• 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.

P4 power supply requirements

  • Thread starter Thread starter WT
  • Start date Start date
WT

WT

Diamond Member
I work in the IT staff at a school district and we are looking at purchasing P4 1.6 systems in a microATX configuration. Specs include 256 RAM, 40 gig 7200 rpm HD, nVidia Vanta 16 meg video, Intel NIC and a minitower case with a 180 watt power supply. Immediately the low wattage of the PS struck me as a bad thing, and EVERYONE recommends a 300 watt at minimum. This is obviously a larger problem with an AMD cpu, but still, I have read many posts stating the P4 is also power hungry to a point. This website states a minimum of 230 watts for a P4:
Compute-Aid power supply recommendations
The manufacturer responded to our question with THIS website, stating that a 180 and even 160 watt PS were acceptable for P4 use.
FormFactors.org - top of page 7

These systems are obviously not going to have anything added to them hardware-wise once they are set up, but we have had some power supply problems with their older models using a P2/333 with a 230 watt unit. Any help or suggestions are appreciated !!
 
in the real world it works like this....

350W PSU is good for upto 2300mhz. (P4 mhz)
431W PSU is good for upto 2700mhz.
550W PSU is good for upto (i cant get that far)

if you can hear your fans slow down under heavy load - you need a better PSU.
keep an eye on your 12v line too. it shouldnt drop below 11.75v.

for a non-overclocked 1.6A - 300 quality watts should be plenty.
 
Any reputable websites or further info stating a minimum spec ? I'm sure they function, as the company is selling them and had been around for many years, but I'm worried about long-term problems with this particular unit.
 
It seems to me that AMD has a disclaimer about OEM's and PSU wattage, I suspect Intel does the same. Many OEM's use psu's of much lower wattage than enthusiasts would recommend- Dell and Compaq come to mind. I suspect that it's not so much of an issue with P4's, particularly the 1.6's, because of the way that Intel boards actually use the 12v rail to derive some of the onboard voltages. Amps x Volts = Watts, so it's easy to see the advantage. Some of the Enthusiast-type Athlon boards don't use the 3.3v, either, pretty much shooting themselves in the foot.

Quality speaks more to the longevity of a psu than power output- I'd take a 180w Enhance or FortronSource/Sparkle over a 230w Deer any day..... And the present max output for SFX size units is 200w, IIRC.

Maybe you could wrangle a demonstration unit for a few days or weeks (you're buying several, right?) and really put it through the wringer, see what happens.


 
Jhhnn, I thought the same thing myself. We are purchasing about 150+ and have purchased hundreds more in the past. The problem is we need to make a decision within two weeks. This articular vendor has had our business for the past four years, and lately the first year models have been dropping like flies, as over 25 of the 230 watt PS's have blown. This in itself is not terrible, but rather the fact that 6 of the 25 have blown the entire SYSTEM, including the HD, CDROM and MoBo !!! This is unacceptable and to "help us out", they sent us 20 new ones. I just checked last years units ( P3/933) and see no markings at ALL on the PS, nor the fan inside of it. My guess is it is an AOpen unit, which would match the CDRom drive and video card in the PC in question. Testing out a demo unit would not find any of the above PC's long term problems such as we are encountering.
 
Tell supplier you want a min of 200-220 watts combined on the +3v and +5 v rails, and see what he can produce. Your downtime due to blown units/systems has to be worth something.
 
Yeh, I hear you, WT, but loading MBM and a distributed client, working it hard and checking the voltages at the same time will tell you if the supply is truly adequate in the first place. If it's not, it definitely won't last.

Sounds like you need to PM all the psu's in the oldest machines if you intend to keep them.

PSU's with no markings at all are not a good sign, not a good sign at all- pretty much indicates the cheapest of the cheap- with the usual "You bought it, it's yours." kind of manufacturer's warranty.

Hope I'm making sense....
 


<< Sounds like you need to PM all the psu's in the oldest machines >>



Indeed it does, as that is what I spent the beginning of my work week doing this week. One lab in particular has been very nasty in regards to blown PS AND blown systems. Out of 20 PC's, I have replaced probably 6 PS and 2 whole units. The company claimed we had voltage issues in our wiring but the entire building was rewired (electrical and cat5) in a large scale project three years ago. A simple tap test will show nothing ... we would instead have to meter it over a span of at least a week and the maintenance crew does not have the equipment to do that currently. I suggested to step up to the mid tower case which had a larger PS, but the budget is blown to hell and back this year and the additional $100 a PC is simply too much to fit into our plans.

:frown:
 
Have you had any experience with those NVidia Vanta cards? Where I work, we used to get those with computers about a year ago... They were nothing but trouble. Your prior experiencce with them may be different, but we have switched cards.

We began using the ATI Rage 128 Pro (just for office use), but ATI recently changed their card spec to make them compatable with P4's.. this caused 5 P3 machines to constantly lock up while doing things as simple as typing fast in word. Now we are ording TNT2 cards.
 
I would get at least a 300 watt PS. For one thing the PS is the life of a computer. If it fails then the computer is useless. Skimping on a unit like that is just asking for problems later down the road. IMHO the weakest part of a computer is the cheapest part. With the price of PS going down I think there is no reason to get a quality unit
Mike
 
As far as the Vanta cards go, I haven't had a lot of problems with them. We have a lab full of them in an Elementary school and the software (at least 5 years old) does not play well with the card. I have to knock hardware accceleration back a notch to get two of the games to function properly. Thats not too bad considering there are 18 titles total in that lab. My main gripe is that "educational" software now seems to focus on the multimedia aspect more than necessary, as the idea that kids will watch a TV-like game (non-interactive at many points) is still ingrained in programmers minds. Repetitive skills and drills are still the best thing going but no one makes them anymore. You old timers in the field remember the MECC software I'm sure. Oh well .... back on topic ... the PS unit is either bought with the PC or we buy from another vendor, there will be no switching out to a beefier unit for us. Vendors aren't as flexible as they usta be.
🙁
 
The decision has been made ! We priced a midtower case (instead of the mini) with a 300 watt PS and then had a small bidding war between this vendor and Compaq. End result, the units came in $3 less than a similarly config'd Compaq, but I did not like the Compaq proprietary floppy drive at all so cast my vote against them. 190 new PC's ordered which gives me something to do this summer !! Thanx for the input, fellow transistorheads !
🙂
😕
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top