Using a cheap power supply for O/C

[Lazark]

Like I said in an older post, here in chile things are a little expensive, so I was thinking buying a E2180 and O/C to 3ghz if I can. The thing is that I can only afford an omega or hec "value" power supply...can it handle it? the mobo (gigabyte and patriot ram) will be using a 8800gt.

also, in average, how further can I push the E2180 with voltages and fan at stock


thanks a lot

 

[Denithor]

Well, of course you probably *can* but the question is should you risk your expensive parts to a cheap power supply?

I worked on a system just last night where a PSU went out and nuked the motherboard. I haven't tested the other parts yet to see just how widespread the damage is.

 

[j0j081]

just remember it's better to have a 450 watt quality power supply than a 700 watt value power supply for the same price.

 

[o1die]

You might get some windows data corruption if you push it too far. Just don't get greedy.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I shouldn't have time for this on this chill and quiet morning, but I will share with you my experiences in the Power-Supply arena.

I used to buy the cheapest power-supplies I could find. I'd spend between $25 and $45 bucks on a powder-coated primer-gray generic PSU. This was, of course, before I started over-clocking.

During that time, my attention and effort was detoured when this or that PSU "went on the fritz." With one computer, by the time I'd replaced the first PSU with another one and the second one gave out a year or two later, I had damaged the motherboard so that the Power-On and Reset switches no longer worked with a confident level of reliability. so I had to scrap the mobo, too.

When I started over-clocking, I was running Intel Pentium4 Northwood processors with a $60 "Allied BCE-500" or something of similar wattage. I had actually checked for reviews of this PSU, and naively accepted the "overall good" rating, without paying attention to the 12V rail's severe droop (to 11.4V) when over-clocked. Frankly, I couldn't get much in the way of good results over-clocking with that PSU.

After reading enough articles from various, independent sources about the necessity of a good, reliable PSU with low-noise, low AC voltage-ripple and rock-solid specs under load, I succumbed to the following regime:

If you plan to over-clock the system, it isn't so much how many dollars you spend, but the quality of the PSU that you buy. Even so, I now count on spending a minimum of $90 to $100 for such a PSU -- following th maxim above regarding wattage versus quality.

Earlier last year, I've spent as much as $190 on a PSU to meet the wattage demands of my system (a Seasonic M12 750W). Judging from the reviews late and near the end of the year (2007), I was pleased to find Seasonic at the top of the heap. I've also learned that several PSUs under the Antec and even PC Power & Cooling label are -- in fact -- re-badged Seasonics. But my research and quest for PSU choices had concluded with preference for Seasonic almost a year earlier.

You don't need to spend that much on a PSU if you carefully calculate your power-requirements and limit your upgrade/expansion ambitions to what the PSU can safely handle.

But I DO suggest that you do your homework. Especially, do not short yourself on the cumulative amperage capability of the one or more 12V rails.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

. . . By the way . . . . the 8800 GT cards use somewhat less power and provide more performance than the 8800 GTS. If you're not running four hard disks in RAID, and if you're not running two VGA cards in SLI, I'm guessing that you could probably settle for a PSU in the 450W to 480W range.

You may also want to consult something on-line like the "Extreme Outervision Power-Supply Calculator:"

Extreme Outervision

Before others peering over my shoulder go "ballistic," let me note emphatically that the Outervision calculator seems to bias the voltage requirement upward a bit. But it has enough features and tweaks to make it a useful tool, in a crude sort of way.

Otherwise, collect data about every component in your system and its operational voltage requirement, add everything up, and make your own estimate.

Let my give you more insight: I run four HD's in RAID5. I have a single DVD-burner, and a single floppy drive. I want to deploy a four-port USB hub as a front-panel device. I want to over-clock my system by as much as 40 to 50%. I want to use two sticks of memory for the maximum possible, but am willing to fill all four slots if I need to. I have an nVidia 8800 GTS card.

At IDLE, with my Q6600 OC'd to a modest 3.15 Ghz, my APC battery-backup "UPS" software shows that I'm using about 300W of power. At load, I think I measured it once at 420W. My 750W PSU was chosen with the idea that I might add another graphics card, or even more hard disks. In hindsight, I think a 500W model would have been just fine.

The fact is, your computer NEVER uses a maximum draw of power with all components under their full-load operation.

 

[Lazark]

bonzaiduck..first of all, thanks for your extensive-but-true story about powers supply. Its seems that I need to put some bucks on that item (like everybody in this thread told me),
with that idea in mind, what do you thing of this:

TOPOWER M2 500W 12V 2.2

here it cost about 85 bucks

1) that Power-supply can handle O/C e2180 and 8800gt?

2) and also, how far can be take the e2180 without changing fan or voltage?

thanks!

 

[Avalon]

Topower shouldn't be too bad. I know they've made OCZ PSU's in the past. However, I'd still google for reviews on the actual unit. Or perhaps members here have had experience with that model or brand. I can't say that I have.

 

[nyker96]

Originally posted by: Lazark
Like I said in an older post, here in chile things are a little expensive, so I was thinking buying a E2180 and O/C to 3ghz if I can. The thing is that I can only afford an omega or hec "value" power supply...can it handle it? the mobo (gigabyte and patriot ram) will be using a 8800gt.

also, in average, how further can I push the E2180 with voltages and fan at stock


thanks a lot

I think it will "handle" it like my older no-name 350W on Athlon XP, except it blew out like 6 months into it. Luckily nothing was burnt. So I think 70% of the time nothing will happen but ... there's a greater chance of failure that could take with it something.

 

[Mondoman]

Originally posted by: nyker96
... I think 70% of the time nothing will happen but ... there's a greater chance of failure that could take with it something.

Not just that, but the cheaper power supplies often don't supply quite the correct power: perhaps 11.3V instead of 12V when under load, or with lots of ripple or other noise. These can lead to hard-to-diagnose subtle/intermittent problems that are very hard to figure out.

 

[CatchPhrase]

You need the stable voltages.

 

[Xvys]

I used a 420w HEC AcePower (31amps on dual 12v rails) and it was rock solid, overclocking my E6300/P5B system to 3730Mhz, a 100% overclock! It was super quiet and had very little voltage drop under load. While it was $25 brand new on EBay, it came with 2 - PCI-E & 4 SATA connectors, with all braided cables. It had dual fans and weighed 7 lbs. This was obviously not a cheapo generic ps.

When I upgraded to my P5K, I bought a brand new Ultra Xfinity 650w on Craiglist for $50. It ran fine at 500FSB, but the fan whined really loud, so I sold it and reinstalled my trusty Hec. But no boot. With the exact same settings, just changing the ps caused my system to fail. I reduced the FSB to 490 with all the same settings and then it ran fine. While the Hec is ok for moderate o/c, I decided upgrade my ps and went with a Fortron FX600E with quad 12v rails, on sale for $75 (I believe these are identical to the OCZ Gamestream). It has absolutely rock solid voltages and is very quiet. I would recommend these ps.