PC P&C 510w maxed out? Crossfire\Presler OCed

[RangerXLT8]

Ok here's the deal, seems no matter what, I cannot take my X1800XT Crossfire setup past 690\800(which is overdrive clocks). Running 3dmark06, PSU fan maxes out then shortly after that, system will freeze. The max A output rated at 50c is 38 for the 510 express.. Things crap out when the video cards draw 41.2A.
My system is:
Presler 920@4.2ghz, sucking about 1.48v
X1800XT Crossfire drawing 40.9A loaded :bang head
Asus P5WD2-E Premium EZ Plug 300FSB
2gb Mushkin 6400 OCed, 2.3v
2WD raptors RAID0
2WD 80gb SATA raid 1
3 optical DVDRW drives
SB X-fi extreme music

Any input would be much appreciated. I hope I don't need to buy a new unit. BTW every connector on the PSU is plugged into something! The next step up is the 450.00 850ssi!

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Hate to say it (never thought I would for such a rig this soon), but you may indeed be pushing it to its limit. I don't put much stock in peak numbers, including that 38A on the PC P&C. 34A is all I would expect from it.

That said, the two vid cards aren't drawing 38A - they're probably pulling down close to 20A though. Xbit tested quite a few for power draw: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-consumption2006_4.html

The X1800XT came in at 110.5W.

Fortunately, there is an option between the 510W and the 850W - the Zippy PSL-6701P. It's also a fair bit cheaper than the PC P&C 850W at www.servercase.com, and won't bat an eye at your rig. It'll take on X1900's too if you so desire.

Here's a thread about fan modding the unit (you'll want to on this beast): http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1275532

[RangerXLT8]

Well the P180 is toooo small to fit either the Zippy PSL-6701P or the 850ssi. Looks like I need to be happy where I'm at, I just bought the case.....

What I should do is get rid of the X1800XT and just keep the CF Edition card....

[Sneaky]

are your voltage rails fluctuating at all?


i'm wondering the same thing about my 510ASL - when i put the x1900XTX in today and ran 3dmark06, the PSU started making some decently loud squealing/whining sounds, and stopped immediately after i haulted the benchmark - it never did that with anything ever before, and with everything in my sig running, i think i've just about maxed out the 510w capacity of this unit

i'm about to say "goodbye 510ASL" and "hello 1 kilowatt" as soon as i have cash to spare, especially when i plan on getting a x1900CF in the future

[RangerXLT8]

are your voltage rails fluctuating at all?


i'm wondering the same thing about my 510ASL - when i put the x1900XTX in today and ran 3dmark06, the PSU started making some decently loud squealing/whining sounds, and stopped immediately after i haulted the benchmark - it never did that with anything ever before, and with everything in my sig running, i think i've just about maxed out the 510w capacity of this unit

i'm about to say "goodbye 510ASL" and "hello 1 kilowatt" as soon as i have cash to spare, especially when i plan on getting a x1900CF in the future

Sneaky: I'm going to run some rthdrl and read the rails with my DMM. Will post my results.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Well the P180 is toooo small to fit either the Zippy PSL-6701P or the 850ssi. Looks like I need to be happy where I'm at, I just bought the case.....

What I should do is get rid of the X1800XT and just keep the CF Edition card....

The other option would be to give the Silverstone ST56ZF a try, but that's not gaining much there. Kinda wish the ST75ZF was out now - that one has a 60A combined 12v rating, and is a true split plane SSI unit like the PC P&C 850W in a case not quite as long IIRC.

The FSP Epsilon 700W may do the job too, but it's hard to say for sure. One of the PCI-E connectors is on 12v2, which will be used partly already on your rig by the CPU.

[RangerXLT8]

This is baffling me now. Earlier I unplugged a HDD that I was not really using. Now I'm running 920@4.0ghz and cardS at 700\800. Here this ouT! At the desktop in windows, 12v rails is 12.19v. I kick on 3dmark6 and the 12v rail goes UP to 12.23 and stays there!!!! Maybe it's something other than the PSU, I'm going to do some more testing....

Even though I removed 1 hdd and have the 920 clocked to 4ghz instead of 4.2, wouldn't there still be SOME kind of fluctuation on the 12v rail if indeed the psu was stressing?

[Maviryk]

Show's you the quality of that PSU eh? Maybe should keep unplugging different hardware.

[RangerXLT8]

OK guys looks like the problem all along was the cPU!!!!!!!! She couldn't take 4.2ghz. I backed the cpu down and everything went ok. I bumped the CPU up to 4.2ghz, and bang, crashed at the same spot. I'm sooo surprised that the 12v rail actually goes up .03v when loaded!!!! Still doing some testing to confirm my theory.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Aha - I knew that PSU shouldn't be having so much trouble... glad you got it worked out :)

[RangerXLT8]

Thanks everyone for their help. Guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions.

[Sneaky]

heh - we'll see if it handles x1900xtx crossfire then... idk though, 2 cards that draw 200w a peice and a CPU that draws 200w... i think that would definitely be pushing it...

[Maviryk]

Meh, industrial rated PSU. It'll be fine. Most reliable PSU ever IMHO.

[ReD.SkY]

lol, i was almost glad i didnt get one, but good thing you figured it out otherwise your Xfire days would be over

[ww2717]

I am going to try the Zippy PSL-6850P (850W 60Amp) unit. Its about $130 less than the PC POwer and Cooling 1KW unit. I believe these units were used by PC Power and Cooling at one time.

[eva2000]

time for 1KW monster http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?t=2265 maybe ? :D