Where do you get the extra power...

[mwessinger]

for running all those extra fans added to a case. I have a 300W power supply pushing all the stuff in my case (see signature) plus 3 extra 80mm case fans, a slot fan, and a 40mm I added to my vid card. Now I am thinking seriously about a couple of blowholes.

I have a spare 230W power supply sitting around. Should I try to add it into the case as well to take some of the load off of the main supply. (Could also power some of the CD drives?) Or would it be better to use a power block and something like a 12V AC/DC plug-in transformer? Or, is the power draw of fans even something to consider?

Before I play around with overclocking too much, I want to resolve all of my cooling issues first. Right now, I can OC 100MHz with only a 4C increase in max temps.

Thanks,

Mike

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AMD Athlon 1 GHz
ASUS A7V KT133
256 RAM
DVD-ROM drive
48X CD-ROM
HP CD-Writer+ 7500
8.43 GB Hard drive
13.66 GB Hard drive
30.00 GB Hard drive
3dfx Voodoo3
Creative SB Live! X-Gamer
LinkSys 10/100 NIC
www.michaelwessinger.com

[Artem]

You should probably use your second power supply. I have 2 250W ATX power supplies in my case and they work great. I use one to power my 7 fans and the other to power my drives and Mobo.

[boyblue]

I saw replacement 150Wt power supplies for $10 NEW. (I think it might have been in the TigerDirect catalog)

As far as you spare 230W supply, if you try it and for some reason it doesn't work, it may be because it needs a load on the 5V line. Most of the fans are on the 12V. Some 'switching' regulated power supplies have a minimum load requirement. So go to your local electronics surplus store or find one on the 'net and get a power Resistor and connect it to the 5V line, or you could maybe fine some 5v light bulbs to load it with.

Also, most computer power supplies have a 'power good' signal line amoung the wires that are on the main motherboard power connectors. If the power supply doesn't see the 'power good' signal coming back, it immediately shuts down the power supply. You can usually determine that this is happening when you turn the power on and within a second you hear a soft 'tick' or 'click' sound come from the supply. This is the sound of a small relay opening up and cutting power to the supply. I'm guessing if you tie this 'power good' line to the 5V line (or possibly gorund), you can make sure it doesn't cause a problem.