Power Supply 300W vs 500W - heat?

[Crost10d]

Hello everybody...
I had a question about Power Supplies.... I have this configuration
GIGA-BYTE WLES PCI CARD|GN-WPKG RTL
GIGABYTE NF4 GA-K8N PRO-SLI
VGA PWRCLR X800GT 256M R43CA-
DDR2 400 CORS 2GB VS2GBKIT400C3 RT
CPU AMD 64 |4000+ ATHLON 64 939P RT
+ 2 120mm system fans!!
2 hard drives 1SATA and 1IEDI
2 DVD burners......
Why in the world when I just out of curiosity put a 300W power supply in the system it works just the same speed and everything as with 500W that I had before....???????
I do a lot of graphics with Adobe PS CS2 and internet surfing of course......
The only freaking difference that I've noticed is that 300W way cooler..... weird

Welcome to my website www.AllYourImages.com !!!

 

[Crost10d]

Well.... I guess nobody knows?

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Do you have the specs/model #'s for both power supplies?

 

[stevty2889]

Quality 300w PSU is greater than a generic 500w PSU. Of course if you use powersuply thats just barely enough to power your system you risk damaging the power supply or other components. And your system config isn't possible..you can't have DDR2 and an A64..

 

[Zepper]

What do you mean by cooler? What exactly is cooler? The exhaust from the PSU, your CPU temp, your system temp, or all three? Modern PSUs tend to run their fans too slow so they don't contribute much to overall system cooling (exhaust air tends to feel warmer). You almost have to have auxiliary exhaust fan(s) now as the PSU can barely cool itself.
. In the olden days when 300 W PSUs were a common size, the PSU did ALL the exhaust portion of the cooling of both itself and the entire system. If there were any other fan(s) at all, they were usually intake fans on the front. So the PSU fans tended to run much faster and move more air than PSU fans do now.
. But since we don't really have any of the specifics of what exactly you have there in the way of case, other fans, exactly what PSUs you're talking about, etc., an accurate analysis is problematic at best.
.bh.

 

[Crost10d]

Ok.. powermax 450W came with powermax case....
the other one is FSP Group Inc. model F300-A supposedly 300W though on the powersupply it says max 230W ?? don't know

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: Crost10d

Ok.. powermax 450W came with powermax case....

There is a reason that PSU costs $15. The best you can hope for is that when it dies it does not take any of your other components with it.

 

[Sqube]

Actually, yes, a crappy 500W PSU will be the same as a quality 300W PSU except for the heat.

What you should do is get a quality ~500W PSU. If you're going to keep using that crappy one, I'll join klah in praying that none of your other parts get fried when that piece of crap PSU dies on you. And it will die on you.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Crost10d
Ok.. powermax 450W came with powermax case....
the other one is FSP Group Inc. model F300-A supposedly 300W though on the powersupply it says max 230W ?? don't know

If you want to figure out what is going on, I suggest you answer Zepper's questions. He provided some insight and asked a valid question, which you did not answer!
What exactly is cooler?

 

[Zepper]

Oh, well it's a PowMax PSU - case closed! Low effieciency to begin with, likely running at a lower point on its efficiency curve = more waste heat (what you feel in the PSU exhaust). Plus perhaps a lower speed fan means each volume of air will be carrying more heat. So the exhaust should feel significantly warmer. Plus the 300 W unit should be running closer to the sweet spot of its efficiency curve, thus less wate heat to begin with.
. If all measurements were identical: same output watts (same load on both), same efficiency at that particular output point; there would be no diff in the waste heat output from either a 300 or 500W PSU. Output varies with demand in switching PSUs. Though the temp of the exhaust air would be warmer or cooler depending on the flow rate of the fan(s).

.bh.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Crost10d
Ok.. powermax 450W came with powermax case....
the other one is FSP Group Inc. model F300-A supposedly 300W though on the powersupply it says max 230W ?? don't know

Well that makes perfect sense then...since your 450w is made by probably the WORST psu maker in existance. The POW is in there for a reason, I had one and it went POW and took out my $180 motherboard with it. My friends neighbor was powering a A64 3500+ system with one of them too, and 2 days ago POW!! and sparks and smoke from the PSU.

Fortron on the other hand is a quality name brand PSU, so even those it's only 300w it's made with quality parts. I wouldn't suggest to keep running with the 300w psu either, it's probably being pushed to the max, but a 375w or higher QUALITY psu will be plenty.

 

[eXx08]

wait did you just say you have DDR2 with AMD 4000+? wow sM2