Jake Wants a New Computer or to build one!

[ed klein]

When a large corporation has decided to build a new model computer, how the engineers decide what CORRECT power supply in electrical term WATTS is need for the new computer.

By National Electrical Code (in USA only) a power supply rating of 500 watts means it can output 500 watts all the time without any problems such as overheating. And, brand name A to Z makes no difference 500 watts output from brand A is the same as 500 watts output from brand Z.

Watts in direct current circuits is a product of electrical terms VOLTS times AMPS. So watts=volts x amps

Volts = pressure or potential applied to the + and - power supply leads
Amps or millamps means the amount of current draw in each electrical circuit.

Hard drives, optical drives inside a computer require by electrical design 12 volts applied to the unit for it to function properly. And the amount of current draw depends of the design of the electrical circuits in the unit.

typical example:
Optical drive 12 volts times 3 amps equals 36 watts of power for that unit.
hard drive 12 volts times 4 amps equals 48 watts of power for that unit.

The addition in watts of all of these units inside your computer gives the MINIMUM of power in watts that is mandatory for the power supply.

So in reality if the sumation of all of these units equals 300 watts a correct size power supply is 500 watts. Always have a MINIMUM of 200 spare watts for the computer to function properly.

[Chewy]

ed you are talking about reality watts, not claimed advertised smoke and mirror watts

[jm1647]

ed you are talking about reality watts, not claimed advertised smoke and mirror watts

Some PSUs have better performance than others at full load. Right now I have one of the Ultra V 500WATT PSUs (free after rebate ) in a box that when tested under full load goes down to 350WATT.

[Chewy]

I've tested ultra brand memory(tiger direct stock) and found it lacking in meeting advertised specs,
and I found a nice review, very comprehensive of their new premium 550 watt power supply

The problem isn't that X2 550W doesn't meet ordinary power delivery expectations, but that every other power supply we've tested has been able to exceed them. Ouch.

and that one sells for big bucks

http://www.sysopt.com/features/cases/article.php/12024_3618796_5

that enermax 350 uncasms used is probably better, I had one of those and never a problem

jm,
pull that sob and put it in a lame computer before it burns out

my son pushed an undersized rosewill(newegg brand) for too long, got bad burns, lots of glitches, and
blew it up, the same 350's have worked for a couple of years fine under lighter loads. I had issues with my rosewill 450 and my overclock and replaced with the thermaltake 430.

[jm1647]

jm,
pull that sob and put it in a lame computer before it burns out

I hear ya , I'm back to stock with the AMD4000+ until I get a better one than the $.39 (That is cents after rebate ) in there now.

I seen an Antec 500W v2.0 for $55 shipped but I seen some posts about a high pitched squeal from some of them.

[Chewy]

I have some intermittent bootup issues with my thermaltake and raptor and overclock, but it usually just a minor inconvenience as the computer is booting so fast the system drive can't get up to speed quick enough.
I just hit enter and it boots. Every now and then when it's very cold I get an
overclock failed, and hit f? to enter setup and then I hit F10 save and it boots fine. Damn thing boots way too fast!

[jm1647]

I have some intermittent bootup issues with my thermaltake and raptor and overclock, but it usually just a minor inconvenience as the computer is booting so fast the system drive can't get up to speed quick enough.
I just hit enter and it boots. Every now and then when it's very cold I get an
overclock failed, and hit f? to enter setup and then I hit F10 save and it boots fine. Damn thing boots way too fast!

I wonder if thats the problem I'm having, I'm playing with it with an old 5400RPM 15GB Maxtor? I should have it in the new Ultra case with the 120MM fan from the Antec case and a 7200RPM 133 boot drive and down the basement by Monday.

[Chewy]

an old 5400RPM 15GB Maxtor

is your boot drive?

[jm1647]

is your boot drive?

yeah and when it stuck at the Asus boot screen I hit delete and went into setup and lowered the overclock .

[Chewy]

damn, talk about putting a model t carb on a porche engine?

boot/system drive should be your fastest drive, in my case the rpm and age of the drive is killing me, in your case the age and slowness???

wonder if we could edit the boot ini?

or try my solution which is enter bios long enough for it to get up to speed then save and exit(2-3 seconds)

[jm1647]

damn, talk about putting a model t carb on a porche engine?

boot/system drive should be your fastest drive, in my case the rpm and age of the drive is killing me, in your case the age and slowness???

wonder if we could edit the boot ini?

or try my solution which is enter bios long enough for it to get up to speed then save and exit(2-3 seconds)

Nah I put it in a Flinstone mobile, the 5400 15GB is 2 days older than dirt

Thats what I did entered the bios but I lowered the overclock when it hung. Like I said this OCing is new to me

[Chewy]

I thought you had some sata drives?

[jm1647]

I thought you had some sata drives?

I do have 2, 1 500GB and a 400GB for storage in my AMD1500+ box, I was just playing with the build and was gonna move drives later. I have a buncha 7200RPM 133 drives (3)200GB, (2)160GB, 60GB and had some 15 and 20 GBers laying around. I was gonna use the 60GBer for the boot drive in the new build when I moved stuff around.

[Chewy]

do you realize the performance hit of an old lame system boot drive?
Isn't there any way you could free up a fast sata drive and partiton it to be a 20-30 gig system drive?

way too much data!

[jm1647]

do you realize the performance hit of an old lame system boot drive?
Isn't there any way you could free up a fast sata drive and partiton it to be a 20-30 gig system drive?

way too much data!

I'm not used to the speed, going from a 286, 386. P90, P300, P733, AMD1500+, Celeron 1.73 GHz notebook to this monster stock let alone OC'd

I knew the SATA would be the best then the 7200RPM 133 drives. I was palying with the buid with the dinosaur Maxtor. I'll either pick us a smaller SATA or partition one to be the boot drive. Thanks


I got a ton of movies on thye AMD 1500+ was playing around for it to be a media server.