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Nuno, about that power supply

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  • #1

    Nuno, about that power supply

    After screwing around in my dad's garage for a little while over the weekend, I realized that I really don't want to take the time to make a p.s. that is really stable and consistant (aside from the fact that his testers are only accurate to about 5%). Damn testers suck and I can't find the good ones....

    Anyway, what suggestions would you make regarding these. I may get a new case (addtronics 6896A). It looks really cool to me. Are they good and do they have good power supplies? Thanks for your imput.

    Dimitri
    "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: His eyes are closed"
    --- Albert Einstein


    "Drag racing is for people that don't know how to brake and downshift at the same time."
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Here's something to keep you entertained until Nuno responds:

    http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1128

    Paul
    paulcs@flashcom.net

    [This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 14 February 2000).]

    Comment

    • #3
      Thanks Paulcs, very intersting. Much appreciated.
      "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: His eyes are closed"
      --- Albert Einstein


      "Drag racing is for people that don't know how to brake and downshift at the same time."

      Comment

      • #4
        Hi Muad´Dib!

        Thanks for the credit, but the Athlon expert around is Mike (greebe)

        I have no doubt that addtronics ps are good ones, but don´t seem to be in AMD recommended ps http://www1.amd.com/athlon/power

        Unless you can afford trial and error,I stongly recomend to get a 300w ps AMD aproved.

        Keep in mind that some Athlon mobo´s tend to be more pickier with ps, Assus K7M and FIC SD-11 being the worst. Gigabyte and MSI tend to be more tolerant.

        But to put you more at ease, I am running an Athlon 600 (yes, just upgraded today - did a good deal ) + G400 + sblive + cd rom + 5400 rpm hdd + 7200 hdd with a perfectly generic 250W ps. Go figure. To be honest I though it wouldn´t work, but I just swapped the cpu´s and it´s as stable as it was before (and a little bit faster if that counts )

        I know I am pushing my luck, but as far as I have no problems, I´m not complaining...

        Comment

        • #5
          The best power supplies I've ever used have been from PC Power & Cooling
          www.pcpowerandcooling.com

          Haven't kept up on "ATHLON Compatibility", but if you want something that keeps the lower voltages within 1% tolerances, these are it.
          http://www.pcpowercooling.com/produc...dex_hp_atx.htm

          Includes a chart showing the different PS's and variances... I chose the 425ATX for that added level of tolerance on the regulation. 1% on all except the -5 and -12 @ 3%.

          Give them a look...

          Guyv

          [This message has been edited by Guyver (edited 14 February 2000).]
          Gaming Rig.

          - Gigabyte GA-7N400-Pro
          - AMD Athlon 3200+ XP
          - 1.5GB Dual Channel DDR 433Mhz SDRAM
          - 6.1 Digital Audio
          - Gigabit Lan (Linksys 1032)
          - 4 x 120GB SATA Drives, RAID 0+1 (Striped/Mirrored)
          - Sony DRU-500A DVD/+/-/R/RW
          - Creative 8x DVD-ROM
          - LS120 IDE Floppy
          - Zip 100 IDE
          - PNY Ultra 5900 (256MB)
          - NEC FE950
          - DTT2500 Cambridge Soundworks

          Comment

          • #6
            I don't think Addtronics makes their own power supplies, and that's why they don't appear on AMD's list.

            Dimitri, I think you should call your vendor, see what kind of power supply they ship with the case, and, of course, check to see if you have other options if need be.

            I actually think this is a very important purchase, not only because of the high power consumption of the Athlon, but because videocards are also becoming more power hungry. I suspect a lot of the inexplicable problems we see here are caused by substandard power supplies, and I think the situation will only get worse.

            I am running two "high end" power supplies: a PC Power and Cooling 400 Watt unit in a dual processor system and a Fortron Source 350 Watt unit in my primary system.

            The Fortron Source power supplies are designed to be very quiet, although I like the 350 Watt unit a lot better than the 300 Watt Fortron source unit I had in the machine previously. Everything just seems to run better with it. Wombat has one of these as well, so you might want to ask him what he thinks.

            The 400 Watt PC Power & Cooling power supply is great, and it has a very powerful fan, but it is a lot noisier than the Fortron Source units. It is also very expensive.

            I think people get really caught up in "wattage," and that is only a part of this equation. I have a very good 250 Watt power supply--I can't remember the manufacturer, but AMD has the 235 Watt vesion on their list--and it did a good job of running the PIII 500 dual processor rig I built.

