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Which power Supply For My amd1700+
- Thread starter gkeuler8
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2002
- Location
- Montreal, Canada
An American power supply? What would be wrong with a Canadian PSU? 
Go for an Antec True Power 430w or 480w.
Go for an Antec True Power 430w or 480w.
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2002
Thermaltake 420w w/active PFC...you will need to active PFC becuase that 8RDA+ is a serious power hog...
Non-PFC offers around 0.5~0.6 PF (Power Frequency), 40%~50% power lost.
Active PFC provides more efficient PF(Power Frequency), 0.95~0.99, it means only 1%~5% power has gone.
Non-PFC offers around 0.5~0.6 PF (Power Frequency), 40%~50% power lost.
Active PFC provides more efficient PF(Power Frequency), 0.95~0.99, it means only 1%~5% power has gone.
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2003
- Location
- SF Bay Area
If you want the highest of quality and value, look no further than a 350w Fortron unit. Its only $32 and I can nearly guarantee that it will have way better rails than either a Thermaltake, or even an Antec.
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2002
I doubt better then a Tt with active PFC...mine never drops below +5 and never gets over 12.3...but I also have the Tt 420w PSU w/active PFC...
A few pointers when looking for a new PSU:
A general way some test for power supplies is by the actual weight of the power supply...Most generic PSU are very light meaning they have small capacitors, less fans, small heat sinks...which is not what you want...heavier PSU's mean...they are made with bigger heat sinks, capacitors, more fans, etc...which is what you want...it is also important to keep in mind not to just total up the watts you need and buy the power supply..If you need, say a 400w PSU (after totalling the total amount of wattage you will need for your system), do not get a 400w PSU...If the computer has a 400w PSU and 400w is needed then the PSU has to run at full power the whole time and would over heat and die very quickly...Power supplies are much more efficient when not fully loaded...it is always best to get one that is about 50w's more then what your system needs...
A few pointers when looking for a new PSU:
A general way some test for power supplies is by the actual weight of the power supply...Most generic PSU are very light meaning they have small capacitors, less fans, small heat sinks...which is not what you want...heavier PSU's mean...they are made with bigger heat sinks, capacitors, more fans, etc...which is what you want...it is also important to keep in mind not to just total up the watts you need and buy the power supply..If you need, say a 400w PSU (after totalling the total amount of wattage you will need for your system), do not get a 400w PSU...If the computer has a 400w PSU and 400w is needed then the PSU has to run at full power the whole time and would over heat and die very quickly...Power supplies are much more efficient when not fully loaded...it is always best to get one that is about 50w's more then what your system needs...
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2003
- Location
- SF Bay Area
I'm sure the Thermaltake is very nice, but it does cost double the Fortron. Seeing as my 300w is good up to 2.5ghz, I highly doubt that it would be easy to reach the limits of a 350w Fortron, making it an excellent and cost effective choice. And he did ask for most bang for buck.
Gautam said:
I think there are other important factors to be consdered than just power (watt).
If the budget is strictly under $40 for PSU, I agree that probably is a good choice.
Since the original post is for 8RDA+ which I think still uses 5V, then the above PSU probably have enough 5 V current.
But in general, for P4 motherboards and nforce2 motherboard such as NF7-S and 8RDA3+ that use 12 V to generate Vcore, the story can be very different. One must look at the 12 V current spec of the PSU very carefully, especially CPU and video card such as 9700/9800 overclocking, ... are considered.
I have done some calculations for P4 and AMD 1700+ DLT3C current requirement for PSU, I find that most PSU can supply enough power (e.g. 350 W) but they may not be able to deliver enough 12 V current, and that will limit CPU/GPU overclocking. If someone is interested in more details, I can post them.
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2003
- Location
- SF Bay Area
I know you had a rather bad experience with Fortron, Hitechjb1, but most seem to have excellent 12v rails.
OT from this particular thread, but does this mean that some AMD Motherboards derive core voltage from 12v and others from 5v? And is the NF7 the only one that does?
OT from this particular thread, but does this mean that some AMD Motherboards derive core voltage from 12v and others from 5v? And is the NF7 the only one that does?
