Need PS to specs; suggestions?

Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2 CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3 fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say, it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

Way too many Ebay sellers **** me off by not listing any specs related to the number of
connectors. Even the damn hardware review sites aren't bright enough to list how many
connectors the PS they are reviewing has; shoddy. Thus I'm reduced to tracking down the
drive on the manufacturers site which can become a nightmare. I hate splitters.

So, anyone have suggestions based on first hand knowledge?
I need high wattage; 430watt+
I need good length leads and lots of 4pin molex connectors.
I need good rail amperage. Drives spin up sequentially but occasionally some winders
util will spin them up all at once. Next upgrade will most likely be to a more power hungry
vid card from the ti4800se I run now.
Of course a good rule of thumb for power supplies; the heavier the better.

Open to suggestions.....
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On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 21:44:59 GMT, Overlord wrote:
Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2 CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3 fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say, it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

Way too many Ebay sellers **** me off by not listing any specs related to the number of
connectors. Even the damn hardware review sites aren't bright enough to list how many
connectors the PS they are reviewing has; shoddy. Thus I'm reduced to tracking down the
drive on the manufacturers site which can become a nightmare. I hate splitters.

So, anyone have suggestions based on first hand knowledge?
I need high wattage; 430watt+
I need good length leads and lots of 4pin molex connectors.
I need good rail amperage. Drives spin up sequentially but occasionally some winders
util will spin them up all at once. Next upgrade will most likely be to a more power hungry
vid card from the ti4800se I run now.
Of course a good rule of thumb for power supplies; the heavier the better.

Antec TrueBlue, whatever wattage you want.

Larry Gagnon

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to reply via email remove "fake"

"Overlord" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down
significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2
CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3
fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say,
it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is
overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has
lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

I'd get two power supplies for that lot.
http://www.burningissues.net/how_to/power/psu.htm

Either that or put the SCSI HDDs in an external enclosure.

Alun Harford

IMHO (and many others G) the best PSs are made by PC Power & Cooling. I'm
using their Turbo cool 510 Deluxe. It has everything you need including 2 -
SATA power connectors. 510W continuous and 650 peak, 1% regulation on all
rails except -5 & -12 (they are 5%).. 5 year warranty. Price = $197. I
just retired a PCP&C 300W unit that's been running almost 24/7 in 4
different computers and it's still going strong.. Check out the 510 here
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/about/...whatnew510.htm
--
Tally Ho!
Ed Forsythe
Maryland, USA


"Overlord" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down
significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2
CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3
fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say,
it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is
overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has
lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

Way too many Ebay sellers **** me off by not listing any specs related to
the number of
connectors. Even the damn hardware review sites aren't bright enough to
list how many
connectors the PS they are reviewing has; shoddy. Thus I'm reduced to
tracking down the
drive on the manufacturers site which can become a nightmare. I hate
splitters.

So, anyone have suggestions based on first hand knowledge?
I need high wattage; 430watt+
I need good length leads and lots of 4pin molex connectors.
I need good rail amperage. Drives spin up sequentially but occasionally
some winders
util will spin them up all at once. Next upgrade will most likely be to a
more power hungry
vid card from the ti4800se I run now.
Of course a good rule of thumb for power supplies; the heavier the better.

Open to suggestions.....
~~~~~~
Bait for spammers:
root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
]

~~~~~~
Remove "spamless" to email me.

Yeah they're pricy but I like PC P&C. Ran 6or8 drives off an AMD K6 450 system
with a P&C 220watt Silencer for sometime. Had to upgrade to a higher wattage
Enermax when I went with a 1gig Athlon tho. They really do a good job.
Really hated to let it go but that 220 just wouldn't give me the amperage for
that Athlon....

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 20:34:44 -0400, "Ed Forsythe" wrote:

IMHO (and many others G) the best PSs are made by PC Power & Cooling. I'm
using their Turbo cool 510 Deluxe. It has everything you need including 2 -
SATA power connectors. 510W continuous and 650 peak, 1% regulation on all
rails except -5 & -12 (they are 5%).. 5 year warranty. Price = $197. I
just retired a PCP&C 300W unit that's been running almost 24/7 in 4
different computers and it's still going strong.. Check out the 510 here
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/about/...whatnew510.htm
--
Tally Ho!
Ed Forsythe
Maryland, USA


"Overlord" wrote in message
.. .
Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down
significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2
CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3
fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say,
it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is
overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has
lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

Way too many Ebay sellers **** me off by not listing any specs related to
the number of
connectors. Even the damn hardware review sites aren't bright enough to
list how many
connectors the PS they are reviewing has; shoddy. Thus I'm reduced to
tracking down the
drive on the manufacturers site which can become a nightmare. I hate
splitters.

So, anyone have suggestions based on first hand knowledge?
I need high wattage; 430watt+
I need good length leads and lots of 4pin molex connectors.
I need good rail amperage. Drives spin up sequentially but occasionally
some winders
util will spin them up all at once. Next upgrade will most likely be to a
more power hungry
vid card from the ti4800se I run now.
Of course a good rule of thumb for power supplies; the heavier the better.