            I eventually upgraded to the 400 Watt unit, but it did a very good job of powering the computer and helping to keep it cool. I suspect it outperforms many 300 Watt power supplies.

            I'm fascinated by the 300 Watt Antec. Anand said it was noisy, but it put up with everything he threw at it without a single hitch. I checked and it is only $49.00 direct from Antec. You could do a lot worse. Here are the specs:

            http://www.antec-inc.com/products/power/PP303X.html

            They're here in the SF Bay Area. Again, Anand said it was noisy.

            Fortron Source power supplies can be purchased here, and the specs are listed as well:

            http://www.a-pro.com/PS.htm

            If you decide to take this route, I would go with the 350 Watt unit.

            I have seen PC Power & Cooling power supplies in stores, as they are often purchased as upgrades. I noticed there were different revisions to their power supplies and called them about it. They said Asus kept changing the specs on them, so it depends on the motherboard. If you decide to get one of these, you should probably call them and ask what they recommend. They're in California as well.

            Paul
            paulcs@flashcom.net

            Comment

            • #7
              KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

              Guyver, of course as my luck would have it my PC Power and Cooling Turbo-cool 425 ATX is in the 1% of those that go...well, read my sig.

              Paulcs, Addtronics uses a Carter(?) Well Technologies power supply which is NOT Athlon compatible. At least my 250 W will not run my Athlon rig stabily.

              As I have discovered Athlons are very picky about what kind of power supply they use. Some people got lucky and have a stock supply that works, and some people didn't *raises both hands*.

              Jammrock

              ------------------
              My computer was working great until my brand new "top-of-the-line" power supply committed ritual suicide, after only 24 hours of use, and took out 2 motherboard (mine and a test board), 2 hard drives and possibly more...a moment of silence please, in rememberance of a valiant computer that served me well.

              Sorry, had to vent.

              [This message has been edited by Jammrock (edited 14 February 2000).]
              “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
              –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

              Comment

              • #8
                Jammrock, I am truly sorry to hear that ( forget about my insolent reply in the other DVD related thread ).

                Even so, wouldn't you agree that by and large, PCP&P have one of the best reputations in the industry? Every company has an occasional slip-up, but this is the first PCP&P unit that I've heard of failing anyway whatsoever...

                I've still got a working TurboCool 300W AT Full Tower supply that I've had since the '93/'94 timeframe.

                Guyver
                Gaming Rig.

                - Gigabyte GA-7N400-Pro
                - AMD Athlon 3200+ XP
                - 1.5GB Dual Channel DDR 433Mhz SDRAM
                - 6.1 Digital Audio
                - Gigabit Lan (Linksys 1032)
                - 4 x 120GB SATA Drives, RAID 0+1 (Striped/Mirrored)
                - Sony DRU-500A DVD/+/-/R/RW
                - Creative 8x DVD-ROM
                - LS120 IDE Floppy
                - Zip 100 IDE
                - PNY Ultra 5900 (256MB)
                - NEC FE950
                - DTT2500 Cambridge Soundworks

                Comment

                • #9
                  My Addronics 7896A case came with a Sea Sonic 300W power supply. I had lockups every one to two days after transfering my system to the 7896A case. I solved the problem by getting a 350W PC Power&Cooling power supply. My system never locks up and runs about 6 degF cooler than before.

                  The Sea Sonic Power supplies are on the AMD list. So, you just never know if the recomended ones will do the job.

                  Paul

                  ------------------
                  P3-700E @ 868MHz, ABIT BE6, 256MB PC100, MILL G400 MAX-32MB on BNC,
                  Quantum3D Obsidian2 X-24 on D-sub,IBM Deskstars 18GB ATA/66 and 13.5GB ATA/66,
                  21"Trinitron,SCSI CDR/RW,SCSI ZIP,SB Live!Value,USR Voice Faxmodem Pro(USB Ext),
                  Epson 1520 printer,Umax1200S scanner,WN98 all in a Addtronics 7896A case
                  and a (Not so Messy Desk) ;-P


                  "Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself"

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    PCP&C definately has an incredible reputation. I told them that the power supply was dead and it took out my motherboard and so forth and they didn't believe me...and still don't. I keep telling them that I tested it and isolated the problem to the power supply, but since blow-outs have been so rare they still don't believe me.