Gautam said:
I am not talking about a particular good or bad experience with a particular PSU. I just work with number and try to do as good design as possible.
For some AMD mb's, such as NF7-S, 8RDA3+ which use 12 V to generate Vcore, we have to be careful. Especially if there are 2-4 HD's, video card such as 9500/9700/9800 which also use 12 V, ... adding all up it can easily go higher than 20 A on the 12 V, ... I am not talking about Fortron or Antec or Enermax, ... selection here, just want to point out the importance of the 12 V current. Look at the spec for the PSU on the 12V, you will find out.
Since this thread is talking about a motherboard 8RDA+ that does not use 12V, I don't know whether it is a good idea to continue the discussion here.
NF7-S, 8RDA3+, ... use 12 V for generating Vcore.
A7N8X, 8RDA+, ... use 5 V for generating Vcore.
PS: just want to get the point out that when picking PSU for CPU/GPU overclocking for mb that use 12 V for Vcore, don't just look at total power, look at the 12 V current.
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- Joined
- Nov 6, 2002
Gautam said:
I will say, since I have owned 3 8RDA+'s...the 8RDA+ is a serious +5 power hog...that is why I mentioned about the Tt w/active PFC...running that PSU on the 8RDA+'s...my +5 never dropped below +5...even when running my pali at 2.1v's...the raidmax and forton 400w PSU i had was always around 4.89 at idle running the same OC...and dropped to around 4.6 at full load...just barely enough to keep it stable...this is just something I ran into with all 3 of my 8RDA+'s...but like MB's...everyone has there own brand they tend to like the best...
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2003
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- SF Bay Area
$27...can't argue with the results in my sig. Although I don't a Radeon 9800 or anything and this may be a high source for power draw.
I believe there's a particular price barrier inwhich most of us are willing to go up to a certain point... There's the argument about the 12v feed that the new nforce2 boards use and some kt400 (abit max2), then there are those without the feed (p4 plugs that you see on each new pwrsupply) inwhich the mobo relies solely on the feed of pwr from the main plug.... this is where you might want to sit back, read the forums for that particular Mobo that you have/are going to get, and ask around to which Power Supply maker did you have success with... Antec's pwr supply are fav's amoungst the majority OC'ers.... however this doesn't mean that there are better or cheaper/better pwr sources out on the market. be wise about your purchase, and count all your devices that will be feeding off your lines to include all your fans, cd/dvd players, HardDrives, floppy's(why you'd still have this)... and you extra PCI devices which will drain pwr from your board... that's what you have to look at.... TOTAL pwr consumption and will you have enough stable voltage from your Pwrsupply to feed these demons. just my 2cents... (imho)
Gautam said:
Your mb uses 12 V to generate Vcore. Let's see how much 12 V current your sig requires.
It looks like the main 12 V current from your sig is the Tbred B 1700 DLT3C oc to around 2.5 GHz 1.9 V, I estimate it draws about 13-14 A on the 12 V. Plus assuming
1 HD = 1.3 A
4 fans = 4 (0.3) = 1.2 A
1 CDRW = 1 A
Do you have other 12 V components?
So your total 12 V current = 16.5-17.5 A, which is 10-15% above the 12 V current rating of your PSU (15 A rating on 12V). It is working for you, but it may not be repeatable and in a general setting.
Have you tried adding more HD, a video card that uses 12 V, ...?
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2003
- Location
- Vero Beach, Florida
glock19owner said:
That's (P)ower (F)actor. It's the reactive load that the supply puts on the 120V mains supply.
treepop said:
I saw on pricewatch,
Antec True Power 430 about $72 shipped
Antec True Power 480 about $87 shipped
I think for manufactures or PC builders who build lots of computers and do not overclock (or that aggressively), the Fortron delivers very good price/reliability.
But for overclockers who own only 1 or 2 PSU's, and especially if there is a need for 12 V current (20+ A) for 2-4 HD's and high end video card, as I pointed out, plus tighter line regulation (3%) for stable Vcore, Fortron may not be the best one to get, unless there is a tight budget of $40 to meet.
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