Weird stuff with a friend's power supply

[Kromis]

Okay, so he tells me that his electricity bill has skyrocketed a bit because of his power supply.

Now, he keeps claiming its his power supply but I'm not sure.

His specs:

Asus P4P800 motherboard
Intel P4 3.2GHz Prescott @ 1.3v with Zalman CNPS7000 heatsink
9800XT with Zalman VF700 heatsink
1 hard drive
1 dvd-rw
1 sound card
1 pci-slot cooler

The 2 case fans and the heatsinks are all set to the lowest speed but when I crank up the speed of the two Zalman heatsinks, the computer won't even boot to Windows, rather, it restarts after the "loading" screen. So I reset the speed of the heatsinks back to the lowest and it boots normally...

Now really...what is the problem?

He already sent in his old Liberty for a new one but still the same problem...

Any takers?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mpilchfamily]

Efficiency of the PSU will play a role in the power bill. If you get him a PSU that is 80Plus certified he will see a minor drop in the power bill depending on how often the system is one. Now his CPU is a bit power hungry so that is a good portion of it. Also don't get him a PSU that is too far over his actuall power needs. PSUs have an efficiency sweet spot at about a mid to mid high load. If you have a small load on a large PSU its not as effiecient. Also suggest to him that he should tunr off his monitor(s) any time he is going to be away from the system for even a few minutes. That will save him about 100+W on the power bill.

 

[JEDIYoda]

So where do we start....
A PSU will not play a major role on your over all power bill.
A PSU that is rated 80+ as opposed to a PSU that is rated 73% or even 75% efficient will not save you that much money on your average power bill!!

Also just because a PSU is rated 80+ means squatt as far as over workmanship and build quality are concerned and longevity of the PSU!!
I would rather have a well built PSU that is 75% efficient that is well built and not likely to need replacing over the long haul!!

I have seen your discussions with other concerning power needes and I won`t go there other than to say You are mistaken when you say a small load on a PSU is not efficient.

That is conjecture unless you would care to document thst statement!

What I will say is I have heard that using generic PSU`s all sorts of weird issues can come into play including power efficiency at low loads.

Yet if you use almost any respected name brand PSU that will not be an issue.

Peace!!

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
So where do we start....
A PSU will not play a major role on your over all power bill.
A PSU that is rated 80+ as opposed to a PSU that is rated 73% or even 75% efficient will not save you that much money on your average power bill!!

That depends. If he leaves a system like that running 24/7 - a high efficiency PSU could save $4-5 per month.

Clearly, a system that is used less than 24/7, or is otherwise less of a power hog, will make smaller savings.

 

[Kromis]

Originally posted by: Mark R

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
So where do we start....
A PSU will not play a major role on your over all power bill.
A PSU that is rated 80+ as opposed to a PSU that is rated 73% or even 75% efficient will not save you that much money on your average power bill!!

That depends. If he leaves a system like that running 24/7 - a high efficiency PSU could save $4-5 per month.

Clearly, a system that is used less than 24/7, or is otherwise less of a power hog, will make smaller savings.

Nah, he doesn't leave it on.

And his Enermax Liberty has 80% efficiency so...

Weird...

 

[mxnerd]

P4 Prescott is a power hungry processor and eats a lot of power. If the case fan is 120mm
, it eats currents too, especially at boot time. Try to connect them on different rails.

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
I would rather have a well built PSU that is 75% efficient that is well built and not likely to need replacing over the long haul!!

How do you define quality PSU then, tear it apart and see if it use name brand components? Can consumer do that before making the purchase?

I really don't understand why 80 plus certification is not relevant. For most users who don't understand PSU inside out, purchase an 80 plus certified PSU will at least guarantee that PSU under 20%, 50% or 100% load will be 80% efficient. A no brand probably will be as bad as 60%, I guess, and 40% is wasted as heat, which require more A/C.

So for general public, 80 plus certified PSU at least give them a guideline, isn't it?

Just like when you buying an air conditioners/fridges, won't you buy one that with an higher EER that's close to 10.0 or over instead one that is close to 8.0?

 

[Kromis]

NEW UPDATE:

My friend claims that in other rooms, when my friend uses the computer (with the Liberty), the entire room shuts off! (???)

When he used a no brand name power supply in the same room(s), it doesn't shut off the "room" (everything in the room).

WTF?

 

[mxnerd]

He got lucky and have a bad Enermax, I guess. Like user Tw00sh

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817194002

The other thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=84&threadid=2080694


Just like me, when everyone said how good their ASUS & Gigabyte P35 motherboards were, I got 3 DOA in a row!