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Psu too weak?

yh125d

Diamond Member
I have a generic 400watt psu with only 16 amps on the single 12v+ rail. It is running the system below, and has been doing fine until recently. It has 5 case fans, all 80mm, and one of them is acting wierd. Its rpm is fluctuating horribly. its going between about 1500 to 3000 every couple of seconds and its extremely annoying. Is this a problem with the fan or the psu? all the fans are about a month old, and the psu is probably 2 years old.
 
Change your PSU before it damages something worth a lot more.

Look for a nice Seasonic, Enermax or PCP&C unit. The new Corsair units look nice.
 
For todays systems we recommend at least a 600w PSU. The prices are good at that level and you will be able to upgrade some. Do stick with a name brand you can trust. However if you want to upgrade your video card soon an 850w unit would be recommended for many single and most SLI setups. You should get the largest good quality PSU that you can afford.
 
Originally posted by: AndyT
For todays systems we recommend at least a 600w PSU. The prices are good at that level and you will be able to upgrade some. Do stick with a name brand you can trust. However if you want to upgrade your video card soon an 850w unit would be recommended for many single and most SLI setups. You should get the largest good quality PSU that you can afford.

Kind of ironic how an OCZ rep is basing his PSU recommendation off of wattage, seeing as how OCZ rates their PSU's wattage so high.
 
Im gonna trust the vid card manufacturers recommendation of 450 watts, not 600. Ill probably get a 500 watt, but great quality
 
Your two most power hungry components: the CPU and GPU, will be running off of the +12V rail. It is much more logical to base PSU purchase decisions on +12V rail continuous amperage ratings then overall power outputs.
 

Don't get that Apevia... you'd be replacing a crappy PSU with another crappy PSU. If you want cheap, but good, go with an XClio 500W Goodpower. XClio PSUs are supplied by CWT, which is the same supplier Antec uses for most of their SmartPower PSUs. XClio just uses better cooling solutions. The 500W delivers ~25A max on the +12V rail. If you want a better PSU, go with the Corsair 520W someone above recommended. Its supplied by Seasonic, and is modular. It can supply ~30A on the +12V rail, and has an 80% efficiency.
 
Originally posted by: AndyT
For todays systems we recommend at least a 600w PSU. The prices are good at that level and you will be able to upgrade some. Do stick with a name brand you can trust. However if you want to upgrade your video card soon an 850w unit would be recommended for many single and most SLI setups. You should get the largest good quality PSU that you can afford.
That's ludacris.
 
Originally posted by: StopSign
Originally posted by: AndyT
For todays systems we recommend at least a 600w PSU. The prices are good at that level and you will be able to upgrade some. Do stick with a name brand you can trust. However if you want to upgrade your video card soon an 850w unit would be recommended for many single and most SLI setups. You should get the largest good quality PSU that you can afford.
That's ludacris.

You obviously meant ludicrous! But geez, I guess I'm still living in "Stone age" because I still use a 400W PSU. I'm surprise the OCZ guy didn't say 6000 Watts PSU! You would think with the shift from 135nm to 65nm fabrication, the power requirement for systems will also go down. I sincerely believe high wattage is more of a bragging right than a rightful requirement!

Can anybody here attest using more than 250W of constant power after the system boots? (A system with no more than 2 HDD, 2 Optical drives, GPU, CPU + hsf, 3 case fans, a floppy or flash drive, and sound system) I want somebody who uses one of those plug in wattmeter, not theory or experience!

As for the original question on the OP, are you sure the fan in question is not the one controlled by the mobo? Coz if it is, then you can check the bios first to make sure the case fans temp control is disabled.
 
My Enermax 420W is rock stable and I'll be getting a 7900GS to replace the 6600GT and it draws about the same amount of power. I've read many video card reviews and looking at the power consumptions graphs, I've yet to see a system that uses more than 300W at full load. This is excluding the 8800GTX/GTS systems.
 
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