• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Is my Enermax 350W powerful enough?

C

cam94z28

Member
I recently purchased a Powercolor PCS+ HD5770 Video card. Otherwise the system works fine, but if I try to overclock this thing, even the slightest bit, it will play fine for a while, test fine (passed) with ATI overdrive, but randomly in actual games, I'll get repeating sound, and the computer freezes. I'm wondering if I'm at the limit of my power supply, and this is the reason? I have seen many reviews of this identical card where it's been taken up to 950mhz on the cpu clock and 1300+ on the memory. I can't even get 920 out of it without random freezes in games, and the memory won't really budge. Everything is flawless on stock clock speeds, even after running occt gpu or PSU test for an hour. I opened HWmonitor while occt was running (8 shader stress test), and the minimum for +12V was 11.65v.

My current PSU is an enermax 350 watt (EG365P-VD), with 26 amps on the +12, and 36 on the 3.3, and 5v. I know the wattage isn't up there but it's got a decent amperage rating.

For reference, the rest of my system is:
AMD Athlon II 635 2.9ghz (Stock cooler)
Gigabyte Ultra Durable GA-770TA-UD3 Motherboard
4GB (2 sticks) Corsair XMS3 DDR3
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 hard drive
Samsung SH-S203B DVD Writer
Adda 80mm, 50CFM rear case fan
Generic 23CFM front case fan.

That's about it. I don't really want to upgrade the PSU unless there is a good chance it will solve my overclocking problem with this card. Unless I crank the memory up I get no artfacting, video/audio simply freezes in games when overclocked. Is this an adequate PSU for only being 350W? Also, FWIW I previously had a eVGA superclocked 9600GT, which supposedly draws quite a bit more power, and had no issues, although that card was not overclockable very far, so I gave up.
 
In that thread the last post mentioned that the chinese caps are suspect. Adda makes very good fans though, and that's usually the part that fails first on an otherwise decent psu. I have an Adda that's been in my case (3 different cases actually) over the last 3 years.

If I'm going to upgrade I'd like it to be more powerful. 380 wouldn't be much more than what I have.
I was planning to spend $50-60 on one though so I think newegg will be my friend.

The cooler master elite for $29.99 after rebate doesn't seem too bad.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171046
 
Last edited:
Yeah, at 350w if the PSU isn't the thing preventing you from OCing at all, it sure will prevent you from getting anything decent +15% even. I think the 400w Corsair Temjin linked would be good enough for a decent OC.

I have some parts coming Monday or Tuesday and I can put a very similar system together if you want a test 🙂
 
TemjinGold said:
You get what you pay for. More watts =! better quality. That cooler master elite is not top tier.

If you want something stronger, I'd recommend either

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...air%20400w
Click to expand...

I was definitely looking at the corsair, I just saw the cooler master as a cheaper alternative. It is not even 80 plus certified though. My Enermax actually has 26 amps on the 12v rail. I have also have no major complaints about my enermax. It powered my old Athlon X2 system without a hitch.

So, I would also be considering one of these enermax psu's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194042

or this (if it ever comes back in stock)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194038


Athadeus said:
Yeah, at 350w if the PSU isn't the thing preventing you from OCing at all, it sure will prevent you from getting anything decent +15% even. I think the 400w Corsair Temjin linked would be good enough for a decent OC.

I have some parts coming Monday or Tuesday and I can put a very similar system together if you want a test 🙂
Click to expand...
If you wouldn't mind. I'm curious to see if you reach a bottleneck directly related to power. Considering OCCT was also showing almost 4% of ripple, I think it's time to retire it.
 
The first Enermax you listed is a fine PSU. I didn't recommend it because you said $50-$60 and it is overbudget. I would not consider the 2nd Enermax because that one is far worse (most of the extra power is on the 3.3V, which is worthless and it only has 1 6-pin power connector for graphics whereas the first Enermax has two 6+2pin connectors.) In terms of useful power, the first one listed actually has more. That second Enermax is likely a much older model.
 
t77snapshot said:
Top 3 best PSU's IMO:

Corsair
Enermax
Silverstone
Click to expand...
I'd prefer Seasonic, but have to leave the other 2 places empty, maybe Antec and/or Enermax, besides that I don't know anyone to trust completely...

