Overclocking - Two power supplies *UPDATE*

[Goatie]

Hey all,

I've recently ordered a bunch of parts( Listed at the end of this post) for a computer I'm about to start building. Heres my problem. I do intend to overclock, however where I live (United Arab Emirates) it is completley impossible to find good quality power supplies. There is literally a 0% enthusiast market. I'm going to be getting a case with a 450Watt power supply here, however I'm worried about it holding back my overclock.

Right now I'm thinking of just buying an extra power supply. I haven't heard of anyone doing this (namely because you guys get good quality PSUs), but I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work. Noise is not an issue at all to me as the computer is no where near my bedroom or living room. I'm thinking about putting it on top of my case and letting it sit there, heh. I'm very curious to know this boards' opinions.

Thanks in advance.


CPU - AMD64 3200 (Winchester)
Motherboard - MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Harddrive - 74GB Raptor
Memory - PC 3500 EB OCZ
Heatsink - nothing yet, still trying to find something good, best I've found here is a gigabyte one
VGA - XFX Ge Force FX 6800 GT

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

huh? you can always take the power supply that comes with the case out and put the new one in...

the rest of the system looks great, i don't know what a good heatsink is so good luck

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Give us the rail specs on the Power Supply that you have and the brandname and we can help you determine if it will be a good overclocker Power Supply or not. Quality is a little more difficult to determine but specs are easy.

 

[Goatie]

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear enough.

iwantanewcomputer,

I could do that, but it would end up being redundant. You see if I buy an extra power supply, it won't be any beter quality than the one that comes with the case (as there isn't a market for PSUs here).

michaelpatrick33

I'll let you know all of the info as soon as I do. I strongly suspect that it will be generic. I'll find out tomrrow or so exactly whats in there as I'm going to the shop then. (By the way, can't wait for the seventh book in the Dark Tower)

Theoretically though, assuming that its complete crap, would two PSUs be viable?

Thanks for the help

 

[NewBlackDak]

Why not find a good one in FS/FT, and take the hit on customs/shipping?

 

[Navid]

I suspect you want to install two power supplies in parallel so that both are used at the same time.

That is not a good idea.

How are you going to do it?

How do you make sure that the voltages are identical? How do you make sure that at the turn-on time, the two voltages increase at the same rate? How are you going to control the current and make sure that it is distributed evenly between the two?

If you do not take care of those issues, you will have lots of sparks flying around!!!!

 

[Goatie]

Originally posted by: Navid
I suspect you want to install two power supplies in parallel so that both are used at the same time.

That is not a good idea.

How are you going to do it?

How do you make sure that the voltages are identical? How do you make sure that at the turn-on time, the two voltages increase at the same rate? How are you going to control the current and make sure that it is distributed evenly between the two?

If you do not take care of those issues, you will have lots of sparks flying around!!!!

Thats exactly the type of feedback I'm looking for. So basically having two PSUs working at the same time is impossible, or at the very least very risky? As for what I was going to do, I was thinking of puttin the processor, graphics card, ram, on one and everything else on the other. I'm assuming from your post that this isn't really a good idea.

As for ordering one and paying shipping, I'm impatient, thatts the problem. What I'll probably end up doing now is using the generic one and if it overclocks horrbly I'll order one.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Zardnok]

I agree that trying to isolate and run two powersupplies is definitely a bad idea!

I would definitely get a good quality PS ordered and in the process of being shipped over. You might also look into getting a UPS system or a line conditioner to smooth out voltage fluctuations.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Goatie
So basically having two PSUs working at the same time is impossible, or at the very least very risky? As for what I was going to do, I was thinking of puttin the processor, graphics card, ram, on one and everything else on the other. I'm assuming from your post that this isn't really a good idea.

I wouldn't say it is impossible. Yes, it is risky.

How were you thinking you would wire the power-on switch.
Or were you thinking of having two switches, one for each supply? That would be nasty since after you power up the first, half of the components will have power and the other half will not untill the second one is powered on too.

I guess what I am saying is that there is a lot you have to worry about. Even if you manage to get it going, you may be shortening the life of the components. It is not just making sure that it works. You should make sure that it will work for at least one year before it breaks down!

You may be better off spending your money on getting the single power supply that can do the job.

 

[Goatie]

yup, thats what I'm going to be doing now. I just want to see how my system will overclock with the PSU I'm getting, if it isn't good enough, I'll get something good online and have it shipped.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Tiamat]

1 bad power supplie is not a good idea - 2 bad power supplies in parallel is asking for trouble. If you can, try to cough up the insane shipping cost/custom charges etc. to get a single good name brand power supply. There are accessories that you can bind 2 power supplies together into 1 20pin mobo connector, but i dont know if they would help you in your circumstance. The type of connector I am talking about is what comes with the Coolermaster CM Stacker case - which allows for 2 powersupplies for the diehard server people with more than 10 HDDs.

 

[Bill Kunert]

I had two power supplies in my computer for a time. I used the best one for my motherboard and fans and the other for my four drives. It's really very simple. All you need to do is provide AC power to both and splice the green wire that goes to the mother board connector together plus a ground wire from the mother board connector(the big connector, not the 12volt connector. That will cause both supplies to start up when you turn on the computer. It worked fine and gave me a little bit better 12volt line. I recently bought a good power supply so don't need two supplies. If you do an internet search for dual supplies you should come up with some detailed information.
Regards
Bill

 

[Goatie]

Hey all, heres an update on my status.

I a thermaltake polo12 410Watt power supply here and bought it as soon as I saw it. I'm not sure how good this PSU is, but its got to be better than generic brands. Anyone had any experience with it?

I also got this case http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/lanmoto/bwa.htm to go with it. Best I could find here, very ugly though. WTF are those bikes doing there heh.

 

[mezizo]

hey there I am using 2 power supplies 400 watt poor quality cos this is the best I can buy in here in egypt
but it is working i am putting 2fans and 2 hdd on one psu,and three cdr-rw drives on the other
my question is do I have to make a psu give only my mb??

my cpu
p4 prescott 3ghz
2 hdd maxtor 120 and 80 gigs (7200 rpm)
768 memory running at 333 mhz
aero 4 lite fan
ati 9600xt


thanx

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: mezizo
hey there I am using 2 power supplies 400 watt poor quality cos this is the best I can buy in here in egypt
but it is working i am putting 2fans and 2 hdd on one psu,and three cdr-rw drives on the other
my question is do I have to make a psu give only my mb??

my cpu
p4 prescott 3ghz
2 hdd maxtor 120 and 80 gigs (7200 rpm)
768 memory running at 333 mhz
aero 4 lite fan
ati 9600xt


thanx

Im unsure about Thermaltakes 410W Polo PSU but my 2 Thermaltake PSU's run fine. They arent considered the best but they are good enough for the basic enthusiast.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Do not get thermaltake. THey are noisy and have a mere 18A on the 12V rail. Definately go with an ANtec, Enermax, OCZ, PCP&C. Also if you are getting two PSU's then i suggest you get a case that supports two. THe Coolermaster stacker though expensive is one of the best cases on the market with support for two PSU's powering the same system. They even have connectors

-Kevin