Leadman 400W PSU not sufficient?

[MikeZ]

Hi everybody,

maybe you followed my martyrdom with my unstable system. After many tests, updates, config changes, ..... I have ended with another possible problem.

Again my system config:

Asus A7V133 Bios V1.04.02d - standard Chipset fan
AMD T-Bird 1,2 GHz Revision C (266 MHz FSB)
1 x 256 PC133 CL3 Infineon

Elsa Gladiac Ultra 64 MB DDR - standard fan
SoundBlaster Live Player 1024
Adaptec 2940AU SCSI Contrl.
3Com Etherlink PCI Network

IBM Deskstar 75GXP DTLA307030 (on Promise chip)
Pioneer DVD, SCSI
Pioneer CD-RW, SCSI

Alpha 6035 CPU HS, YS-Tech fan with 2,16 W
2 x 80mm case fans, 2 x GlobalWin 1,6 W

400W Leadman PSU LP-6100D
+3,3V 14A
+5V 30A
+12V 16A
-5V 0,3A
-12V 0,5A
+5Vsb 1,0A

Add the tolerance and you could end up in a worst case scenario with values lower than specified.

I have the suspect that my systems reaches the max (stable) power consumption on the +3,3V and +5V lines. So it could be possible that the system will get unstable in certain situations which will lead to a crash!
Up to now I could not proof this by testing - but I am still waiting on my Enermax 550W PSU to do this!

Can anybody comment on this?

Happy tweaking

MikeZ

 

[Eriksson]

You might have a bad supply, and you could measure the voltage at molex connector. This setup should run fine on 300W psu , and even 250.

 

[MikeZ]

Eriksson,

thanks for the hint - but the voltages are ok and to measure the power I would have to construct an adapter for the molex power connector to measure it. (maybe I will do, to see the real current used per line)

The system runs 95% stable with default settings - no OC and gets worse when I do some heavy OC'ing -> power consumption will go up!

You say that a 250W PSU should do - but if you just add the needed power for only the TB and the GeForce I need about 110 - 120W on the +3.3V and +5V line.

Just an idea....

 

[Dr_Kildare]

400W should be plenty.... The voltages are rated ~10% either side...

I'm using the same PSU... Check out what I'm running off it here...

http://www.overclockers.com.au/pcdb/view.php?name=Kildare&page=stats

 

[MikeZ]

Dr_Kildare,

running a nice setup there.....
is your system 100% stable?

You have your Athlon running @ 900MHz which consumes about 60% of the power as the TB @ 1200MHz. Also your GeForce256 - 32MB needs less power than the GF2 Ultra 64MB.
I am not sure about the A7V - but I think the A7V133 needs also more power due the 133MHz FSB.

So it could be that the power tolerance is against me and I just reached the max stable config for this PSU!?

I spent almost 3 weeks now in tweaking the setup to get it stable..... damn - the PSU is my last hope!

 

[Dr_Kildare]

My system is 100% stable )

I used to run my old .25 Athlon 650@800MHz (1.85V) with the same hardware on the 300W PSU no worries...

& considering the new dual AMD power req are 450W you'd think 400W should do for you... I'm not saying that it's not the PSU though... Might be a dodgy one... Have you tried taking stuff out to see if it makes a difference - less load???

I have a spare 400W Leadman here... Only thing is I'm in Australia...

 

[MikeZ]

Dr_Kildare,

to answer your question - yes I did a test with most of the stuff out of the system, and yes it ran stable. But it is very difficult to determine between a problem with a card or just to much power when you add them in again or whatever else!

I will do last test tonight - lowering the I/O voltage from 3.56V down to 3.3V. This might sound stupid, but I heard from 3 guys using almost the same config as me that they solved their instability issues by doing so...

..and thanks for the PSU offer, jump in the plane and in aprox. 24 hours you might be here, I will provide the cold beer!! *ROFL*

Happy tweaking

MikeZ