But I don't like those 'Tier lists' at all, 'cause almost everyone sells good and not so good (or crappy) units, even Silverstone and Corsair...
 
Seeing as how Seasonic apparently makes some Antec and Corsair models, They should be a cheaper solution without all the bilng bling. But, their self-branded models don't appear to have quite the specs as their rebranded ones for about the same money.
 
Just wanted to update. It appears the video card was the issue all along. After trying 3 different power supplies, I ran OCCT PSU test for a longer period of time. When set to 30 minutes run time on the PSU test. After about 15 minutes, either the video driver will fail (popup in taskbar), or the system will hang. I left HWMONITOR open during the same time. It appears as soon as the card hits 89C it fails, even though the GPU is apparently rated up to 109C. Maybe I shouldn't be using a shader complexity of 8, but I'm sure there are some games out there that can duplicate the stress. Sucks that newegg will only RMA, and I don't want the same card.

I have tried my Enermax 350W, A Spare PowerUP 460 watt of my dads (with single 120mm fan), and even bought a Thermaltake TR2-430 to test with something decent. Exact same results with all 3, although the Powerup got to 18.5 minutes before doing the same thing. Probably due to power starving the video card. It also went the lowest on the 12V. Sucks that newegg will only RMA, and I don't want the same card.
 
Last edited:
cam94z28 said:
Just wanted to update. It appears the video card was the issue all along. After trying 3 different power supplies, I ran OCCT PSU test for a longer period of time. When set to 30 minutes run time on the PSU test. After about 15 minutes, either the video driver will fail (popup in taskbar), or the system will hang. I left HWMONITOR open during the same time. It appears as soon as the card hits 89C it fails, even though the GPU is apparently rated up to 109C. Maybe I shouldn't be using a shader complexity of 8, but I'm sure there are some games out there that can duplicate the stress. Sucks that newegg will only RMA, and I don't want the same card.

I have tried my Enermax 350W, A Spare PowerUP 460 watt of my dads (with single 120mm fan), and even bought a Thermaltake TR2-430 to test with something decent. Exact same results with all 3, although the Powerup got to 18.5 minutes before doing the same thing. Probably due to power starving the video card. It also went the lowest on the 12V. Sucks that newegg will only RMA, and I don't want the same card.
Click to expand...


was this with the card at stock speeds or OCed?
 
stock actually (this card does have a slight factory overclock though... 875 core, 1225 memory). Kind of explains why it was so picky about overclocking. Newegg gave me a break and said they'd RMA the old one, and let me exchange for something more expensive. So now, I just have to decide between Sapphire Vapor-X or MSI HAWX 😛
 
Last edited:
Ended up going with the MSI hawk. I read too many reviews of the vapor-x/grey screen problem, even more recent ones, indicating they're not driver related. Also, something deep down doesn't like the idea of a water-filled chamber that might one day leak inside my PC. I am not a fan of water cooling either, if you couldn't tell 😛

I'm sure it's a nice card though. If I have any problems with the MSI it is definitely my second choice.
 
cam94z28 said:
Ended up going with the MSI hawk. I read too many reviews of the vapor-x/grey screen problem, even more recent ones, indicating they're not driver related. Also, something deep down doesn't like the idea of a water-filled chamber that might one day leak inside my PC. I am not a fan of water cooling either, if you couldn't tell 😛

I'm sure it's a nice card though. If I have any problems with the MSI it is definitely my second choice.
Click to expand...

hawk is a really nice card, installed it on my friends computer. i myself went with a gigabyte 5770 which according to the reviews were either awesome or gray screen. i was pretty glad when mine arrived to be awesome.
 
The Gigabyte looked decent, but nothing really special about it. Other than it looks like a batmobile if it's the one I'm thinking of 🙂. Also considered the Asus cuCore but read several reviews about bubbles in the copper on the heatsink preventing full contact.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top