A good 550W PSU.....

[leech]

Well, according to Matrox Tech Support, some of the issues I'm having with my Parhelia are due to the 400w PSU that I have not being enough, or just not supplying the right kind of power. So anyone have any suggestions on which brand I should buy?

http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/Forum10/HTML/005462.html

Leech

[J1NG]

Try Antec.

J1NG

[bsdgeek]

I second Antec.

[Marshmallowman]

I am happy with my antec 550 truepower

The extra power lead for controling your case fans speed is good, and it is quiet. The external power connector is quite handy to.

[mutz]

I'm very happy with my BlackNoise altered CWT 550 watt PSU, mainly because if I have a problem, I know it won't be the PSU.

[VJ]

I'm very happy with my PCPowerCooling...

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/

It is a bit noisy, but I have a high performance dual-CPU PSU (5 years warranty, power<510W, peak power<650W, regulation 1% (+5V, +12V, +3.3V) and 5% (-5V, -12V)); they have other ranges as well: more normal, ultra quiet and high performance.


Jörg

[Chris B]

Re: A good 550W PSU.....

Originally posted by leech
Well, according to Matrox Tech Support, some of the issues I'm having with my Parhelia are due to the 400w PSU that I have not being enough, or just not supplying the right kind of power. So anyone have any suggestions on which brand I should buy?

Leech

Well if they say that a 400 W PSU is isufficient, I say they are full of it. If it's a good quality PSU, then 400 W is more than enough. But if it's an el cheapo 400 W, then it might be trouble. He** it might not even supply 400W... it's been seen before.

I've seen people run far more power hungy systems than yours on a 300W PSU, with no problems whatsoever.

Get yourself a high quality PSU. I say 550 W is overkill, but absolutely nothing wrong with that right

[GNEP]

Channel Well (CWT) is good but also cheap, which is nice.

[Zao]

Some Matrox employee, don't remember which one said in the official forums that one could calculate with a MAX usage of 30W by the Parhelia.

BTW, I'm running my system below on a 250W Compaq PSU.
No power related problems at all. I've even had some extra HDDs and a TV capture card in it without problems.

Compaq power!

[leech]

From my understanding, it isn't really the Parhelia that is causing it, it is the P4PE+Parhelia. The P4PE has one of those "EZ-Plug" things on it that is the standard Molex type plug, and on the Matrox TS people were plugging in that one and the other one for P4 boards... I only ever have put the one on....

And yes, this was a cheap CompUSA PSU that a friend bought me since I helped him with his PC.

Leech

[J1NG]

If an alternative to Antec is required, may I suggest Vantec?

I got their 520W PSU, which also has EPS connections. Excellent for <i>Dual Opteron</i> systems with 4GB RAM.

J1NG

[spadnos]

PSU Connections

You should absolutely plug in any PSU connectors that fit. They are there because the new CPUs (and basically the entire motherboard) run at lower voltages, but take more power than before. Either more power or lower voltage (at the same power) will increase current draw, both REALLY increase current.

The PSU may be able to supply 400W, but the current spikes (since the onboard V regulators are switchers) are very high. (Consider this - a 3.3V supply powering a 70W CPU needs to pull at least 21 amps through those little wires.)

Originally posted by leech
From my understanding, it isn't really the Parhelia that is causing it, it is the P4PE+Parhelia. The P4PE has one of those "EZ-Plug" things on it that is the standard Molex type plug, and on the Matrox TS people were plugging in that one and the other one for P4 boards... I only ever have put the one on....

And yes, this was a cheap CompUSA PSU that a friend bought me since I helped him with his PC.

Leech

[mutz]

spadnos, that's the first clear explanation I've heard on this question. Thanks, though I didn't ask the question.

[spadnos]

You're welcome.

I guess I should have said "plug in any coonnectors that match" - you never know when someone will use one connector type for more than one thing.

[leech]

Yes, thanks for that explaination. The reason I didn't have that other one plugged in (well besides running out of connectors) is that in the Manual for the motherboard, it states "The ASUS EZ Plug connector is optional" Well ok, so that was in the Quick Setup book, I couldn't find my manual, damned thing.....

My old PSU (Just got a Antec True550w one today... though I'll probably take it back.... since I found one on the net for 40 bucks cheaper and I mainly just wanted to test this out to see if it helps my problem.... ) has these stats...

Raidmax Technology.

Model No: PM-S400W ATX12V
Output 400W AUX
+3.3v +5v +12v -5v -12v +5vsb
28.0A 30.0A 15.0A 0.5A 0.8A 2.0A

now wouldn't you say that should be sufficient? The Quick Setup Guide states "Important: Make sure that your ATX 12v Power supply can provide at least 8A on the +12v lead and at elast 1A on +5v standby lead (5VSB). The minimum recommended wattage is 230W; 300W for a fully configured system."

Leech

Edit: On a side note, the PC does run QUITE a bit more silent with this PSU