drives and ran SisoftSandra Burn in Wizard and the machine was 100% stable. All the drives and controllers were tested, but I wasn't happy running a total of 9 hard disk drives on this PSU so I invested in the new Thermaltake PurePower 680W with triple 12v rails (15A, 15A, 8A). The first time I powered on with the new PSU with all the components connected everything went fine and I installed Halo to give it a run. As soon as I launched the game, the PC turned off. After several hours of testing the result is this: with 2 Raptors in raid 0 plus the optical drive, graphics card and memory, the system won't boot past the welcome screen. Each time I have to turn the main power switch off at the PSU and wait up to 30 minutes before it will start up again. If I try any sooner than that the PC instantly turns off.

Before I read threads in some forums, I was going to try the Enermax EG851AX-VH(W) 660W which apparently has 4 x 12v rails (14A, 16A, 14A, 16A) with each CPU having its own 12v rail (Enermax state that it will run Quad Xeons). The Asus manual states that a PSU with 600W minimum and 3 x 12v rails is recommended, but my experience with the single 12v 560W PSU seems to bear out the widely held theory in forums that, despite what the Asus manual says, a PSU with a strong single 12v rail such as the Antec TruePower 550W EPS (36A on the 12v rail) is the preferred solution.

 

[anpictum]

Please see this thread for info on NCCH-DL/PSU advice form Augustus:
http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62977