Failing Power Supply?

[Spooner]

Symptoms:
- Sometimes boots up to a very distorted screen with color blotches and wavy lines (when this happens I can boot my machine into safe mode, then reboot and everything is fine)

- Sometimes sounds like it is booting but the monitor simply displays "No Video" and gets me nowhere.

- Sometimes starts up to a very weird sound coming from what I'm guessing is the power supply (sounds like the fan is struggling and making almost grinding noises.)

Do you think this is all caused by a failing power supply? Like I said, it often sounds like it's on its way out and it's also only a 350W when I have 3 hard drives, dvd drive, lcd, and numerous pci cards.

What is a good brand name for a power supply and what's the minimum wattage I should get for the specs I gave?

 

[mechBgon]

You have over 9000 posts here and you don't know not to cross-post? Dang Lifer-wannabes...

Yes, replace your power supply with a new high-quality one with adequate (or surplus) wattage for your rig.

Oh, and you wanted a recommendation. Not knowing what your rig consists of, I'll throw out Enermax, Antec and Fortron in the 400W area as a general idea.

 

[Spooner]

I know.

I've just received so little feedback. Thanks for slapping me on the wrist and helping too


Can the power supply also be causing the strange video behavior as well? This is what has been confusing me

 

[mechBgon]

It would be my first suspect based on the info you gave, and if it's having fan problems then it's due for a replacement whether it's the actual culprit or not. So why not do that first and see if it solves the other problems, is the way I'm thinking

 

[Spooner]

I have 350W now. Should I go up to 450, 550? I think the prices are in the $100-139 range.

 

[mechBgon]

How long will it be until you upgrade motherboards, because 20-pin ATX will be fading from the scene in favor of 24-pin ATX 2.2 from here onwards.

If you're going to keep the PSU and 20-pin ATX mobo for a couple years, and might heave in a gnarly 6800OC someday, then I'd say one of the Enermax 460W units with their beefy 12V amperages. If you won't need quite that much beef before changing platforms altogether, then it could be overkill (although overkill works for me ). I still don't know what CPU or video card you have or plan to get; that has a bearing on the power usage so maybe clarify that?

 

[Spooner]

Sorry. I have a Asus A7N8X motherboard with a AMD Athlon 2500+ chip. Currently running a measly GeForce 2 mx400 vid card, probably going to upgrade to the 9800 Pro come Xmas time.

I'm leaning toward buying the Antec True 550W PSU just to be on the safe side $139.

 

[Spooner]

I will be upgrading the vid card, but don't see me upgrading the mobo or chip for at least another year.

 

[mechBgon]

TruePower550 oughta get the job done :Q Another interesting one is the NeoPower with its modular cables, dual 12V rails, and single 120mm fan. $115 shipped Both are certainly a "towing-package" solution for your 2500+ even with a 9800Pro factored in.

 

[Spooner]

I know I can probably get a cheaper one shipped, but I'm heading out to my local Microcenter to purchase this sucker today. Is the 550 overkill? They also have an Antec 430W PS. I don't see the difference except for wattage and price $99 as opposed to $139.

http://www.microcenter.com/sea...nufacturer_title=Antec

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, TruePower430 is still plenty. The extra $40 will buy a lot of pizza

 

[IEC]

Sounded like a vid card problem, but I guess power shortages could do that to you... get a high quality PSU, something >350W actual max.

 

[Spooner]

Replaced power supply. Same exact issues. Video card?