Power Supply Problems?

[Poco81]

For a little while I have had a problem with my System starting up after a long shutdown (several hours).
Have a 350 watt Power Supply that came with my ICute Case.
Ever since I installed a Serial ATA Drive the problem has started.
In turn I took out a Paralell ATA drive that I installed in my Doughters System.
So the Number of the drives hasen't changed.
I discussed the Problem with a guy from a Computer Shop he suggested to try installing a secong Power Supply just to run the case cooling and the Temp. Display.

Two Paralell HD's
One Serial HD
Two Burners DVD and CDRW
Five 80mm case fans intake
One 120mm outlet case fan
And of course the Thermal Take Dragon Orb running off the MB Power Connector.

The System Temp is 38C Proccesor, 30C Power Supply Case
So all is nice and cool.

System Info Systen 1 below.

Any Suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[LTR12101B]

Some of those SATA drives seem to have a high 12v current demand - you may need to lose TWO old drives to balance it. All those fans add up as well.

Not sure I'd go the dual PSU route though - it could be a swine to fit - though 2 could be cheaper than one high power, especially of a good name.

I'm no great fan of Q-TEC (the standard dual fan can be quiet or noisy, and they lag behind the bigger names in performance), but their 550w model is cheap and should be more than enough for a system which is only just short of power on a 350.

In a better name, their 450w model would probably outclass the QTEC 550, but cost twice as much.


Took a brief browse, but not sure how the prices translate.
http://www.dansdata.com/top420p4.htm
Looks reasonably ok for a 420w, with a combined 220w rating on the 3.3/5v, and a +12v rating of 18 Amps

Much better than my "no-name" 400w model - with a combined rating of just 180w, and a 12v rating of 15A

To me, the figures for the Top-power 420 look exceptional, though you may want to go higher.

http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/
If you look at the PSU's here, you can see how the Top power fits in among the Antec, Thermaltake

No Top 420w, so lets see how the 470w and the similar priced Thermaltake 420 compare...

First, the Thermaltake:
http://www.thermaltake.com/products/purepower/w0008r.htm
18A on the 12v, and thermal fan control - the rest of the figures are probably ok.

Now the Top Power
http://www.topower.com.tw/home/atx12v_470p4.htm
28A at 12v - WOW! - and it's also thermal fanned

On the figures, it looks a better beast than the Thermaltake, but then they ARE a bigger name in power and cooling.
If you go to their 480w model, then you get SATA power connectors included - quite a bit dearer though.

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/index.html
The Top Power 520w model is in this test, and gets several strikes:

1. Noisy - 60dBA (presumably at maximum fan speed)
2. Delivers a lower maximum than the Antec 480w model, and is also criticised for a low 34.3v rating
3. Efficiency - the lowest in it;s group, at 65.5% - yes, for every 2 watts going to the system, the PSU dumps a further watt as heat

The Fortron scores well for efficiency, and manages a considerable overload - though I belive Fortron are also "Sparkle" - praised and maligned in about equal proportions - one thing the single sample test tells you nothing about, is the percentage of DOA/faulty/unreliable out of the box - and Out of 2 PSU's I've bought, (a QTEC and this no-namer), BOTH had faults - am I just unlucky?

 

[LTR12101B]

If you want to try dual PSU's, there are two major issues.

1. The PS-ON inputs and a ground line need to be commoned, so the two switch on and off together.

2. For the second PSU, minimum loading needs to be watched - most will not operate properly, maybe at all, without an adequate load on the 5v line - and some also state a minimum on the 3.3v (not sure if thats critical) and the 12v (no problem, since that's going to be heavy).

Fans do not contribute any 5v loading, so if the 5v is an issue, you need enough drives on the second PSU to bring the 5v loading to an acceptable level.

I wouldn't recommend dual PSU's to anyone other than a truly committed system tweaker - a good single PSU is far easier to manage - and if youve read some reviews, a good PSU can beat a nondescript one of supposedly higher power.

If I'd seen this one http://www.over-clock.co.uk/acatalog/ATX_Power_Supplies.html (the blue aluminium one) - before I got the one I'm using now, it would have been no contest (although it's nearly twice the price).

