Power Supplies Going up in smoke!

"Hellraiser" wrote in message
...
The thing is blazing fast, and stuffed into a Foxconn mid tower with a
450
watt
power supply. The first pwsupply went out while running SiSoft burn in
....
and I figured I caught a weak component. I replaced that one with a 420
watt
Codegen and that one went up in less than 12 hours run time...
I have a 600 watt coming, but I would like to hear from the group on
possible
causes and things to look out for... Like I said this beast is VERY fast
but
it gets
a little expensive feeding it power supplies... Thanks in advance...

That's your problem - Codegen and Foxconn are cheap and nasty generic
PSUs,
be grateful that they didn't take your motherboard and CPU out with them
when they died. Quit being such a cheap sod, and spend some cash on a
decent
PSU - if you look at it as a percentage of the amount spent on the system,
even a decent Antec will be very little, and will ensure your components
continue to work in the way they're supposed to

Hellraiser............


My Mistake, Hellraiser....it was a PowMax case....came with a 450 watt
power supply...
I'm inclined to fear it is the MSI 5900 Ultra sucking the life out of the
PWS, it has a 12 volt plug in...
I guess it could be the two hard drives but I think the video card has got
to be the prime suspect...
Does anyone know how to test the current draw of a video card while the pc
is running?

On Tue, 04 May 2004 20:22:14 +0100, Craig Coope wrote:


"Wes Newell" wrote in message
newsan.2004.05.04.07.43.54.307445@TAKEOUTverizon .net...

When I first got my AMD 64 3000+ I couldn't get it to stay boot sometimes.
and other times it would crash during post, etc during the first minute. I
had a 400W PSU. I ordered 3 more, 500, 550, and 600W. All 3 ran the system
fine. The 400W still powers my XP system just fine. So yes, you need good
power. The 500W was $15, the 550 $18, and the 600 was $24. Yeah, I'm a
cheap sob.:-)

Damn...mine is only 340W...

The 400W that didn't work was a Powerline. I really think it was a
mislabeled 250W or it was just junk. The ones I bought were Lead Power,
and Power Magic. The Powerline Came with the case I bought some time back.

A decent 340W PSU is probably ok, but it would also make a good backup for
a 500 or 600W.

--
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http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

"Hop" wrote
Does anyone know how to test the current draw of a video card while the pc
is running?

You can use one of these little things to measure the entire system during
idle and during intense 3D.

http://store.yahoo.com/ahernstore/p4400.html

You could use Motherboard Monitor and set it to update every 15 seconds,
then run 3D for 30 seconds, then alt-tab out with the Motherboard Monitor
Dashboard showing and check the voltages. Try it a few times in case it
updated just after you tabbed out.


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"Ed Light" wrote in message
news:eO0mc.27783$6L3.7970@fed1read05...

"Hop" wrote
Does anyone know how to test the current draw of a video card while the
pc
is running?

You can use one of these little things to measure the entire system during
idle and during intense 3D.

http://store.yahoo.com/ahernstore/p4400.html

You could use Motherboard Monitor and set it to update every 15 seconds,
then run 3D for 30 seconds, then alt-tab out with the Motherboard Monitor
Dashboard showing and check the voltages. Try it a few times in case it
updated just after you tabbed out.


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Thank you Ed, a very useful tip indeed!!

"Hop" wrote in message
...
I have a system with an AMD 64 3400+ on a K8T Neo MSI mainboard.
Have two SATA WD 120 gig in a raid 0 on the VIA chipset, not the promise!
Have 2 sticks infineon 512 meg pc3200 in dual channel, a Lite on DVD and
a Lite on CDRW, a SB Audigy 2 and an MSI 5900 Ultra XT with 256 megs...
snip

It probably has something to do with you running that memory in dual channel
mode with a processor that doesn't support that configuration. g Switch
to single channel mode and see what happens.

I know, I know...., I'm a smartass, but I can't help it. Learn a little
about computers, spend a little money on a good quality power supply - such
as, but not limited to, Antec, and you should be good to go.

Sick Willie

Ed Light wrote:
"Hop" wrote
Does anyone know how to test the current draw of a video card while the
pc is running?

You can use one of these little things to measure the entire system during
idle and during intense 3D.

http://store.yahoo.com/ahernstore/p4400.html

You could use Motherboard Monitor and set it to update every 15 seconds,
then run 3D for 30 seconds, then alt-tab out with the Motherboard Monitor
Dashboard showing and check the voltages. Try it a few times in case it
updated just after you tabbed out.

Or you could just set it to update the min/max readings as often as
possible, and use the system for a while. Then go and check the min. Also
check that the range of values isn't too high, as this is also a bad sign.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...
Ed Light wrote:
"Hop" wrote
Does anyone know how to test the current draw of a video card while the
pc is running?

You can use one of these little things to measure the entire system
during
idle and during intense 3D.

http://store.yahoo.com/ahernstore/p4400.html

You could use Motherboard Monitor and set it to update every 15 seconds,
then run 3D for 30 seconds, then alt-tab out with the Motherboard
Monitor
Dashboard showing and check the voltages. Try it a few times in case it
updated just after you tabbed out.

Or you could just set it to update the min/max readings as often as
possible, and use the system for a while. Then go and check the min.
Also
check that the range of values isn't too high, as this is also a bad sign.

Wow, I hadn't noticed the high/low feature. Now I must test...


--
Ed Light

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