Channel Well 420w PSU not enough????

[RedCross]

I have a CWT 420atx and the 3.3v line is really low when i have a GF4 ti4600 in (3.06v). But when i have a GF2 in there, it stays at 3.30 or around there. Could this power supply not have enough juice for a GF4??? I don't see how that can be possible. My specs are below. Maybe it is a BIOS setting or something???

MSI KT4VL
Athlon 1600+ xp
SOny Cd-RW
256 PC2700 RAM
GF4 ti4600
5 case fans
420w Channel Well PSU
WD 80gig HD

Any info would be greatly appreciated.


-nate

 

[Remedy]

I use that same power supply on all my Dual AMD rackmount systems and workstations and never had a problem. Are you daisy chaining the fans off of the HD chain or Rom? You could have a BIOS that is misreading the voltages. I think the MSI boards i used before on my 760MPX were the sameway with V monitoring.

 

[Lizardman]

Yeah thats not good. I would have to say its your PS not give enough juice, you could always buy a new Powersupply.

I am wondering though, does your 3.3 rail stay at 3.06 when ever the G4 is in there or just during games.

 

[RedCross]

It stays like that whenever the gf4 is in there. Its weird though, this PSU should have plenty of power. The 3.3v on it is over 30a. I really don't see how the GF4 could possibly take that much power. I dunno, could be that the MSI program is just monitoring wrong? Cause I was running prime95, and the 3.3v dropped to 2.95 but it was still running fine, wouldn't that normally be really not good???? Any info is appreciated.


-nate

 

[Remedy]

If it isn't broke, then don't try to fix it.

 

[RedCross]

Yeah, I suppose you are right. Maybe when I get an opportunity, i'll try another PSU. Thanks for the help all.



-nate

 

[SupermanCK]

yes...channel well is crap...if you looking carefully...420w is MAX...not average...

 

[RedCross]

Yeah, i know its not the best, but it should still be more than enough right?


-nate

 

[Remedy]

Actually it is the other way around, CWT builds the PSU and Antec rebadges it AFAIK. They also do the samething Sparkle and Turbolink. Various other Maunfactures as well. When AMD had the XP PSU compatibility list up for PSU's over 400watts, 4 out of the 6 were built by CWT and were rebadge by Forton Source, Antec, Turbolink, CWT Branded and small OEM source that wasn't recognizable to me.

From Mtech.

It is rated with a 245watt combined output. This is great news as most power supplies don't even come close. Even the 431watt Enermax only has a total of 220watts (this is probably why they just appeared on AMD's aforementioned list although they performed very well for a long long time). This rating is a clear indication of one big step toward ultimate stability. Let's just hope other manufacturers follow suit. As a matter of fact, the CWT-420 is the Antec PP412X! Or, to put things in a more logical context, the Antec power supply is a renamed CWT-420! This is a top notch unit and is respected by many even more so than the Enermax line.

Also here is a quote from Directron PSU FaQ;

Based on the above criteria and our general experience in return rates, these are consistently high quality brands on the market: EnerMax, Delta, PC Power & Cooling, Enhance, Antec, CWT, and SPI. These brands are consistently associated with low-eight models: L&C, Deer, Skyhawk, Star, KME, KingStar, and LCT. Our experience shows that the return rates of a low-weight power supply could be as high as twice of those of high-quality ones. How does your power supply measure up?

 

[RedCross]

so then it should be fine right? I dunno, i really think its just this msi thing reporting wrong, cause i don't see how it would even run with it that low


-nate