How do you know when you need more power?

[eno]

I have antec performance series 2 case with a TruePower330 watt PS. I always hear of most people with alot of speed and hardware running 400watt PS and up. What would normally happen if I am maxing my PS? I have just purchase a Rheobus that runs 5 smart case II fans 80mm(orange) and 1 Tornado 80mm fan. I have a CDrom/CDRW/40gig/Floppy/one side case 80mm BLUE LED/2 cold cathode lights/ XP 1800+ OC to 2400+/206fsb. Is that usually just fine for a 330watt?

 

[bgeh]

i usually start thinking about changing my PSU once the voltage rails go really, really low

 

[eno]

voltage rails? explain please

 

[Doh!]

For a quick check, you can use any of the hardware monitoring utilities such as Sandra, Aida or speedfan to check the voltages at 3.3v, 5v & 12v. The voltages should be within 5% differential. When buying a psu, don't think about the wattage since most psu's these days are over 300w which should be enough for most desktop systems. Look for the Amp specification. A 300w w/ high Amp is much better than a 450w with weak Amp.

 

[Bobbyeyes]

if you hear your fans laboring(changing velocity) while multitasking, mite mean you need a tad more wattage in your system.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Bobbyeyes
if you hear your fans laboring(changing velocity) while multitasking, mite mean you need a tad more wattage in your system.

Thats if you can hear the difference between an underpowered fan and a fan at normal speed after listening to a Tornado and 5 Smart Fan 2's at full pelt.

 

[eno]

Well I do know that the Tornado does only run at 5200RPM and goes to 5400RPM if all other 5 fans are off. It runs at 5600-5800rpm hooked into 4pin PS lead, and less on the RHEOBUS .What voltage should I check?


Well with this screen open and speedfan , this is what I get.

+3.3v: 2.88v
+5v : 4.95v
+12v : 11.80v

-12v : -12.03v
-5v : -5.10v
-5vsb: 5.56v
VBAT : 3.09v

VCOREB 1.89v (bios set at 1.85)

 

[Doh!]

How many fans are you running off the fan headers on the motherboard? What kind of fans? I'm asking this 'cause it seems like you mb is sucking up a lot of juice.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: eno
Well I do know that the Tornado does only run at 5200RPM and goes to 5400RPM if all other 5 fans are off. It runs at 5600-5800rpm hooked into 4pin PS lead, and less on the RHEOBUS .What voltage should I check?


Well with this screen open and speedfan , this is what I get.

+3.3v: 2.88v
+5v : 4.95v
+12v : 11.80v

-12v : -12.03v
-5v : -5.10v
-5vsb: 5.56v
VBAT : 3.09v

VCOREB 1.89v (bios set at 1.85)

Tornados shouldn't be running from a motherboard header because they draw more amperage than the boards are designed for, with a few exceptions. I'd recommend switching to powering them from 4-pin adapters before you blow the headers.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: eno
Well I do know that the Tornado does only run at 5200RPM and goes to 5400RPM if all other 5 fans are off. It runs at 5600-5800rpm hooked into 4pin PS lead, and less on the RHEOBUS .What voltage should I check?


Well with this screen open and speedfan , this is what I get.

+3.3v: 2.88v
+5v : 4.95v
+12v : 11.80v

-12v : -12.03v
-5v : -5.10v
-5vsb: 5.56v
VBAT : 3.09v

VCOREB 1.89v (bios set at 1.85)

one thing to note is taht the +3.3volt rail is actually measuring the vdimm so it may seem low but it's not reading correctly so don't worry about that....

you'll have to physically measure it from you PSU....

your +5 and +12 rails seem just about okay....

if you check your PSU, it should have a combined wattage for you 3.3 and 5 volt rails.... what is it?

as long as it's greater around 225W's you should be okay with that truepower 330....

but if you do decide to upgrade... go with the fortron 350W from www.directron.com or the allied true power 450W from www.newegg.com they both have a combined 3.3 and 5 volt rail greater than 225W and they only fluctuate about ~1% as compared to the standard 5% of most decent PSU...

hope that helps

EDIT: both psu's are under 45 dollars...

remember, when it comes to PSU's it's about quality, not quantity!!!! VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!!

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: Bobbyeyes
if you hear your fans laboring(changing velocity) while multitasking, mite mean you need a tad more wattage in your system.

 

[oldfart]

The True330 can handle quite a bit. I have one and it runs my P4 2.4 @ 3.06, 9700 Pro, 2 optical drives, 1 Gig ram, 120 Gig HDD, sound, nic, firewire, etc just fine. I dont have a bunch of loud fans though---noise is not my thing.

 

[Noid]

I can tell ,, cuz my pc rolls over gasping for air ... errr power

 

[iwearnosox]

Scotty usually just lets me know.

 

[eno]

Well first off, only two fans are hooked to the 3pin MB headers, one 2500rpm blue LED side case fan and one vantec chipset cooler. All 5 SmartCase II fans are hooked into the Rheobus and the Torando as well. I knew Antec were good power supplies but when is the time to actually get out of these 300+ PS and up to a good 400+. Man if I turn up all the dials on the Rheobus I swear my computer is going to take off, it does however allow for some crazy overclocking, that really isn't needed till Doom3 is out. I do plan on getting the ATI 9800 256mb card, should I have to upgrade the PS with those figures I posted?