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Is my power supply good enough to run my setup?

Z

Zero Plasma

Banned
I have had 3 SATA HDD's start to fail on me and one of the replacements is now making a loud grinding noise when in heavy use (Is that bad? 🙂).

I want to know if it could be my setup, or is this common place and most likely their fault?

Here are the specs:

Power Supply - ANTEC NeoPower 480W
Link

MotherBoard - Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939
Link

Video Card - Gigabyte 6800GT

Processor - A64 3500+ 90nm

Hard Drives - 2x Internal 160 GB PATA Maxtor
1x Internal 300 GB SATA Maxtor (In a removable tray)

DVD Burner
DVD ROM

Case Fans - 2x 120mm
1x 90mm

Thanks
 
Well that could be the problem. I, for instance, only run 1 drive systems with a 480 P/S and my other components are not as high end as some of yours. So, personally, I would want a bit more wattage for that system, if it were mine.

Secondly, my suggestion (and I know others will disagree, which they certainly have to right to do), would be to try to stay away from Maxtor drives (my experience has been generally negative with them) and lean toward Seagate drives (of which I have had zero problems). And I have no stock in Seagate or whoever might own them.

Good luck.
 
🙂
Its too bad, according to the AT links, the older Antecs were very good.
Check to see if you have any leaking capacitors, It's been noted on AT that Antec's problems have been linked to their use of cheaper capacitors.
I hope in your case, that isn't the cause for your hdd woes.

Costco at one time had a lot of "gray market" Maxtors. The model numbers weren't even listed on Maxtor's site. The failure rate was extremely high.
I've used Maxtors for a long time and my failure rate was very small. If I did something like dropping the hdd, its was usually my fault. You get what you pay for.

Nothing is a deal. I've tried getting a deal on a Seasonic S-12 600W lately, and have you noticed the really good PSUs don't have to discount their wares to get sold.
If you ever see a discount, its in the few dollars variety. I finally got one at $149 delivered. The cheapest online was Newegg for $149 + shipping.

Well, good luck......
 
I personally dislike Antecs but as long as you're not running dual 7900 gtx's on that baby I think you should be fine...

Maxtor is your problem. Those hard drives blow. Buy Seagate.
 
To really be sure (or at least get closer to "sure"), find out how many amps your NeoPower 480 can put out on the 12V rail. Then find out how many amps your 6800 GT and CPU draw together. Then factor in the draws of your hard drives and add 'em all up. If your components' draw on the 12V rail is exceeding what your PSU is capable of, then obviously the PSU could be the culprit. Although I'd think you'd be having other problems besides just failing HDs if your PSU was indeed underpowered.

I don't know OTTOMH what the NeoPower 480 puts out on the 12V rail, but like thegimp03 said, I'd be inclined to think it will power the components you have and do so with "headroom" to spare. It would be unusual for a good quality 480-watt PSU to be unusually weak on the 12V rail (though not unusual for a junky PSU, which you don't have). And as you've seen, opinions vary on Antecs. They don't make their own PSUs (they're "rebadged"), so the quality might vary between models depending on who the OEM is. Some Antecs are prolly better than others. 😛

While I'm no tech, I think that grinding hard drives are more likely due to mechanical failure (like bearings going bad or something) than insufficient voltage. Just my guess.

My bet would be bad HDs rather than an insufficient PSU, but it's hard to say for sure. Not to insult your intelligence, 'cuz you prolly know this, but HDs do not take kindly to being jostled around. Their mechanisms -- particularly the read/write head -- are very delicate. If your machine is being moved a lot, or being carted around to "LAN parties" or something, that could be your answer right there. I treat HDs as if they were butterfly wings and have had good luck with them. I've also used Seagate and Western Digital exclusively and have had very good luck, FWIW.

Good luck. 🙂
 
Some more information:

1. The first three(Out of 5) HDD's just started having very slow speeds and the Maxtor's test program said they were failing. Only one has made the grinding noise and it only made it once for ~30 seconds during heavy usage, after hearing the noise I stopped using the drive for a few minutes and it hasn't made it again.

2. I don't move the computer around but the drives are in a tray setup, where each drive is in a removable tray and the drive is sitting on rubber shock absorbers inside the tray case.
My PC has a slot that fits in a 5.25 drive bay and the drive trays slide into it. These are made to be moved around and because of the shock absorbers I think they are safer than external cases.
Also they just sit on a self near my computer and aren't banged around at all.

3. A call to Maxtor tech support said that you may hear a noise like that from a drive and never have anything happen or hear the noise again but to watch the drive.

4. I just thought that I have the computer on carpet and have heard mixed opinions about that being bad or good.

Thanks for the help.
 
Originally posted by: Ken90630
To really be sure (or at least get closer to "sure"), find out how many amps your NeoPower 480 can put out on the 12V rail. Then find out how many amps your 6800 GT and CPU draw together. Then factor in the draws of your hard drives and add 'em all up. If your components' draw on the 12V rail is exceeding what your PSU is capable of, then obviously the PSU could be the culprit. Although I'd think you'd be having other problems besides just failing HDs if your PSU was indeed underpowered.

I don't know OTTOMH what the NeoPower 480 puts out on the 12V rail, but like thegimp03 said, I'd be inclined to think it will power the components you have and do so with "headroom" to spare. It would be unusual for a good quality 480-watt PSU to be unusually weak on the 12V rail (though not unusual for a junky PSU, which you don't have). And as you've seen, opinions vary on Antecs. They don't make their own PSUs (they're "rebadged"), so the quality might vary between models depending on who the OEM is. Some Antecs are prolly better than others. 😛...
Click to expand...

How would I do this, just find the info on the internet?

Thanks

 
Easiest way is to use the method in my sig, but I think that you'll find that the NeoPower provides sufficient power for your system.

How long have you been using the NeoPower?
 
I've been using the NeoPower for about 1.5 years now, but I just changed the mobo about 1 - 1.5 months ago and just added the 300 GB drive in a tray about 3 months ago, so it would have to have gone a while with out problems.

If I can i'll try your guide tomorrow.

I thought the PS was good enough but just wanted to make sure as I have heard of that killing drives. Now i'm reassured. 🙂

Thanks for all the help everybody.
 
That power supply should be able to handle it just fine.

But since you're having trouble, it could be faulty. I haven't heard of PSUs damaging just hard drives, but I'm sure it could happen. You've not been having stability issues, correct?
 
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