Over Amping my PSU?

[Ben Moorhouse]

OK, I dont really know much (at all...) about circuits and things. That includes the theory behind PSUs.
I blew my PSU and took it into that favourite shop of mine! (it was an emergency like I said earlier... PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!)
They told me that by using a case fan at 12V (through the molex connector) and glow wire (they didnt know about that) I had over amped my PSU. Is that true, and if so, how do I combat it?

 

[Ian]

Its possible you overloaded your PSU... what rating is it? 250W?

 

[muckshifter]

PSU lesson 1

Power supplies with the same power ratings are not the same.

Total power ratings may actually be a very bad indicator of the quality of the supply. In my opinion one should look at the combined 3.3v/5v power ratings instead. You will find these ratings displayed on all ATX PSU. Somewhere on the chart it will tell you the 3.3v/5v combined power rating.

I have an SH Power 300w ATX PSU. Its amperage rating are +3.3v 14amps, +5v 30amps, +12v 12amps and that has a combined 3.3v & 5v rating of 150watts … It will not power-up an XP 1800+ system.

The Sparkle 300w amperage ratings are +3.3v 28amps, +5v 30amps, +12v 15amps and that has a combined 3.3v & 5v rating of 200watts

Now a question for you all …
Would an Enermax 430w PSU out-rate the above Sparkle?
http://www.enermax.com.tw/products/switch-main.htm

Mucks

 

[Ben Moorhouse]

Erm... huh?

It was an AT 250W. I'm getting a new case and everything in a few days (yey) and its a 300W ATX.

Some people have like, LOADS of light and loads of fans, can they do this through two power supplies, or do they still just use one?

 

[muckshifter]

Hack

Nope, you can have as many PSU's as you can fit/need for a case.

If your case has only one place for a PSU then who's to say that it has to be inside the case.

With an ATX PS it is easy to set-up a second one so that the main PS turns on the second PS. No need for an extra switch, there are even neat little 'gadgets' you can buy that will do the job for you.

Hack, if you can, get a 350-450 PSU with your case. 300's are what I would deem a 'minimum' for today’s computing.

Mucks.

 

[Ben Moorhouse]

Yea, Im kinda running low on cash, but needed to make repairs, so I decided to get as much hardware as I could for my cash. I'll be upgrading everything soon.

 

[Ian]

You can get power supplies resonably cheap, and I have a lot running off my lone 300W Antec ATX - 4 case fans, had some neon string in there, 2 HD's, 2 CDRoms, all the expansion slots full It seems to handle it fine

 

[petesmc]

Personally I'd say go with the biggest you can get as it's going to last a long time as long as you got a waranty on it. I'm stuck with a very bad 250W for my 700Mhz K-7 Athlon which it can handle. But if I plug in fans, it dies. When I get my new PC soon, I'm going with a 500W or higher..

-Peter

 

[floppybootstomp]

As Ian said, the Antec 300W PSU does seem to be very good, I have one, 4 case fans and all the usual stuff, it's never complained.

Mucks: It's too late for a Maths exam!

I'm doing a fair bit of modding soon, 92mm fan & grill to top of case; extra mains socket on rear of case supplying a 10W + 10W headphone amplifier and a 12V DC PSU specifically to run all the fans. That'll be a total of 6 fans, all switched individually from the front of the case on a 5.25" panel and all with their own independent power supply.

I figure that should ease the burden of the Antec 300W PSU in readiness for my upgrade to an XP1800 based system soon.

Lottsa messing about, I know, but it's satisfying, it works, and above all, it's cheap

The 12V PSU is a 5A CCTV PSU, btw, should just about be enough current for the fans. The headphone amp is a stereo slave 10 + 10 I've had knocking about for years, measures about 3" x 5" x 1" and it's about time I used it. It'll be good for UT to have some kickass on the headphones