18 HDD's = dead psu. how can I avoid a junk replacement?

Q

qr7

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 8, 2005
Messages
72
Normally I wouldn't contribute to the 'recommend X' epidemic that we have here at [H] but I'm really strapped for time and researching here is only leaving me with more questions.

I've got an old P4 (2.4c) with 9 drives in it. I attempted to add 9 more SATA drives and it seems that my 500 watt psu just wont cut it. That being said I also have thought about upgrading the box to a 3800x2 (939) in the near future. Using software raid ATM and don't plan on moving away from that any time soon.

i'd really like to avoid paying $150 for a PSU for this box. I saw the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 650 for $60(AR) today and was thinking about snagging it due to the 8 SATA connectors that it had.

I'm really looking for suggestions and interested to see what others are using for systems with lots of drives. How do you handle all the SATA connectors?

thanks ;)
 
Man, you should have asked this yesterday, you could have gotten the Real Power Pro 850 for 70 bucks AR at SVC. That's one of the Enhance ones IIRC, and really good.
 
I don't think you have the luxury of going with a cheap PSU for a system with 18 hard drives. You WILL need something high quality and high power, which means you're going to have to spend some bucks. I would also recommend investing in a controller card that supports staggard spin-up.
 
The Cooler Master Real Power Pro 650W does not have enough power for your 18 drive setup. Assuming 3A per drive at startup, that's 54A right there dedicated just for the hard drives alone at startup. That CM 650W only has 45A on the +12V rail. Even if we assume 2A per drive at startup, a bit too close for comfort for others, that's still 36A dedicated for the drives alone at startup.

So I concur with RamonGTP that you'll need to spend more for a power supply.

Now assuming 2A per drive, I think these PSUs might be enough for your system:
Corsair 650TX 650W PSU - $143
Corsair 620HX 620W PSU - $147
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $160
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad - $162
Silverstone SST-ST75ZF Zeus 750W Power Supply - $160

EDIT: on second thought and research, that Coolermaster might be a good choice after all for the rebate price. According to the Corsair PSU finder, all you really need are the Corsair 550VX or 520HX to power your system. Those PSUs have 41A and 40A on the +12V respectively.
http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/default.aspx
 
I would second the staggered start up. That is a lot of drives to spin up all at once.
 
Is it just me or am I the only one who just caught the fact that he has 18 Hard Drives?? Man wtf?? :confused:

What kind of case do you hold all these suckas in? And why dont you just get a few terabyte drives and move your data over when you get the $$? This would be a more practical apporach and will put less strain on your PSU and MoBo.
 
BX_TECH_GOD, I've got 16 drives sitting on the shelf waiting for my home file server rebuild. I'm probably going to use a 4U Supermicro SC846 case with 24 drive bays for it.

Why? Because the drives were free. They were pulled from a 42U disc array that was damaged in shipping and written off by the insurance company. They all tested good :)
 
Falling Anvil said:
Man, you should have asked this yesterday, you could have gotten the Real Power Pro 850 for 70 bucks AR at SVC. That's one of the Enhance ones IIRC, and really good.
Click to expand...
:(

LesterOfPuppets2 said:
If These Lian-Li dual PSU adapters were in stock somewhere (found listed one other place, also OOS there), and you got room in your case for a second PSU (with all those drives, that might be a tall order...)
Click to expand...
I'd like to avoid running two separate PSU's at all costs. If one PSU died and took out half the drives and it degraded the array to a state that wasn't recoverable, I'd be a sad panda.

RamonGTP said:
I don't think you have the luxury of going with a cheap PSU for a system with 18 hard drives. You WILL need something high quality and high power, which means you're going to have to spend some bucks. I would also recommend investing in a controller card that supports staggard spin-up.
Click to expand...
vtx_ said:
I would second the staggered start up. That is a lot of drives to spin up all at once.
Click to expand...
the SATA controllers that i bought don't seem to support it. They're Ockie's old Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 8-Port SATAII controllers.
I've got a 6 channel promise IDE raid card, but planning on moving to a spare 3ware 7506-12 that I picked up this summer for $100.