Open to suggestions.....
~~~~~~
Bait for spammers:
root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
]

~~~~~~
Remove "spamless" to email me.



~~~~~~
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abuse@localhost
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On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 07:55:19 -0400, "Dennis E Strausser Jr" wrote:

"Overlord" wrote in message
.. .
Yeah they're pricy but I like PC P&C. Ran 6or8 drives off an AMD K6 450
system
with a P&C 220watt Silencer for sometime. Had to upgrade to a higher
wattage
Enermax when I went with a 1gig Athlon tho. They really do a good job.
Really hated to let it go but that 220 just wouldn't give me the amperage
for
that Athlon....

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 20:34:44 -0400, "Ed Forsythe"
wrote:

IMHO (and many others G) the best PSs are made by PC Power & Cooling.
I'm
using their Turbo cool 510 Deluxe. It has everything you need including
2 -
SATA power connectors. 510W continuous and 650 peak, 1% regulation on
all
rails except -5 & -12 (they are 5%).. 5 year warranty. Price = $197. I
just retired a PCP&C 300W unit that's been running almost 24/7 in 4
different computers and it's still going strong.. Check out the 510 here
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/about/...whatnew510.htm
--
Tally Ho!
Ed Forsythe
Maryland, USA


"Overlord" wrote in message
.. .
Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down
significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2
CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3
fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say,
it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is
overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has
lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

Way too many Ebay sellers **** me off by not listing any specs related
to
the number of
connectors. Even the damn hardware review sites aren't bright enough
to
list how many
connectors the PS they are reviewing has; shoddy. Thus I'm reduced to
tracking down the
drive on the manufacturers site which can become a nightmare. I hate
splitters.

So, anyone have suggestions based on first hand knowledge?
I need high wattage; 430watt+
I need good length leads and lots of 4pin molex connectors.
I need good rail amperage. Drives spin up sequentially but
occasionally some winders
util will spin them up all at once. Next upgrade will most likely be
to a more power hungry
vid card from the ti4800se I run now.
Of course a good rule of thumb for power supplies; the heavier the
better.

Open to suggestions.....
~~~~~~

Like what "Alun Harford" Said.
The place your power is being used up the most is with your SCSI Drives.
Any idea if they are HVD or other? HVD's use more power, if I ever go SCSI
again
I'm going with external, reason is, you can get drives with their own
power.
SCSI is nice though for the fact you can put up to 7 Drives on just one
channel.
If I remember this write, SCSI's take 40W Each.
Both the IDE Maxtor drives I have on this thing are only like 15W or so
30W for the both of them. And without a Video Overclock they run @ ATA100
Without
the 80Pin Cable. "I'v never even seen one of those things"
Another question, the 15,000 RPM Drives, Ultra 320's? or less.

Thanks For The Links Ed.... I May just get a new PSU For this thing
My PSU is supposed to be a 500W, but fails out on me a little.
Denny. :-) A 33 Y old going on 19..... :-)

Hi Denny,
No, these are Ultra 160 drives; LVD.
Also with wide 68pin drives/controllers you have the option of 15 drives per channel.
If you were going HVD I suppose you could get pretty good deals by shopping around.
HVD is little used anymore apart from electrically noisy industrial environments and
specific applications. I don't know that HVD product lines have kept up with cutting
edge innovations tho.

Seagate specs list the idle wattage as 10watts and heavy I/O as up to 16watts.
No doubt on spinup it can go to twice that, but with sequential spinup at boot the +12V
rail is gradually loaded. My 15k drives are quieter than my 10k drives but they run
pretty hot. For 40watts, you're thinking of those old full height monsters.
I never owned an IDE. Went from MFM drives to SCSI. I did get sent 2
little IDE drives a couple years ago when a vender sent me IDE instead of SCSI
and put them in my 7 year old's system.
Last year I put 10k SCSI drives in his system. If IDE prices keep coming down I
may put one in his system for LAN storage. Or perhaps I'll let him install his Linux
on a different drive than his Win2k....

External enclosures are ok.... Never have gone that route tho. Just at the moment,
with my identical AT case running power lines to some drives in the ATX case I'm
basically doing that except for moving the drives over. An external enclosure sure
would help to manage heat tho. I've always tried to keep everything in one big case
but with USB stuff, routers, cable modem, scanner, webcam, external modem etc,
it is becomming a lost cause.
Don't know what I'd do with all this space in the main case.
Perhaps I could put a glass top across the 2 cases and make a table but it would be
taller than my desk.

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Your system is very hard on power supplies:
o 8-10x 15,000rpm SCSI drives ---- 200-240W
o Optical drives ---- 40W
o CPU overclocked ---- 100W
o Graphics in future ---- 75W
o RAM/Motherboard ----- 35W
o SCSI card ---- 15W (RAID can be up to 35W)

Non sequential spin-up will give a pretty horrible voltage sag :-)

Basically you may exceed 500W with your future system.
Your fans are probably worth 20-40W depending on airflow.

