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Newbie Question About Power Supplies

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Tillong

New Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2002
Location
Philly Suburbs
Hey Im a newbie to overclocking. I have a new AMD XP 1900 on the way. Im trying to pick out a case for it. Eventually I'd like to build some sort of water cooling system so I need something with alot a fair amount of room. I found one I like however the case comes with a 300W power supply. I know this should be sufficent for the processor I believe, but as far as overclocking the processor in the future wouldn't I need more power to increase voltage to the socket. So my overall question is will 300 watts do for my purposes, or should I keep moving on? Thanks alot for helping out a newbie.


Paul.
 
I'd go with a 400w Sparkle ps and a new model Antec case if I were shopping for a new system. Make sure your combined 5v and 3.3v total at least 220v.
 
Id go atleast 400 maybe a 450w if you are going to overclock.
I prefer PC POWER & COOLING, but they are very expensive,
and worth it! If its an epox board NO ENERMAX PS! My second
choice is antec, sparkle is a good PS as well, but I'd go
whith the antec over the sparkle.

1Time, may I point out you sayed 220v thats voltage, (v) you
are refering to watts or (w) so it would be 220w combined.

220v is also used in foreighn input power, such as Italy, 115v
is for the US & other 115v countries. If you are unsure, set it to 220v and it should be fine, but if it does not start, it might be
incorrect. Contact your local power utility and ask them how
many volts local houshold current is if you are unsure.
But do take note that the US has other volts such as 220 to
power driers & stoves. (note the irregular plug)
 
I've been having problems with my Enermax 350W and Epox 8KHA. What problems do you guys know of?

I'd go with at least a 400W power supply for any high-powered Athlon. That way you KNOW you have the power.
 
Enermax is getting a bad wrap. I run the 550W Enermax with the Epox 8KHA+, the infamous combo. No problems with the 5v or 12v or 3.3v. I run 4 hard drives, 2 CD drives, floppy drive and 7 80mm fans - I am oc'd to 1.8Ghz with core to 1.85 and VDIMM to 2.9. Look at my values:
 
Here's my MBM5 and bios readings:

Vcore: 2.1V. Vagp: 3.8V. Vdimm: 2.9V. 3.3V: 3.6V. 5V: 4.4V. 12V:15V.

That's with everything at stock on my proc and 8KHA.
 
Cheap power for peltiers

I've been browsing some of the subjects on peltiers & power supplies needed to run them. It's obvious that even a stock high wattage PC power supply would only be able to handle 1 or 2 small peltiers. Doing the math, a 172 W peltier running on 12 V will pull 14 + amps. That's equivalent to the output from a moderatly high current 12 V automotive battery charger.

A thought occured to me that (1) most peltiers will run fine with anywhere from 12-15 V, (2) if you were to 'series' wire 9 peltiers together you would be able to connect them accross a 135 V source, (3) if you bridge rectify & filter line current (120 V +/-10%) it's max voltage would be 135 V DC with all the current you'd need.

Radio Shack parts, bridger rectifier, moderate size capacitor, fuse, plastic case (would probably cost about $15-20 (make sure to use in-line fuse) and fit in something half the size of a coffee cup with very little heat generated. Without the expertise of someone with electronics knowledge, I'm not sure of how big a capacitor you'd need.

Nine 70 W peltiers would allow you to stack 3 to cool CPU, 2 to cool memory, 1 for chipset, 1 for video card CPU, and 2 for video card memory.

Alan
 
What's the best PS for my Iwill KA266-R MB? Normal load of peripherals, 4 fans, peltier or water cool (haven't decided yet) and neon lighting system.

(Just kidding about the neon part.)

Knuckledragger
 
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