Getting a 1.4 Athlon Tomorrow have ?s about Power.....

[AMDGuy]

I'm picking up a 1.4Gig T-bird tomorrow at the computer show. I'll try to find an AYHJAR Y, but with as cheap as they are right now, I'm definitely gonna upgrade. My question is how will I know if my 300Watt PSU will be enough? I have seen some posts talking about the 5V rail being an indicator? Can anyone give me information on how to monitor this? I have MBM5 to monitor voltages as well as VIA Hardware Monitor. What do I need to look for?

Thanks in advance,

[chawken]

Originally posted by AMDGuy
I'm picking up a 1.4Gig T-bird tomorrow at the computer show. I'll try to find an AYHJAR Y, but with as cheap as they are right now, I'm definitely gonna upgrade. My question is how will I know if my 300Watt PSU will be enough? I have seen some posts talking about the 5V rail being an indicator? Can anyone give me information on how to monitor this? I have MBM5 to monitor voltages as well as VIA Hardware Monitor. What do I need to look for?

Thanks in advance,

First machine in my sig is using a 1.4 AYHJA Y. I have a Sparkle 450w PSU with that rig and it is just fine. 5v rail with overclock and system at full load stays at about 5.01-5.05. 300w is pretty weak, if you want to overclock. As an abosolute minimum, a good quality 350w but 400w would be better.

[youthemandan]

I do just fine with my 300 watty but it matters how many fans ur gonna run.

[Bender]

I have a 1.33 AYHJA 9 with a 300 watt sparkle and when I OC the 5v rail drops way to much under load. At 1700 mhz under load my 5v rail drops to about 4.65 even after I adjusted the 5v rail pot in the psu. At stock speed you will probably be ok but overclocking may give you trouble.

FYI many older 300 watt psus have potentiometers to adjust the 5v rail. Mine went up .2v+ when I adjusted it.

[Paul -The Mad Hatter]

as people said the 300w won't be give you much head room when overclocking. The antec 400w psu is pretty much the best ps with out spending loads og money.

[Paiynn]

I've never paid attention to this... My 5v rating in VIA monitor is 4.66, I assume thats the "rail"? 4.66 is at stock speed too. What does that affect? And why does my 2.5 value say .24?

[zorro13]

I would check out these links:

PSU Tweak (http://www.amdmb.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=50719) and

Solid PSU (http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/highperformance/turbocools/index_hp_450_atx.htm)

You can take your chances with electricity, or you can get a PSU that will do what you want it to SAFELY . I have a PCP&C PSU, so I'm biased, but get what is right and safe for OC'ing and you.

Mark

[Paiynn]

I just played around with my OC settings a bit and checking that 5v rating didnt change much. 4.66 was while folding, I didnt realize it was running. 4.73 with it off.

I messed around with my FSB from 133 up to 145 none of which affected the voltage, which makes sense I guess.

Beyond 145 I have to up the voltage to 1.85 which dropped me to 4.66v and it stayed there up to 158mhz. None of these affected my stability though, so I guess I'm immune from sub 5 volt problems :)

[chaosdriven]

With my previous cheap 300Watt Ps my 5v would go down to about 4.61 v at the highest stable overclocks my machine would do.

I've since bought an el cheapo FuturePower 400 Watt PS, my 5v reading by MBM under my curent settings is 4.78 under load (seti)

[ReTiCuLeX]

300 watts should be fine just make sure its name brand. I love my powmax psu it was $40 its awesome I get better voltage for +5v and 12v then i do with my enermax 431watt 465p-VE psu I also found a lil dial in my powmax im gona read my +5 and 12v with my volt meter :-). 1.4 AYHJAR Y will hit 1.8 ive heard and 1.7 easily. Ive had my 1.2 Athlon @ 1.85 volts @ 1587Mhz before :-) it was sweet till i broke my mobo hehe if you need any help just post where all here to help.

[Paul -The Mad Hatter]

Originally posted by chaosdriven
With my previous cheap 300Watt Ps my 5v would go down to about 4.61 v at the highest stable overclocks my machine would do.

I've since bought an el cheapo FuturePower 400 Watt PS, my 5v reading by MBM under my curent settings is 4.78 under load (seti)

I was looking at that psu, should I get it? and does it have the pots to adjust the voltage? also how loud is it?