Low on power, IC7-G

Hi group,

This ICG-7 has been a great board for several years now. The other day
though, when I had added a fourth HD, it started acting up on me.
I wonder if it could be that I am running out of power.
The PSU can deliver 340 W maximum.

All HD's are SATA and spin at 7200 Rpms. The last one is huge, 500 GB.
I also have 2 DVD's, 2 extra cooling fans and a power hungry ATI 9600
XT video card. CPU is a P4 3.0 Ghz.

At first all seemed well. But after some reboot it would not complete
Post, but only gave some feeble beeps. Now it seems that the XT 9600
is totally dead and I am back to an old Matrox card. And I have
unplugged one HD.

I have also had a lot of problems with Windows hanging when "preparing
network connections".

Today my new video card will arrive. Should I get a new, and larger,
PSU as well?

Lars
Stockholm

Lars wrote:
> Hi group,
>
> This ICG-7 has been a great board for several years now. The other day
> though, when I had added a fourth HD, it started acting up on me.
> I wonder if it could be that I am running out of power.
> The PSU can deliver 340 W maximum.
>
> All HD's are SATA and spin at 7200 Rpms. The last one is huge, 500 GB.
> I also have 2 DVD's, 2 extra cooling fans and a power hungry ATI 9600
> XT video card. CPU is a P4 3.0 Ghz.
>
> At first all seemed well. But after some reboot it would not complete
> Post, but only gave some feeble beeps. Now it seems that the XT 9600
> is totally dead and I am back to an old Matrox card. And I have
> unplugged one HD.
>
> I have also had a lot of problems with Windows hanging when "preparing
> network connections".
>
> Today my new video card will arrive. Should I get a new, and larger,
> PSU as well?
>
> Lars
> Stockholm

Try this neat little web page which will calculate your PSU requirements:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

In this day and age 340 watts is extremely small. You're probably
looking at something in the 550-600 watt range to be able to handle your
hardware.

Chris

c wrote:

> Lars wrote:
> > Hi group,
> >
> > This ICG-7 has been a great board for several years now. The other day
> > though, when I had added a fourth HD, it started acting up on me.
> > I wonder if it could be that I am running out of power.
> > The PSU can deliver 340 W maximum.
> >
> > All HD's are SATA and spin at 7200 Rpms. The last one is huge, 500 GB.
> > I also have 2 DVD's, 2 extra cooling fans and a power hungry ATI 9600
> > XT video card. CPU is a P4 3.0 Ghz.
> >
> > At first all seemed well. But after some reboot it would not complete
> > Post, but only gave some feeble beeps. Now it seems that the XT 9600
> > is totally dead and I am back to an old Matrox card. And I have
> > unplugged one HD.
> >
> > I have also had a lot of problems with Windows hanging when "preparing
> > network connections".
> >
> > Today my new video card will arrive. Should I get a new, and larger,
> > PSU as well?
>
> Try this neat little web page which will calculate your PSU requirements:
>
> http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
>
> In this day and age 340 watts is extremely small. You're probably
> looking at something in the 550-600 watt range to be able to handle your
> hardware.

The REAL problem is that most PSU ratings are exaggerated.

Graham

Eeyore wrote:
>
> c wrote:
>
>> Lars wrote:
>>> Hi group,
>>>
>>> This ICG-7 has been a great board for several years now. The other day
>>> though, when I had added a fourth HD, it started acting up on me.
>>> I wonder if it could be that I am running out of power.
>>> The PSU can deliver 340 W maximum.
>>>
>>> All HD's are SATA and spin at 7200 Rpms. The last one is huge, 500 GB.
>>> I also have 2 DVD's, 2 extra cooling fans and a power hungry ATI 9600
>>> XT video card. CPU is a P4 3.0 Ghz.
>>>
>>> At first all seemed well. But after some reboot it would not complete
>>> Post, but only gave some feeble beeps. Now it seems that the XT 9600
>>> is totally dead and I am back to an old Matrox card. And I have
>>> unplugged one HD.
>>>
>>> I have also had a lot of problems with Windows hanging when "preparing
>>> network connections".
>>>
>>> Today my new video card will arrive. Should I get a new, and larger,
>>> PSU as well?
>> Try this neat little web page which will calculate your PSU requirements:
>>
>> http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
>>
>> In this day and age 340 watts is extremely small. You're probably
>> looking at something in the 550-600 watt range to be able to handle your
>> hardware.
>
> The REAL problem is that most PSU ratings are exaggerated.
>
> Graham
>


Very true. That is one reason to avoid the cheap PSUs. A few years ago,
most of these overrated units were still adequate for most PCs, but as
we start adding RAID setups, power hungry CPUs and video cards, etc.
these marginal overrated units are now inadequate. If my system needs
500w I buy a 650w unit at least. It's one area where over doing it is a
good thing.

Chris