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Neojag

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
hi...
after takin a closer look to my computer's guts i saw that i was running with a 235 w Power supply. When i upgraded, the guys @the shop told me i could keep mine, but i think a 235w (Aopen) Ps is too little for 2 HDs // cdrw // DVD // Athlon XP 1500+.

I sometimes get a drop of the 5v for 1 or 2 seconds (see screenshot) and my fan makin sum damn loud noise (but if i shake the pc a bit it goes away, so i dont think it has to do w/ the PS).

IF its indeed to weak for my computer, what supply should i get (and what problems can a weaker PS bring me?) ;)

thkx!
 
#3 · (Edited)
amongst other things, heat buildup inside the case because you are drawing too much power and the supply is overloaded.. *poof* hehe.. you can get exceptions galore.. and stuff like that.. get at least 250W, that should be the minimum, or better yet get a 300W PS..
 
#4 ·
Yeah.. If you are planning on putting a bunch of peripherals on your comp, a 300 w psu is recommended.. I myself have a 300 w psu and never had any problems.. There is a lot of stuff in my computer too.. hehe.. I am thinking about getting one of those 400w psu's in my next system or upgrade..
 
#5 ·
i've had a psu start on fire before. it isnt pretty. if you have an athlon the minimum psu you should run is 300W. get a good one. i would buy an antec.

for a p3 based system you can run 2 processors off of a 300w.

signs you need a bigger psu or your psu is dieing.
-computer randomly restarts
-low voltage readings
-if you have a heat regulated fan on you psu it should be running full blast
-the psu is warm
-something smells like fire (this is bad news)

you know how turning a lightbulb on and off burns out the bulb faster. fluctuating voltage is bad for your board.

same thing with turning the power on and off on your pc.

if you use your computer a lot you should leave it running 24-7. turning off the power is one of the worst things you can do. when you turn the power on and off it stresses the components.
 
#8 ·
It was a 200w psu i think and it was about two years old. It had a bit of dust in it. And I was pulling quite a bit of power out of it. 2 hds, 768 megs of ram, modem, nic, sc, graphics card, and some other stuff. the fan was pretty much running full bore all of the time and you could feel warm air coming out the back.

remember dust is an insulator so it heats up the components more than normal. well one day when i went into town my psu got a bit too warm. when i came back the psu was on fire. liquid plastic was dripping from it. funny thing is that it didnt hurt the motherboard. what it looks like happened was one of the sinks in the psu melted the fan's power wire, the fan shut down and things melted and bit of a fire broke out.
 
#9 · (Edited)
wow! at least nothing else got screwed.. this reminds me of a fond memory i have.... while i was building a quad 500W-RMS per channel applifier.. i forgot to solder one vital piece of power transistor.. my 2 huge 75000 uF power supply filter capacitors exploded, blowing away my huge ass transformer (~2500W), which i goddamn built myself, 2 months of circuit design, and 1 month of etching and assembly of all the goddamn pcbs/chassis.. etc and putting all of them together... i was lucky i was away from the circuit coz i bent down to plug it in.. i would have been killed if i was looking directly inside the chassis.. :heh:

Lesson: DON'T WORK ON A SYSTEM IF YOU'VE JUST HAD A 6-pack.. :heh:
 
#10 ·
You crazy BATARD! :D


I just switched to a 300W PS before my upgrade, though it only powers a SCSI HDD, a CDROM and the board/cpu itself. Just thinking of future expansion. ;)
 
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#12 ·
did you know that when you have 2 hd's, a cd reader and burner, a geforce2, 2 voodoo2's and various usb devices attached without hub on a computer with 235W.....the machine crashes a bit? :p

yeah yeah, I know..just didnt have too much knowledge of power supplies...had to find out the hard way...fortunately nothing was broken. But I now have only 1 HD, no voodoo2's and an USB hub...still the same power supply though ;) ...it works good now :)
(p3 800, btw)
 
#15 · (Edited)
Ever since I had a psu go bang on me I've been slightly paranoid in this area (as well as with cooling). My Athon is a dual 300W psu system w/ approx 9 fans(sounds like a friggin jet:p). The older K6 is a single 300W tower with only 4 fans.

ps Neo I'd get that changed sharpish
 
#18 ·
Originally posted by Betamax
My Athon is a dual 300W psu system w/ approx 9 fans(sounds like a friggin jet:p).
ps Neo I'd get that changed sharpish
Click to expand...
think your paranoid... I'm running a p3 1000 and I have 4 80mm case fans, a 600 gram copper heatsink. remember this is a p3 and not an athlon. the glaciator II is the ultimate air cooling sink. I highly recomend it to all athlon owners.
 
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Neojag
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