Good ratings, looks real cool, lightweight ali.


Seriously, the big names in PSU are a bit like the top names in ready built computers - good performance, but you don't half pay for it!

The bottom names are like "Joe Bloggs computer parts" down a little backstreet - cheap, and you can get lucky with some good stuff at a good price.

The midrange names can be best value overall.

And finally, (I'll talk in pounds), how many people entrust a few hundred pounds worth of motherboard, CPU, graphics, RAM, drives and other cards ..... to a case/PSU combined that cost 30 quid.

If you had a reasonably decent car, would you chuck in the cheapest oil you could get?

 

[Poco81]

Some of those SATA drives seem to have a high 12v current demand - you may need to lose TWO old drives to balance it. All those fans add up as well.

Not sure I'd go the dual PSU route though - it could be a swine to fit - though 2 could be cheaper than one high power, especially of a good name.

I'm no great fan of Q-TEC (the standard dual fan can be quiet or noisy, and they lag behind the bigger names in performance), but their 550w model is cheap and should be more than enough for a system which is only just short of power on a 350.

In a better name, their 450w model would probably outclass the QTEC 550, but cost twice as much.


Took a brief browse, but not sure how the prices translate.
http://www.dansdata.com/top420p4.htm
Looks reasonably ok for a 420w, with a combined 220w rating on the 3.3/5v, and a +12v rating of 18 Amps

Much better than my "no-name" 400w model - with a combined rating of just 180w, and a 12v rating of 15A

To me, the figures for the Top-power 420 look exceptional, though you may want to go higher.

http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/
If you look at the PSU's here, you can see how the Top power fits in among the Antec, Thermaltake

No Top 420w, so lets see how the 470w and the similar priced Thermaltake 420 compare...

First, the Thermaltake:
http://www.thermaltake.com/products/purepower/w0008r.htm
18A on the 12v, and thermal fan control - the rest of the figures are probably ok.

Now the Top Power
http://www.topower.com.tw/home/atx12v_470p4.htm
28A at 12v - WOW! - and it's also thermal fanned

On the figures, it looks a better beast than the Thermaltake, but then they ARE a bigger name in power and cooling.
If you go to their 480w model, then you get SATA power connectors included - quite a bit dearer though.

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/index.html
The Top Power 520w model is in this test, and gets several strikes:

1. Noisy - 60dBA (presumably at maximum fan speed)
2. Delivers a lower maximum than the Antec 480w model, and is also criticised for a low 34.3v rating
3. Efficiency - the lowest in it;s group, at 65.5% - yes, for every 2 watts going to the system, the PSU dumps a further watt as heat

The Fortron scores well for efficiency, and manages a considerable overload - though I belive Fortron are also "Sparkle" - praised and maligned in about equal proportions - one thing the single sample test tells you nothing about, is the percentage of DOA/faulty/unreliable out of the box - and Out of 2 PSU's I've bought, (a QTEC and this no-namer), BOTH had faults - am I just unlucky?

Thanks for your advice.
Have placed an order for the Topower 470
what's 50watts between friends on the DC side of the power supply
not worth mentioning.

and less noisy to.

 

[LTR12101B]

Well, I was beginning to lean towards a better name, on reading Tom's - but while Top Power aren't the best, they certainly aren't the worst - the question is how much do you pay for each usable watt of power.

Money no object, I'd probably plump for the Enermax.

Anyway, if a store has a reputation and wants to keep it - and sells a significant amount of the "real good" models, they generally find budget models that won't disgrace themselves!

 

[Poco81]

Well, I was beginning to lean towards a better name, on reading Tom's - but while Top Power aren't the best, they certainly aren't the worst - the question is how much do you pay for each usable watt of power.

Money no object, I'd probably plump for the Enermax.

Anyway, if a store has a reputation and wants to keep it - and sells a significant amount of the "real good" models, they generally find budget models that won't disgrace themselves!

Got the Power Supply today installed and running, but dispite twice the out put in amps across the board the problem is still there, got to start looking along somewhere else.

I still think it is the SATA Drive that causes the problem being bootable and active but not having an op to its name.