Time for a new PC power supply

[dodgechargerfan]

I replaced one 3 years ago.
I came downstairs on Saturday morning to find my PC cycling On and OFF.
So, I shut it off and got to working on it yesterday.

I pulled it all apart and did some testing.
While I can get the power supply powered on while it's on the bench, it does not work when plugged into the motherboard.

I thought it was the motherboard.

I continued to test and found that the power supply that I pulled out 3 years ago works okay.
I thought I had overloaded it before and it started to act up. I've taken a couple of drives out since then. So, it might be enough.
(To be honest, I don't think I was ever anywhere near the limit, but it did seem to struggle.)

Anyway, I'm thinking that i'm just going to get one to have on hand for the inevitable moment when this temporary solution eats it.

So, I'm looking at this one:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Cooler-Maste...pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item4ab2fcc3aa#ht_1795wt_1139

With a lifetime warranty, I figure I'm golden for a while now...

and I'm going to scoop a power supply tester while I'm at it.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/320830720023...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649#ht_1819wt_1139

Sure, I could test each individual lead with a multimeter, but this is easier....

 

[Dr.Jass]

700W seems overkill! I wish you needed a standard ATX supply, because I've got a bad-ass 45oW unit sitting here that I'm considering turning into a bench-top 5V/12V power supply.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

Bah!
I skipped the tester.
I expected to be able to fill a shopping cart with both items and get combined shipping.
It didn't happen and there's no way I'm paying separate shipping for it.
I'll grab one next time I'm in the actual store.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

700W seems overkill! I wish you needed a standard ATX supply, because I've got a bad-ass 45oW unit sitting here that I'm considering turning into a bench-top 5V/12V power supply.

Yeah. It does. but I thought I was taxing the 500w one that's back in there now.
I may have been, actually. I've changed things up a bit though.
The 700W one I took out was three years old... with a one year warranty :^/

I'm driving 3 internal SATA drives, plus an external one on occasion, and 2 optical drives, video (with plans to go dual soon), and everything else.
It probably doesn't add up anywhere close to 700W, but that 700W is a peak number. The real number is probably closer to 500. I know.... Still might be overkill.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

I keep threatening to build a bench power supply out of a PC power supply but then I remember that my second year project from college is still working...

Still, one day, I'll do it anyway.

 

[Dr.Jass]

I had all that on my old computer, running dual CRTs though I can't remember the video card that was in it. I know at the time it was as bad as they got... well, at least it was six months prior, because I bought it from a hard-core gamer. I could burn a DVD and CD at the same time, run a CAD program alongside Photoshop, and have MSN up all at the same time. I never had an issue. 'Twas the motherboard that couldn't take it the pressure. I think my old Abit BP6 was a bigger power hog, to be honest... I overclocked the piss out of that thing, to the point where I demanded sequential serial numbers on my Celeron 433 processors, and then hand-lapped them to the coolers. I got over 700MHz out of both processors at one point, but I got scared of the temps and backed them down to 667MHz each.

I'm running four SATAs and two opticals at the moment, and my 450W is doing fine, though I'm now content with on-board video and sound. I'm not nearly the geek I once was.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

I'm not nearly the geek I once was.

Neither am I - at least not in terms of hardware.
I don't even keep up to date on what the latest processor is, or speeds and feeds. I just don't care anymore.
If I buy something new, it's going to be overkill for what I end up doing with it.

About the only thing that has been an exception to that - recently - is the machine I bought for a server platform.
I held out for a deal on a 6 core processor and went for 16 GB of the fastest RAM that the board could use.
It came with a 1 TB drive, so I used it but I didn't really need one.
The built in NIC was important for the driver support in VMWare, but worse case, I spend $50 on an intel NIC (but I didn't have to)

The rest of the specs didn't matter. This thing is sitting in a corner of the basement with no monitor or keyboard attached.
I access it all remotely.

As honking a machine as it is, it still does mundane stuff. It just does it several times over in about 10 different virtual machines.

My current desktop is about 5 years old and I don't see any need to update it any time soon. Although, I was happily contemplating a new motherboard and memory this weekend when I thought this one was toast.

 

[v8440]

One of if not THE best brands of power supply is pc power and cooling. I've read for years about how underrated their stuff is. I have one of their 750w supplies in the machine I'm typing this on. I built the machine in late '07, it has 4 serial ata drives in raid 0 plus a 5th ide drive. It has an nvidia 8800 ultra video card, which in itself is ridiculous. This card requires 2 serial ata power connectors to be hooked to it. It has a squirrel cage fan to get rid of the heat. Plus I have a core 2 duo, I think the model is 6300, overclocked to I forget what. Big ass cooler on the processor with a big ass fan on it, one optical drive, you get the idea. The power supply barely gets warm. Of course, I paid over $100 for the power supply because I didn't want any trouble from it. I got what I paid for.