Power Supply Limiting my OC?

[Vette5885]

I just did a little upgrade - from corsair value select 1GB memory to 1GB GSkill's (in sig). I used to OC (with value ram) to 212 w/ 12x multiplier, and had no problems. Now, with the new memory, it doesn't want to OC past 218x11.

It'll only post from a hard wake-up with low voltage/frequency settings (218x11), and from there I can push it a little bit (225x11). From there I go to give it more volts, and the system won't POST upon a restart. Now, after a full BIOS reset, I bring up the original settings (218x11) and it works, and it'll go to 225x11, it'll work, but it won't do a cold/hard start (no post).

Being that I have 4 HDDs, 6800GT, 4 case fans, and an old 420W Purepower, I think that a new power supply would help. (plus my current 420W is a 20-pin, and the mobo is 24).

I'm thinkin that I need as much as 500-600W, so would a Enermax Liberty 620w or a Ocz Powerstream 600w do the trick?

thanks

 

[Vette5885]

Anybody have experience with one of these power supplies?
Its the FSP FX700

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104015

I'm looking to use the new power supply in my next system as well (atleast when the parts are all out, come winter)

AM2 5000+ (maybe conroe)
WGF 2.0 Video Card, almost top model (equivalent to today's 7800 512)
2GB DDR2-1000
2 Raptor 150's
2 300GB Drives (from current system)
Typical optical/other components

 

[Ice Czar]

when it comes to a power supply's influence on an overclock
its one of three possible contributing factors
a superior supply will be able to hold a tighter load regulation (main rails fluctuation) with a variable VAC (AC outlet) than a not so great supply, getting a good UPS will eliminate that variable

a high quality supply will also be able to deal with a greater variable load and have a shorter transient response to a shifting load (CPU\GPU ect) than a not so great supply

but then it always comes down to the mobo's own VRM (voltage regulation modual(s) a good power scheme there can makeup for the shortfalls of a supply, or it can screw the pooche even with a stable rail from a good supply

one of the reasons you see favored "overclocking" mobos

then you factor in an unknown state of electromigration for various ICs into the stability equation

the best you can do is whittle down the potential limiting factors, increase the temperature differential and get lucky with the IC's you hyave to work with

your link is busted


FSP's are good supplies of basic compliance
meaning they will hold to at least 5% load regulation

closer to the reference value is better than either higher or lower
stuff also doesnt tend to get fried from lower values as much as higher values
anything higher than the 5% range is called an overshoot and that fries most stuff
anything lower is called an undershoot and that makes things unstable


for reference Basic Spec compliance of 5% is
+12V....11.4V to 12.6V
+5V......4.75V to 5.25V
+3.3V...3.135V to 3.465V
but its also a dynamic range
the supply converts power from AC to DC as the load changes from the components
well it also has to keep the reference voltages within the range above while it doing that
so measuring at one point is like watching a single frame in a movie
so logging the voltage is a good idea

that said your BIOS and software is lying to you
what you dont know is by what amount
for that youd need to measure it with a multimeter
cheap ones can be had for $20 or $30 though their accuracy isnt all that much better than the BIOS
they scale up to hundreds of dollars and increasing accuracy

ideally you calibrate your software to a hard measurement (like at idle)
then log till your confident that your within spec at all times

a high reference voltage at idle means that while the supply might be regulating the load within its own parameter,
under some circumstances it could be letting overshoots through
now there are advantages to having a higher reference value if your overclocking
but only if your not allowing overshoots
thats one of the reasons overclockers like supplies with tighter than spec load regulation
so instead of a supply with a range of 5% regulation it has 3% or 1%
and can thus have a higher reference value without letting through overshoots

most components can deal with higher than 5% values and are commonly tested to survive split second 10% values, but these wear on the components

since IC Chips (integrated circuits) vary from pristine to just barely passing the functional test, that means a little "wear" (electromigration) could cause immediate failure or not be noticable degredation for years

more to the point though, the odds are greatly increased for some failure somewhere by the sheer number of IC chips throughout the computer as a whole.
some are behind buffers like the CPU and RAM which have the voltage modified by the motherboards voltage regulation modual, while other lack any buffer at all, like the drives

 

[Vette5885]

Ice, thanks for the reply.

I look at it like this: when you overclock your system, it pulls more juice from the power supply. My system wouldn't POST with a heavy overclock (look up ^ for description). That mixed with the weak 18a on the single 12v rail with my Thermaltake power supply, I figured that the system wasn't getting enough juice.

The online extreme PSU calculator rated my system around 380w without an overclock, and as much as 430 with one. Yeah, that is an overestimated wattage number, but this was at bootup (HDD spin up, initial power to all components, etc.) that I was having the lockup (hell, if the system was reset rather than starting out cold, it would OC further). So 380 is high, but 18a is very low (plus figure in all the inefficiencies, my fans, case temp, and the power hungry 6800GT) and I assumed that the PS was to blame.

I just picked up an Enermax Noisetaker 600w, so hopefully if that is the problem, it'll be fixed. Yeah, the Thermaltake has been nothing less than stellar for the 4+ years that I've owned it (I've been bumping into its power limit for the past few months and haven't had any detrimental effects ... yet ... knock on wood), but it just isn't set up for today's systems.