• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

how do you know how the two rails are split?

B

bobjoe275

n00b
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
29
So for awhile my computer has been crashing when playing games or in the middle of large file backups. :(

I have a 500 W (has 2x 12V@16A rails) Coolermaster eXtreme PSU and it is connected as follows:

Molex Chain 1: (2 connectors)
Case Fan 1
Radeon x800 xt
CD Drive

Molex Chain 2: (2 connectors)
Case Fan 2
IDE HD 1
IDE HD 2

SATA Chain 2: (3 connectors)
SATA HD 1
SATA HD 2

PCIE Connector:
<nothing>

So I figured my 500W PSU could handle my 4 HDs + video card. But after 15 min-1hr in game or after a backup, I would get the BSOD in Windows XP or the screen would go black and the system would just hang. After disconnecting the IDE HDs, the system is completely fine (for now). So I was wondering, is there a way that I could connect the other 2 hard drives so they'd be on a rail separate from the VGA card?

I was guessing, worse case, that the PCIe is all by itself (full 12v @ 16A) and then the SATA and Molex are all connected. This means that I was trying to fit 8 things on one 12V rail. :eek: Other case would be that the PCIe shares a rail with SATA and the 2 molex chains shared one rail. But that would seem kinda odd. I haven't heard of any PCIe to molex converters to I guess I would be unable to run all my HDs at once.

Is there any way I could find out how the rails are being split or does anyone have any ideas? :confused:

Thanks!
 
IIRC it is spec complaint so that means 12v2 fees the CPU and 12v1 feeds everything else.
 
I'm not going to say that the PSU isn't the cause of your crashing. But if it is because of your PSU it has nothing to do with how your +12V rails are split up.

When a +12V rail's over current protection, or "limiter", is exceeded the PSU shuts off. Your PSU isn't shutting off, so the problem isn't the separation of +12V rails or that you're overloading them.

Please read: http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgpower/multiple12.html
 
Weird because once I unplugged my 2 IDE drives, it had never crashed since. I don't know what it could be about them that made it stop.
 
not now. i did before and the board was a real cheap one and if you went too high, it would corrupt the HD...maybe it destroyed the IDE controller?
 
bobjoe275 said:
Weird because once I unplugged my 2 IDE drives, it had never crashed since. I don't know what it could be about them that made it stop.
Click to expand...

Like I said, it could still be a power supply issue... it just wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that the PSU has two rails or how they're split up. If the HDD's were overloading the rail, the PSU would shut off. Your PSU isn't shutting off, the system is just hanging.

You might want to check the voltages on the connections. The additional load of the two hard drives may be dropping the voltage out of spec (below 11.4V). This would cause the system to hang.
 
would I just plug it into 12V line and the ground of the molex? I'm looking at wikipedia and it shows these lines:

Yellow +12 V
Black Ground
Black Ground
Red +5 V

Does it matter which ground I use? And you said <11.4 is too low?
 
bobjoe275 said:
would I just plug it into 12V line and the ground of the molex? I'm looking at wikipedia and it shows these lines:

Yellow +12 V
Black Ground
Black Ground
Red +5 V

Does it matter which ground I use? And you said <11.4 is too low?
Click to expand...

You can use either grounds they both run to the same place, and yes under 11.4v is to low.
 
Just checked. Both 12V chains are at 14.68v with and without the HDs plugged in. The 5V chain is at 6.05V. Sounds really out of whack?

UPDATE: The Mobo voltage sensors read 11.94 with the HD in.
 
LOL! With everything that high, I have to wonder if your DMM is whack! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top