                    I sent back the power supply and they will be testing it this week, so we'll see what they say. I get the replacement in today or tomorrow so I can test out the new supply on my Athlon and see if it fixes my now very troubled computer.

                    Jammrock

                    ------------------
                    My computer was working great until my brand new "top-of-the-line" power supply committed ritual suicide, after only 24 hours of use, and took out 2 motherboard (mine and a test board), 2 hard drives and possibly more...a moment of silence please, in rememberance of a valiant computer that served me well.

                    Sorry, had to vent.


                    “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
                    –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Thanks for the info guys. Jammrock, I still haven't gotten around to taking out my trumpet and playing "taps" for that system of yours, but I will... I will check out those power supplies and let you know when I get one with my new system (and tell you how it works too), but for now, my network sucks so checking them out will have to wait!!!!!!! ARRGGGGHHHH Anyway. And you know about that case(6896a), it's a damn piece of metal, why they selling it for $250!?! I can't afford that! But I [B]REALLY{/B] want it.... Oh well, it will have to wait. The problem I have with my current case, is I want to put a really big fan I accumulated into it, but the case is too small and anywhere I put it, the magnetic force of the fan is too close to my HD's.... Damn, life's a b*tch sometimes, eh?
                      "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: His eyes are closed"
                      --- Albert Einstein


                      "Drag racing is for people that don't know how to brake and downshift at the same time."

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Jammrock, with any luck, your rogue power supply will take out a couple of their motherboards.

                        I believe Addtronic cases may come with different power supplies, depending on the model and/or distributor. The Addtronics case I saw reviewed on Anandtech also came with a Channel Well Technology CWT-300ATX, which Anand's reviewer believed was a repackaged or relabeled Antec.

                        Sorry about all the Anandtech references. With the exception of maybe the PC Power & Cooling units, power supplies aren't particularly sexy, and they just don't get the coverage videocards do. You don't see many websites devoted to them.

                        Paul
                        paulcs@flashcom.net

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          hehe, oops. I just noticed I screwed up the bold/italicized words. Oh well. Not worth editing....

                          Anyway,
                          Thanks for the credit, but the Athlon expert around is Mike (greebe)
                          I just noticed this. I was refering to the other post I had made when I said I would build a power supply and you made a comment that it would be "rather large...." Just a little clarification (although I have no doubt that compared to me, you are certainly an Athlon expert too)....
                          "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: His eyes are closed"
                          --- Albert Einstein


                          "Drag racing is for people that don't know how to brake and downshift at the same time."

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Will the testing ever end????

                            Got my PC Power and Cooling replacement supply in and plugged it in...well, I am still having troubles. I noticed that the RAM posts at anywhere from 128MB to 64MB, which means one of two things:

                            1) RAM is toasted, "would you like some fries with that sir?"

                            2) RAM and Athlon system do not like each other.

                            Unfortunately I think the answer is #1, but I will not be sure until I can test it in another system. The power supply is working fine though Looks like it's time to hit Crucials web-site.

                            Jammrock

                            ------------------
                            My computer was working great until my brand new "top-of-the-line" power supply committed ritual suicide, after only 24 hours of use, and took out 2 motherboard (mine and a test board), 2 hard drives and possibly more...a moment of silence please, in rememberance of a valiant computer that served me well.

                            Sorry, had to vent.


                            “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
                            –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              The best supplies in my opinion are made by Zippy/Emac powersupply company. They manufacture the PC Power Cooling 425 watt and 400 watt supplies.
                              Also, their 300 Watt units are manufactured by Sparkle, aka Foltron Source.
                              However, PC P&C is a reputable company with an excellent warenty (lifetime). You just have to ask yourself if the extera 50-100% in costs is really worth that, as i have not had a PSU fail on me yet.
                              And all of those whom have problems with your addtronics powersupply, it probably wasn't the origenal one.
                              It was probably swapped out by the vendor to lower costs, as all new Addtronics come with Antec (or remarked ones) powersupplies if you buy them from addtronics directly.
                              If you wish to buy powersupplies, i'd say that you should contact this guy
                              He has excellent prices on everything from silent high-flow fans to the new Addtronics WTX 8500 (which i am getting btw.)

                              Edit: Damnit, i thought i already put the mailto things.....
                              sorry bout that

                              [This message has been edited by Scout255 (edited 16 February 2000).]

                              Comment

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