Slow Down?

[Met-AL]

Ok, I see this come up quite often on the forums around here. Someone posts that their PC is performing poorly, getting a low score on 3dmark, running "slow", or etc and at least one person says that it could be from a weak PSU. Often, someone backs them up and agrees.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but in the little world of computers, doesn't either the stuff work or it doesn't work?

It isn't like there are spining wheels and gears and motors on your motherboard that will turn slower if they don't get enough juice. Your P4 doesn't run at 2.95Ghz instead of 3.0Ghz cause the PSU is weak and the CD-ROM happened to spin up, it would instead most likely lock up and hang.

 

[Commander_HK47]

I think your argument is largely valid to a degree, "Slow" down the PC though? No rather more like data corruption i.e. take a processor that is running at to low of a voltage and you get calculation errors in say prim95 stress test. even worse power interrupts caused by a low voltage presence on a given rail(ultimately causing a lack of proper current flow), resulting in "random" reboots/stalls that can cause stress on interrelated components. This can in return proof to be nothing short of "doom and gloom" for the guy slamming his/her KB/mouse around. Not a system wide "slow down" in terms of productivity performance.

Its funny that you bring up "wheels and gears" as no, there isn't a motherboard out there that i know of that has them.

Media platforms like CD/DVD drives and typical hard drives(to a lesser degree)on the other hand do.

In fact i am aware of a few personal cases where people that i know had system failure issues brought on by there hard drive(s) slow but surely buying the farm because they where not receiving enough juice to function correctly. Typical: upgrade a OEM system in terms of the latest graphics card available at that time along with many other components, and in the course of all this give no consideration for the power requirements that the new items bring on.

Again this isn't really going to cause system wide "slow downs" but defiantly not gonna work as it should...

 

[Rabid Badger]

I don't recall any threads like what you are describing. There are situations in which some hardware with throttle itself back if it isn't receiving enough power, but in those cases the hardware will tell you itself what the problem is.

Now, a weak PSU can cause rebooting and lockups under a heavy load (like 3DMark) but it won't cause a system slowdown in 99.99% of cases. Like you say, it either works or it doesn't.

I don't think anyone could give the advice you're talking about in this forum without being immediately corrected by 4 or 5 people.

 

[Met-AL]

I don't recall any threads like what you are describing. There are situations in which some hardware with throttle itself back if it isn't receiving enough power, but in those cases the hardware will tell you itself what the problem is.

Now, a weak PSU can cause rebooting and lockups under a heavy load (like 3DMark) but it won't cause a system slowdown in 99.99% of cases. Like you say, it either works or it doesn't.

I don't think anyone could give the advice you're talking about in this forum without being immediately corrected by 4 or 5 people.

I apologize for not having some links to some threads. Maybe tomorrow if I get some time, I will go find some for you.

EDIT: Searching for the acronym "PSU" is impossible. Keep an eye out specifically in the video card forum, and you will see on approx a weekly basis someone posting something in the order that their PC is scoring low in 3dMark and someone will reply about the possibility that the OP's PSU is underpowered and making his PC slow.