HELP...How Much Power Do I need???

[HmgStrider]

I'm currently running a dvd rom, cdrw, 40 gig HD, floppy, zip, atlon 1.4 266fsb, 512 DDR, geforce 3 ti200, soundblaster live 5.1, nic card. And i'm running all this with 320 watt of power from a generic manufacturer, i think the name of this ps is superlink or something like that. But i've been having major problems with it because i had an asus a7a266 before and it did this to me so i decided to sell that off and get a gigbyte 7vtxe(kt266a) board. Everything went fine until i bought the volcano 7 and then thats when all my problems came back. So i figured that it has to be the motherboard since there's nothing left to blame. Here's the problem my computer won't boot, it seems like the computer is on, all the fans are running but nothing to the screeen. I've noticed that the light on the eithernet card won't even turn on. Here also another observation that i've noticed if i unplug the case fan to my motherboard, zip, and cd rom it boots up. And after its up i shut down the computer and plug it all back in, everything boots up again. This is really wierd, i don't t know what it could be except for the power supply Let me know what u guys think it is...could it be the cpu. Oh yeah, my system is really unstable while playing games. I won't be able to play any longer than 45 mins without it crashing to my desktop. Let me know what you guys think the problem is.

 

[DaiShan]

post this in technical support, they will help yah, sounds like you just need a quality psu though, something off of AMD's approved list.

 

[hoihtah]

yeah.. though this doesn't really belong here..
i'll try to address it.

on your psu... check and see what the combined output on 3.3v+5v is.
it sounds like your psu doesn't have more than 180w on that rail.

if you are on a budget and can't purchase a real nice psu...
then go over to neweggs and grab yourself an enhance 300w or 350w.
those have 220w at 3.3+5... which should be enough for your purpose.

more than not, it'll make your computer more stable as well.

with most generic psus... 5v line falls significantly below 5v.
if that voltage drops below say 4.8v... then you're in danger of underpowering your mobo and cpu.

you can underpower your cdroms and other peripherals(which uses 12v) to a certain degree... and they will tolerate. but your mobo (which powers pci ports, agp ports, cpu, and other things) will not tolerate.

i bet your computer won't last long running at constant 100% cpu usage.
anyhow... if you need more help... pm me... but otherwise... you should take daishan's advise and post this in case/cooling or mobo forum. they've got lots of info over there regarding this.

 

[Evadman]

I would go with a 400 just beacuse you will need the power sooner or later anyway. You could probably get away with a 300 as long as it is AMD approved.

I have a sparkle 200 running a 900 AMD @ 1.0. for $5 that was a great deal!

 

[Jerboy]

<< I'm currently running a dvd rom, cdrw, 40 gig HD, floppy, zip, atlon 1.4 266fsb, 512 DDR, geforce 3 ti200, soundblaster live 5.1, nic card. And i'm running all this with 320 watt of power from a generic manufacturer, i think the name of this ps is superlink or something like that. But i've been having major problems with it because i had an asus a7a266 before and it did this to me so i decided to sell that off and get a gigbyte 7vtxe(kt266a) board. Everything went fine until i bought the volcano 7 and then thats when all my problems came back. So i figured that it has to be the motherboard since there's nothing left to blame. Here's the problem my computer won't boot, it seems like the computer is on, all the fans are running but nothing to the screeen. I've noticed that the light on the eithernet card won't even turn on. Here also another observation that i've noticed if i unplug the case fan to my motherboard, zip, and cd rom it boots up. And after its up i shut down the computer and plug it all back in, everything boots up again. This is really wierd, i don't t know what it could be except for the power supply Let me know what u guys think it is...could it be the cpu. Oh yeah, my system is really unstable while playing games. I won't be able to play any longer than 45 mins without it crashing to my desktop. Let me know what you guys think the problem is. >>




You'd have to test it, because nobody knows how much power your setup need without measurement.

Measure the current at each line using clamp on hall effect sensor based meter and measure the actual voltage instead of assuming it to be the rated voltage.

5V x nA=xxW
3.3V x nA= xxW
12V x nA=xxW

take the sum of all wattage and you'll have a relatively accurate power usage of your computer.