Slow CPU fan... Short circuit?

[heyheyhojo]

Long time reader, first time poster

I just put together a new desktop, scraping together black friday deals until it resembled something operable. Spent the weekend putting it together and got it to run, but there's a couple quirks i can't explain.

tuniq tower 120
q6600
600 W coolermaster extreme power duo RP-600-PCAR
2x WD caviar 400GB SE 7200 RPM WD4000AAJS
1 benq dvdr/rw combo drive
1 lite-on dvd/rw combo drive
EVGA 6200 Le
4x 120mm tricool fans
200mm case fan
dlink dwl-510 wireless pci card
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
crucial ballistix 2gb 240pin ddr2 sdram 800

No lapping, no mods, everything running as it is straight out of the box

The first thing that's strange is that 600W isn't enough power for this rig. I used a couple power calculators and figured that 600W would be enough when I got my 8800gt in the mail. Running with that less than spectacular but serviceable 6200LE should be a cakewalk. But to get the thing to boot, I had to unplug one of the SATA drives.

Another thing is that the tuniq tower doesn't seem to be running at a good speed. I read that it's a 1000-2000 rpm fan, but it's running at 768 rpm max according to Easy tune 5. It sounds like it's running low too, I can't hear the fan at all. The core temps are holding up fine so I'm not afraid of using the box, but i'm deathly afraid of OCing.

Are these two problems linked? Or are they separate? Should I get a new power supply? I have a multimeter and I know how to use it, I just don't know where to start.

 

[robisbell]

could just be a defective PSU, replace it since it is new.

 

[SunSamurai]

The fan speed is often controled by the temp of the CPU.

Do better research on PSU. watts arnt important (unless you have too few) and if you have too few it wont turn on.

 

[robisbell]

since you just purchased the PSU, take it back and get a 650-700 to allow for upgrades down the road.

 

[Fardringle]

With everything installed in the system (2 SATA drives, 2 DVD burners, 8800GT video card) your system has a max power draw of about 360-370 watts. The 600 watts are plenty for your computer although the 18 amp rating on the 12 volt rail might not be enough for the four drives as well as the extra power that the Quad core CPU needs.

A quick search on a few online retailers shows a lot of good reviews but also quite a few bad reviews about this particular PSU being noisy and not providing adequate power (and some times completely defective/DOA) so it is possible that you simply got a bad unit and it needs to be replaced.

 

[heyheyhojo]

Thanks for all the responses

I figured out the fan speed issue, it's exactly what aeternitas said. If I disable the self-regulation it spins up to 2000 rpm so that's fine.

As for the questionable lack of power, after all the proper drivers and bios upgrades were in place, I undid and reattatched all the power connections and wouldn't you know it the computer booted just fine! I heard a lot about the PWS's noisiness and the underachieving apparent wattage, but just pure numbers it should have been well enough to power what I had in the box.

I got the coolermaster free with rebate but I'll probably get a new PWS when the 8800gt finally gets here

Thanks again!

 

[robisbell]

okay, let us know when you plan on the video card upgrade.