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How much power?

Q

quiksilverx181

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 21, 2003
Messages
2,309
Ok, ill be overclocking an a64 venice 3000+ and powering a DFI lanparty motherboard and x800xl pci-e AND 3 hard drives... What power supply should i get and how much power do i need? (under $60 if possible)
 
You are going to want to up your budget....and does that board require a -5v?
 
3 hard drives is getting up there.

Under $60? I think you should be looking at slightly more. For $65, you can get an Antec TruePower II 380W with lots of amperage on the +12V lines. Should be able to handle everything you need. 3% load regulation is a good thing also.
 
The Fortron Source Blue Storm is a good PSU. With 29A available between the 2 +12v Rails and figuring you'll need about 20A total (+12v) you should be fine with that. Have fun.
 
Renegade87 said:
The Fortron Source Blue Storm is a good PSU. With 29A available between the 2 +12v Rails and figuring you'll need about 20A total (+12v) you should be fine with that. Have fun.
Click to expand...

I agree. You should be ok with a good quality PSU. The X800XL isn't super demanding and 3 HDD's isn't THAT bad. The only ones who need retarded high output PSU's are the high end overclockers, those with a ton of drives (for pr0n) and or SLi owners.
 
With PSU's I will always try to get the biggest/best PSU that I can buy. Usually I don't change cases/psu's in my main rig that often, but the case before this one went though 6 or 7 mb/cpu combinations. It was one of those old antec server cases that weighed a ton. The PSU was a 300w that's still running one of my folding machines. Gawd the thing must be 10 years old, but still runs a like a champ.
 
dfi recommends 480 watts at least native 24 pin. get the fortron blue storm 500 watts. if your looking at fortron or get a bit over that since your over clocking.
 
Renegade87 said:
The Fortron Source Blue Storm is a good PSU. With 29A available between the 2 +12v Rails and figuring you'll need about 20A total (+12v) you should be fine with that. Have fun.
Click to expand...

WRONG.

The Blue Storm can only do a total of 19.5A on both of the 12V rails.

You can do 14A on 12V1. You can do 15A on 12V2, But you can not load both up to even NEAR their max at the same time.

The Blue Storrm is a good PSU, no doubt. But when it comes to the COMBINED capability of the 12V rail, it actually has the lowest combined 12V rail of any other I've had the pleasure of playing with.

On my tests, it failed test three, four and five.
 
jonnyGURU said:
WRONG.

The Blue Storm can only do a total of 19.5A on both of the 12V rails.

You can do 14A on 12V1. You can do 15A on 12V2, But you can not load both up to even NEAR their max at the same time.

The Blue Storrm is a good PSU, no doubt. But when it comes to the COMBINED capability of the 12V rail, it actually has the lowest combined 12V rail of any other I've had the pleasure of playing with.

On my tests, it failed test three, four and five.
Click to expand...
Ummm so is it a bad psu? I would lose money if i returned it right now...
 
No. It's not a bad PSU. I didn't say that. In fact, I believe I said it was a good PSU.

When I said it failed those tests, I don't mean it blew up. I mean overload protection kicked in and it shut down.

I was just correcting Renegade because he was under the impression that 12V1 + 12V2 = 12V, which simply isn't true and is a common misconception.

Some examples:

Antec Neopower 480: 18A + 15A = 32A. We lost one amp!

Enermax EG495P-VE: 18A + 18A = 32A. We lost four amps!

Ultra X-Finity Flex Force 400W: 14A + 16A = 28A. We lost two amps......

From my SLCentral Dual 12V rail PSU Shootout methodology page :

(14 * 12) + (16 * 12) = 336? What is this? NEW math?

You'll often find that the capabilities of the +12V rails combined almost never equal what is listed for each rail individually added together. This is because, although the two +12V rails are on separate transistors, they're still being fed by the same, single transformer and rectifier. So one rail might be able to pull off 168W if loaded up by itself, and the other might be able to pull off 192W if loaded up by itself, but the amount of juice that can even get to those transistors (safely) isn't more than 336W, so you simply CAN NOT fully load both rails to their maximum capabilities. And when I say "can not" load them, I mean load them without overloading them and staying within the tolerance of the rated rail. I mean, I put 16A loads on 14A rails all day long... that doesn't mean it's recommended.
Click to expand...

With "only" a 3000+ and a single ATI PCI-e card, you'll still be fine. Yes, even with three hard drives. A second video card? A Prescott? I'd second guess the PSU. It'd probably work, but would it run hot? Would it be stable? Otherwise, you'll be fine.
 
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