P4 and psu values question

[bardos]

Ok, I've been reading the advice about PSU's on this and other forums. I am building a box with a P4P800-deluxe running a p4 [email protected]. Trouble is the PSU's I have around the house just won't hack it. I started by using a no-name 300W PSU with a 10amp 12volt line and it was fine for a couple of days and then just refused to boot; an on again off again thing. Dead at the switch.

Changed to an Enermax 330W with 12amps on the 12volt rail and still nothing. Used an Antec 300w with 10 amps on th 12volt line and I get a start but stops right away. This is with the board on the bench stripped down without anything: just trying to make the cpu fan whir.

So I'm trying to buy a new PSU. I live in a small pueblo in southeren Spain and the choices are not overwhelming. All they talk about here are watts. The shops I visited normally sell a 350watt psu for a P4. So I asked to have a look at it and it has 120 watts on the 3.3 and 5v rails and 10amps on the 12volt rail. So I was like: "ugh, no way".

I have left an all points bulletin search order for a PSU with 15-20 amps on the 12volt rail and about 200wattts on the 3.3 and 5volt rails. My question is: Does it matter the wattage of the psu (350, 400, 420, 500, 550) as long as the above characteristics are met? Or are the figures I am looking for too low if it's, say, a 600watt PSU?

thanks.

 

[bardos]

anyone?

 

[larrymoencurly]

What are all the PSU brands available in your area? Maybe somebody will know what's good.

C'T magazine took measurements and found that for a system with an AMD Athlon XP2400+, the amp draws from the +3.3V,+5.0V,+12V were as much as 14A, 18A, 2.1A, respectively, when the mobo had just one power connector (CPU powered from the +5V rail), but when it also had a 4-pin connector (CPU powered from the +12V), the amp draws were as much as 12A, 3.5A, and 9.2A, respectively.

IOW if the mobo has one power connector the +3.3V & +5.0V combined is important, but if the mobo has two power connectors then the +12V amps matter most.

 

[bardos]

A funny thing happened to me on the way to this psu... i was in a local shop in my pueblo inquiring about one... apparently they weren't able to access their suppliers on their hard drive to give me specs and a quote, I said I'd be back the next day.

Well, the next day, same story, so I said, "well, er... what's the problem?". The guy told me that they had accidently deleted their program and database with all their info, clients, suppliers, bills, etc.

So I said, "I just happen to work in Data Recovery, don't touch that computer one second more, the data's still there. So after a bit, they gave me the hard drive and I took it home and recovered and reconfigured their database and program.

I said, as payment I'll only ask for a PSU with those characteristics I gave you the other day. He said he had already got one for me, the best one he could find for a P4 3 gig cpu.

Well it turns out to be a Mercury 400W. Pretty light-weight, but it does have 18 amps on the 12 volt rail. No listing for how many watts on the 3.3v (28amps) + 5v rails (40 amps).

Not a brand I would have bought myself. Turns out I have to RMA the mobo (P4P800 deluxe anyway. Seems defective. As I'm in Spain Asus says I'll have to pay for the RMA, I'm in the process of finding out exactly how much money that entails, unless I send it them in the USA, in which case the RMA would be free as usual. I think shipping to the USA is quite prohibitive from here.

Turns out that we are also going into business together, myself and the guy from the shop; he's got the shop and clients I have some technical know-how, so the meeting and the timing were quite providential. We'll see how that works out..

Stuff like this happens...