You might want to consider the following:
o "Cube case" ---- one side is drives & other is motherboard
---- often Supermicro, not so common on Ebay, cheapish 200$
o External SCSI case ---- 8 drive external boxes are common
---- common on Ebay, not much money, PSU dedicated to HDs

The benefit of a separate enclosure is two-fold:
o Separate power = less load = more safety factor re uptime
---- you can pick a Sparkle/FSP-Group/SPI or P&C 450-500W model
---- one for server, one for SCSI array = 50% load on each re safety factor
o Separate cooling = directly cool HD re metres-per-sec over drive
---- 15k drives specify a metres-per-sec over drive upper/lower surface
---- you convert your fan metres^3/sec thro the measured gap surface area
---- ideally you want fans blowing directly over the drives

Some mission-critical applications use a different tact:
o 15k-rpm SCSI HDs have over a million-hr MTBF
---- ATX PSUs generally do not
o Redundant ATX PSUs exist, with high MTBF figures
---- individual modules aren't that high on MTBF
---- individual modules are often not available, so expensive replacement
o True industrial PSU are thus used
---- since SCSI HD are basically just +5V & +12V
---- they can easily provide million-hr MTBF
---- they can also easily be connected in parallel for redundancy

Frankly, an external SCSI box & so dual PSU is your best solution.
Also try to ensure drive cooling is over the drive surfaces themselves,
you can run some components hot - but HDs have a finite temperature
due to the media inside, beyond motor-drive ic temperature limits etc.

If this were a mobile video-grab/editing/production application I'd use
two 4U rack mount cases in a flight case - with 120mm or 172mm fans
on the rear panel, and carefully selecting the cases re thro-airflow design.

Use case fans to cool the case contents, so the PSU fans only have to
cool the PSUs - critically so if you try to keep to a 1-PSU 1-case solution.
--
Dorothy Bradbury
www.stores.ebay.co.uk/panaflofan for fans, books & other items
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dorothy...ry/panaflo.htm (Direct)

enermax noisetaker 475

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article149-page1.html

"Overlord" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down
significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2
CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3
fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say,
it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is
overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has
lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

Way too many Ebay sellers **** me off by not listing any specs related to
the number of
connectors. Even the damn hardware review sites aren't bright enough to
list how many
connectors the PS they are reviewing has; shoddy. Thus I'm reduced to
tracking down the
drive on the manufacturers site which can become a nightmare. I hate
splitters.

So, anyone have suggestions based on first hand knowledge?
I need high wattage; 430watt+
I need good length leads and lots of 4pin molex connectors.
I need good rail amperage. Drives spin up sequentially but occasionally
some winders
util will spin them up all at once. Next upgrade will most likely be to a
more power hungry
vid card from the ti4800se I run now.
Of course a good rule of thumb for power supplies; the heavier the better.

Open to suggestions.....
~~~~~~
Bait for spammers:
root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
]

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Remove "spamless" to email me.

All you really need is a server power supply. I doubt if you can afford one
though.



"Ed Forsythe" wrote in message
...
IMHO (and many others G) the best PSs are made by PC Power & Cooling.
I'm
using their Turbo cool 510 Deluxe. It has everything you need including
2 -
SATA power connectors. 510W continuous and 650 peak, 1% regulation on all
rails except -5 & -12 (they are 5%).. 5 year warranty. Price = $197. I
just retired a PCP&C 300W unit that's been running almost 24/7 in 4
different computers and it's still going strong.. Check out the 510 here
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/about/...whatnew510.htm
--
Tally Ho!
Ed Forsythe
Maryland, USA


"Overlord" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Well my Enermax is crapping out slowly. Rail voltages are down
significantly so.....
I put an identical AT case next to it and ran the lines over to just 2
CDRWs and 2 hard drives.
Primary case is still running fans/CPU/MB/system.

Here's the problem;
I run from 8 to 10 15000 RPM drives in the primary case, dual CDRWs, 3
fans up to 120mm
with possibly 2 or 3 more coming to cool the drives. Needless to say,
it's a big case.
CPU is overclocked at stock voltage 3.06 to ~3.5GHZ, Video card is
overclocked.
CurrentG PS is a 431watt Enermax. I like the Enermax because it has
lots of long leads
and lots of 4 pin Molex connectors for my drives.

Way too many Ebay sellers **** me off by not listing any specs related
to
the number of
connectors. Even the damn hardware review sites aren't bright enough to
list how many
connectors the PS they are reviewing has; shoddy. Thus I'm reduced to
tracking down the
drive on the manufacturers site which can become a nightmare. I hate
splitters.

So, anyone have suggestions based on first hand knowledge?
I need high wattage; 430watt+
I need good length leads and lots of 4pin molex connectors.
I need good rail amperage. Drives spin up sequentially but occasionally
some winders
util will spin them up all at once. Next upgrade will most likely be to
a
more power hungry
vid card from the ti4800se I run now.
Of course a good rule of thumb for power supplies; the heavier the
better.

Open to suggestions.....
~~~~~~
Bait for spammers:
root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
]

~~~~~~
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"Canus_Lupis" wrote in message
...
All you really need is a server power supply. I doubt if you can afford
one
though.

No serious server power supply has an ATX connection.

Alun Harford