Danny Bui said:
The Cooler Master Real Power Pro 650W does not have enough power for your 18 drive setup. Assuming 3A per drive at startup, that's 54A right there dedicated just for the hard drives alone at startup. That CM 650W only has 45A on the +12V rail. Even if we assume 2A per drive at startup, a bit too close for comfort for others, that's still 36A dedicated for the drives alone at startup.

So I concur with RamonGTP that you'll need to spend more for a power supply.

EDIT: on second thought and research, that Coolermaster might be a good choice after all for the rebate price. According to the Corsair PSU finder, all you really need are the Corsair 550VX or 520HX to power your system. Those PSUs have 41A and 40A on the +12V respectively.
http://www.corsair.com/psufinder/default.aspx
Click to expand...
So you're saying i should try the cooler master 650? I'd hate to get it only to have it die, or not be able to support the 3800x2 that i want to upgrade to in the future. at an extra $100 for the PSU, i may just buy more drive and replace the 6 200GB drives that i have and throw in more 500's and stick with a cheaper PSU.

BX_TECH_GOD said:
Is it just me or am I the only one who just caught the fact that he has 18 Hard Drives?? Man wtf?? :confused:

What kind of case do you hold all these suckas in? And why dont you just get a few terabyte drives and move your data over when you get the $$? This would be a more practical apporach and will put less strain on your PSU and MoBo.
Click to expand...
They're in a lian li V2000 with a couple bay converters in the top. I've got another machine thats a dual celeron 500mhz with 16 400GB drives and a system drive in a mid tower case too. And my main gaming box has 3 400's, 2 650's, and 1 320 :) I really love keeping stuff.

+ I really want redundancy. (raid 6 at this point, i cant lose a 3+TB raid)

airbatica said:
BX_TECH_GOD, I've got 16 drives sitting on the shelf waiting for my home file server rebuild. I'm probably going to use a 4U Supermicro SC846 case with 24 drive bays for it.

Why? Because the drives were free. They were pulled from a 42U disc array that was damaged in shipping and written off by the insurance company. They all tested good :)
Click to expand...
lucky :( I paid for all mine and I only just graduated college. I've been working my ass off for 4 years to keep up this hobby.
 
BX_TECH_GOD said:
Is it just me or am I the only one who just caught the fact that he has 18 Hard Drives?? Man wtf?? :confused:

What kind of case do you hold all these suckas in? And why dont you just get a few terabyte drives and move your data over when you get the $$? This would be a more practical apporach and will put less strain on your PSU and MoBo.
Click to expand...

This isn't oftOCP, this is [H]ardOCP. We have lots of hardware. I have 20 drives in my one system. ;)
 
18 drives on a 500w? Should be fine, probably a craptastic model.


You should look at the Corsair HX620, it should suffice.
 
airbatica said:
BX_TECH_GOD, I've got 16 drives sitting on the shelf waiting for my home file server rebuild. I'm probably going to use a 4U Supermicro SC846 case with 24 drive bays for it.

Why? Because the drives were free. They were pulled from a 42U disc array that was damaged in shipping and written off by the insurance company. They all tested good :)
Click to expand...

In that case I can understand the abundance of drives. But my question is where do you put them? I havent seen a desktop case that can hold that many drives. Now a server rack is a different story. Im just curious to know where you keep them.

This isn't oftOCP, this is [H]ardOCP. We have lots of hardware. I have 20 drives in my one system. ;)
Click to expand...


Same goes to you where do u keep em?
 
What you need to do is look at the drive specs and figure out what the max startup current is, multiply by 12, and add at least 200 (I'd add 250). Since you can't do staggered powerups. that's the MINIMUM size powersupply you need to look for. Even if I could do staggered I'd still start with that as a minimum. "I don't want to have to pay a lot for a PS" when you indicate that >$150 is a lot when you have ~$1500+ worth of hard drives is the wrong attitude to have.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top