Stumped on Windows

[antidrugue]

Everything in BIOS checks out. Its only when the 6pin is connected that the CPU slows down. And yes, it is a 350 watt p/s, just a crappy one I think. Playing CS 1.6 and DOD 1.6 and CZ is fine, I don't get any vid problems and average over 60fps, so I'll just keep the 6pin unplugged for now.

Sorry, it seems I didn't pay attention to the premise of your question.

I believe a 350 Watt PS should be just enough for your kind of machine.

From what I can read, the AMD 3700 has a consumption of 89 watts, and the NVIDIA 7900GT of 49 watts.

So that is really nothing spectacular, and it leaves just enough for the rest of the components.

[carlosponti]

wattage rating only means so much if your +12 v rail and +5v rails dont push enough. those are very important numbers when selecting a PS.


http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/

[antidrugue]

wattage rating only means so much if your +12 v rail and +5v rails dont push enough. those are very important numbers when selecting a PS.


http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/

Very interesting article, thanks for linking it.

I was aware good power supplies were important (I always insist on buying good Antec ones), but hadn't really thought about the details of why some are good and some are bad.

[carlosponti]

all i learned came about after my friend bought a video card for his PC and was having problems.

[combat_medical]

I'll have to run fanspeed when I am home from work tomorrow morning.

I thought 350 would be enough to run everything, too.

Shuttle offers a 400 watt psu in higher end systems. I have been trying to track down some place that sells it. No luck so far.

I may just end up buying a 200watt SFF psu and punching a hole in the side to connect the 6pin, lol.

Would plugging it straight into the wall make any difference? Instead of having it run off a powerstrip with 5 other things plugged in?

[carlosponti]

I'll have to run fanspeed when I am home from work tomorrow morning.

I thought 350 would be enough to run everything, too.

Shuttle offers a 400 watt psu in higher end systems. I have been trying to track down some place that sells it. No luck so far.

I may just end up buying a 200watt SFF psu and punching a hole in the side to connect the 6pin, lol.

Would plugging it straight into the wall make any difference? Instead of having it run off a powerstrip with 5 other things plugged in?

you have to look at the sticker on the PSU look for +12v rating and +5v rating 400 watts wont do you any good if you don't have good numbers in those rails. no power strip doesn't make a difference on that.

[combat_medical]

I'll try and get those numbers on the rails in 5 hours and 15 minutes when I am home from work. A friend also recommended turning off Quiet and Cool in BIOS. But I am pretty sure that just comes on ASUS mobo's

[combat_medical]

+12v 11.75
+5v 5.02

[carlosponti]

you might need 15 on the +12v if i recall the optimum voltage for your processor was 1.25 x 12 = 15. if you decide to boost your PSU look for upping your wattage to maybe 400 and look for one with a 15 on the 12V rail.

[combat_medical]

Well I got it sorted out for the moment. I BIOS I switched to MIN POWER SAVE instead of MAX POWER SAVE. And from SMART FAN to U-LOW FAN.

I also turned the brightness down on my LED lights to 37.5% (a really cool feature I think, I hate blinking LED lights while trying to sleep at night)

All of that opened up enough power to let me run full bore.