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XClio 450--good enough PSU for 5 big hard drives?

S

Sondra

Member
It's the cheapest one I noticed in the PSU Poll thread, $55 at Newegg. My hard drives keep corrupting, dying and having other weird problems, and the consensus is I need to get a much better power supply than the generic one I currently have.

My motherboard is Intel D865PERL, running XP Pro. I mainly do video, with a few AVI files as big as 20GB. Most of my drives are 200-250GB. I also have a DVD writer.

I'll spend closer to $100 if I have to, but I'm not even sure the best power supply will solve the problem.
 
I bet it would be. The only time you really need to worry about having too little power is if you have a massive video card(s), otherwise, a 400w+ quality PSU should do the job. Hard drives really don't use that much power, just make sure you have enough connectors.
 
Xclio 450 watt is best value power supply out there, its made by Channel Well who also makes Antec and Enermax power supplies so you shouldnt have any problems.
 
Actually you want to look at your drives' spec sheets and see what the startup Amps are for your drives and add them together then allow for whatever else is going to be connected to that part of the +12 rail plus a fair margin for headroom. Could be more than 10 Amps just for drive startup (I looked up the Seagate Barracuda 200GB and its startup is 2.8A@12V! Running Amps is <or=1). So it looks like you may need 15A just for drive startup.. This is looking like it would be a better application for a single +12V rail PSU like the Zippy HP2-6460P (for some reason, newegg doesn't stock this one but it can be found around the web for <$100.), the Coolmax Taurus 550 or the Sparkle FSP550-60PLG...
. The 450 should be fine but remember that the max amps on any rail is usually only available when there is little load on the other rails as all the + voltage rails draw from the same well (the primary winding on the transformer). Perhaps you could rig a way to hook at least one HD to the other +12 rail if you don't want to set up a delay circuit.
. When there is an unusual number of hard drives, I often recommend rigging a delay into the 12V lines to some of the drives to spread the startup load and make it more manageable. If it weren't for the startup draw of the drive motors, you could easlily get away with a good 350 Watter. And make sure you don't leave any CDs/DVDs in your drive so that won't try to startup at every boot too.

.bh.
 
I don't want to do anything as involved as learning to hook up different hard drives to different rails. Should I then get a 550W with one 12V rail? How many amps are enough? 24? 30?
 
Originally posted by: Sondra
I don't want to do anything as involved as learning to hook up different hard drives to different rails. Should I then get a 550W with one 12V rail? How many amps are enough? 24? 30?
Click to expand...

i recently got, but have not installed yet, this psu. i had questions on the pci-e and different colored molex strings. here is the reply from x-clio

Dear Paul,

Nice to receive your email,

Please just use the blue 4-pin molex for the PCU-E, than use any biege 4-ping molex for the IDE device.
The PSU will automaticlly to separate the dual rail 12V, so basically you wont need to do anything, so use it same as your previous PSU.

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Meridian Technology Corp.

Jerry Huang
Sales Department
www.meridiancase.com
www.xclio.com
EMAIL: mtc.case@msa.hinet.net
MSN: hme46@hotmail.com
TEL: +886 2 86672869
FAX: +886 2 86675567



 
Originally posted by: Bleh
Xclio 450 watt is best value power supply out there, its made by Channel Well who also makes Antec and Enermax power supplies so you shouldnt have any problems.
Click to expand...

 
For reference, my server runs 7 HDDs off a 300W PSU.

I also hate to say this but it's a generic. Not only is it a 300W generic running 24/7 with 7 HDDs and a P3 running off it, it's been that way for about 2 years solid now.

It has never crashed once.

It's actually made by SolarMax, but I've never been able to find that brand online.

Maybe I just got lucky, but I didn't do the same for my new gaming rig, went and bought a bad ass Antec TrueBlue 480W.
 
I've had this crashing problem through several power supplies and two motherboards, so I'm not sure what's causing it. Since several people have suggested that I make sure I have an appropriate power supply, I thought I should make the investment before I just give up. I don't doubt that there are lots of people who don't have great power supplies and are doing OK.
 
It should work out, as hard drives generally use little power compared to GFX Cards and CPUs.

The startup amps may be an issue though. Make sure you get a power supply with at least 20A on the 12V rail/rails.
 
"It's the cheapest one I noticed in the PSU Poll thread"

Are your drives the cheapest you could find, if so go with a brand that has no reviews

A PSU is the most important part of your system

Channel makes Antec and Enermax, Yeh and Chevy used to make a Vega and Ford used to make a Pinto.

Get a Seasonic or a Antec 430w or above power supply

You may very will be fine with a Xclio, but you are taking a risk, you know the sayings: "You get what you pay for" and "There is no free Lunch"

 
I have an Antec 430w for my 120gb, 250gb, 250gb, and 300gb drive and I've never had a problem, but it's an Antec.
 
Originally posted by: V00D00
I have an Antec 430w for my 120gb, 250gb, 250gb, and 300gb drive and I've never had a problem, but it's an Antec.
Click to expand...

Channel Well, who makes ANTEC PSUs also makes XClio PSUs.
 
It the machine is going to be powered up and down daily (or even more frequently), then I would want 30A on the +12. If you're going to just power it up once and leave it on until something dies (like the guy running the 7-drive box on 300W), then you could get away with less (only has to tolerate power-up surge once). Then there is the 500W Rosewill. Most of the Rosewills are made by ATNG/Coolmax and there are some 500W units there that claim 34A on the +12 for in the $50. range. Also some of the SuperFlower/TTGI PSUs claim good Amps on the +12 for in the same range. Neither of those are junk PSUs.
. And there are lots of models in the various lines that Newegg doesn't carry or is OOS on like the higher powered XClio units. And Newegg can often be beaten on price, but not this weekend with 99cent shipping...

.bh.
 
Now that I know about Rosewill...the 500W with one fan has 34A on the 12V rail and is quiet (unlike the better looking 2 fan one). 500W sounds better than 450, as the Xclio is, except that apparently everybody lies about that so there's no telling. I couldn't find the larger Xclios anywhere on the web.

If both the Rosewill and Xclio are good, is one better with my setup?
 
Rosewill is single +12 rail which should suit your 5-drive rig better. But the XClio has active PFC and is a higher quality PSU than the Rosewill. I would choose between the two based on the condition I mentioned above - turning off and on frequently get high amp single-rail; turning off and on very infrequently, then the XClio would probably do. As the power-on surge will exceed the amp rating of the split-railed XClio.

.bh.
 
I do turn off the computer at least once a day.

What is active PC and is it important? And if the Xclio is "a higher quality PSU"--how much higher? What effect would that have?

My reason for buying a new power supply is to find out if my last several power supplies are the cause of my current problems. Is the Rosewill good enough that if the problems continue I'll be still able to say the cause must lie elsewhere?

 
Active PFC makes your PSU look as much like a resistor as possible to the AC Power Grid - a very friendly load. Could save you a few cents a month on your power bill. But that feature is usually only offered on top of the line models, so it's presence is a good sign.
. Just get the Sparkle FSP550-60PLG. It has it ALL and is available for quite a bit less than at newegg just Froogle for it. If you have that PSU, you can be sure that any problem will not be due to lack of power - unless, of course, you happen to snag a lemon... 😉

.bh.
 
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