in need of new PSU, maybe Chieftec 420W

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

I need a new PSU, something with a stronger 5V line

got suggestion on the forum that it could have coused R9800 being undervolted and producing artifacts under full VGA and CPU load, something I would definitely like to remedy

currently 32A on my Enermax, also 5V line is dropping close to allowed 5% deviation when CPU is running on max and probably well bellow with Radeon starting to work

I can get Chieftec HPC-420-302 DF
review at THG
5v .... 40A
and 3.3v+5v is specified at 185W by Enermax and 220W with Chieftec


I guess I could get Antec True power, however only 480W is close to the 40A specs for 5v line and the price is a bit more then 150$ compared to about 80$ (tax incl.) for Chieftec
BTW I am not from US and good PSUs are quite expansive here

so as always any suggestions greatly appreciated

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

The only thing is Enermax I have now has 26A at 12v whereas chieftec only has 18 A

how important is 12v line on Nforce2 and lets say for future upgrades, something in the line of AMD64

 

[Todd a]

Yah. I think you would be taking a step backwards in quality. Those Cheiftech power supplies are pretty cheap. Have you tried upping the I/O or AGP (they used to both be under I/O but newer/better boards have seperated them) voltage in BIOS if avaluable (this might help, might not). Just up it a little bit.

 

[davidstone28]

I haven't heard good things about the Chieftec PSU - people seem to think that they're El Cheapo in terms of cost and quality.

How about the Fortron sourced Seasonic Super Silencer 400W - it has a pretty solid output across all rails or the Nexus 3500 :-

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article131-page1.html

Power outputs are kinda misleading accordingly the following article (which you a degree is physics and rocket science to understand):-

http://www.short-media.com/article.php?130.0

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

OK thanks Chieftec is out then

BTW I did what you suggested Todd a combined with pluging the fan from my new GPU cooler directly to PSU - pluging it to the cards fan header as manual suggested was stupid I know

I like the article you posted davidstone28 and yeah you right , wish I read that article, before I bought Enermax, Antec was just a bit more back then

However now I am a bit confused isnt 5v line powering CPU and AGP on Nforce boards

anyway I see my main problem, Enermax I have is only rated for 185W at 3,3 + 5v
I always thought thats about enaugh, but after reading the article
davidstone28 posted even the less power hungry system they had, comes rather close to my limit
I am quite sure that with XP OCed as it is,512MB ram and R9800PRO I am hiting 185W quite hard

I ll just have to splurge on Antec then since unfortunately Fortron isnt available around here

 

[Todd a]

You are probably pretty much over that 185w. The graphics card probably pushes 50w and that CPU is likely over 100w overclocked like that. Then add memory, motherboard, hard drive, CD/DVD, sound... and a few USB devices and you are way over. Someone on another post had a site that would calculate your computer's power usage and mine was just over 300w total. I'm guessing you are over 350 with that CPU.

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

just ordered Antec 430W true power - didnt want Radeon to get damaged so I ordered one ASAP

3,3 + 5 + 12 is 410W that should be enaugh I guess

Wish I could get 480W but all internet shops that are able to deliver in a day, were out of stock and 550W was more then I am wiling to spend on a PSU - you dont wanna know the price of that one

another option was 450SL, but from what I read on this forum True power is a way to go with Antec

 

[MarBaS]

get a thermaltake silent 480...they are decently priced and are very good..

 

[davidstone28]

I think you've made a good choice. I've got the single fan version of the True Power 380W PSU. Here's what Antec have to say about the True Power range compared to their Smart Power range:-

"...The main difference is that the Truepower power supply has voltage rails that are independent of each other. This means that a max wattage output is possible for each individual rail. So, the concept of combined voltage does not apply to this particular power supply. Additionally TruePower features Voltage FeedBack circuitry which allows TruePower to adjust the voltages at the ATX connector. This helps maintain system stability."

I think all whole issue about power outputs and PSUs is just half-truths, smoke and mirrors. Anyone will tell you that a high quality 300W PSU is far more stable and 'powerful' that a cheapo £10 generic no-brand 400W PSU.

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

Actually changed the order to Antec 480W true power, they come on Wednesday and I figure I can wait one day for extra 50W with little increase in price

I will even get those blue glowing fans with it

tx again for that link davidstone28 , it really opened my eyes as far as Enermax goes

I re-checked some reviews from the past and realised, while not saying Chieftec or Enermax are bad PSUs and even giving them good marks, they will however never get into the recomanded catagory, now isnt that odd

Dont get me wrong this Enermax isnt bad PSU and much beter then 400W Maxpower I had before, its just way overpriced, since I could get 360W Enhance for about half the money back then and probably enjoy similar performance

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

Todd a since from the looks of things I am getting the same PSU as you have in your sig, how much does yours heat-up, do you have any manual control over the 2 PSU fans or is temp control doing the job

 

[Todd a]

No my fans are all thermally controlled. They run at a VERY quiet. The two fans are running at 1630RPM under light load and the highest I ever saw was about 1900RPM under heavy load during the summer. The air coming out is only slight warmer than the air coming out my rear case fan just below it (maybe 5'C).

The only thing I have noticed is that the 12v rail runs a little low (about 11.85), but I think this is more do to the sensor on my MSI K7N2Delta-L board as the voltages were normal on my Epox 8KHA+ (ran about 12.05). I've never had stability problems with it and the voltages NEVER fluctuate from load (which my old TTGI 270w power supply did). The 5v and 3.3v rails are right on the mark. CPU voltage is much more stable too than with my old PS.

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

thanks sounds good

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

Yup Truepower 480 rules

no blue leds , but one can not have everything, right

it does have SATA connectors though
it is also a lot cooler,then Enermax, but that was mostly due to overstressing it I guess

most importantly it hold its voltages, to the point of thinking BIOS screen has freezed if you look for changes

5V is at 4.99 and droped 4.97 during Prime95, thats all

if I set CPU to 1.65 it holds at 1.68 like there is no tommorow (MB probe reading, could be its actually 1.65 or Epox is overvolting CPU, which after overclocking default FSB wouldnt be unusual, I guess), it used to jump up and down for something like 0.03 all the time

so I am happy

 

[wrathchild_67]

Did the artifacting with your 9800 disappear?

 

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

Not completely, but your other suggestion worked thanks

With new PSU I couldnt recreate event when artifacting started with Prime95 and 3dmark2003 running simultaneously

but UT2004 onslaught still produced them after some 45min-1hour playing

so first I lowered default speed from 400/350 to what is default on Sapphire Atlantis: 380/340 no problems after good hour of playing onslaught

then I flashed the ATI BIOS you recommended, upped the core/mem to GeCube overclocked default 400/350 and set botmach onslaught to run for 9000+ seconds

checked after hour and a half, no artifacts

I forgot to set virtual memory to higher value, so I ran out of memory, however, wil do that when I go out tommorow, set botmach to 8 hours and hopefully everything will be OK
I am quite sure this time it will be

As you allready discovered, something is very much wrong with GeCube BIOS and I have seen more of the similar reports around the net

BTW later I will try some overclocking
I guess with 350(700) ram is more or less at its ceiling, but I would like to check if core can go higher
it easily goes to 450,however I havent checked for artifacts with something like UT or rthdribl tool yet