How to tell how much Power your using? Possible?

[timers]

Basically, all I am wanting to know, is how much exactly of this Enermax 365P - FC Whisper PSU I am consuming. I want to know if everything is getting the correct amount of power, and if this was possibly the root of some earlier problems, all gone now.
Is there anyway to tell how much each item consumes? Summarized....I am running 6 ide devices, xp 2000+ cpu Oc'ed, 1gb of ram, and a radeon 9000 pro. This is all on the 350W psu.
More detailed list is below

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ @ 1.74 Ghz (139x12.5)
Soyo Dragon Ultra Platinum KT333 Mobo
Coolermaster HCC-001 HSF
2x512(1GB) of PC-2700 DDR333 @ 344Mhz - 2.5 - 3 - 3 - 6
120 GB Maxtor 7200 RPM
40 " "
60 " "
13 GB Fujitsu 5400 RPM
Radeon 9000 Pro 128MB Retail @ 279/279
Lite-On 16x DVD/48x CD-ROM
Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW
Microsoft Windows XP PRO w/ SP1
Viewsonic VG150 15" LCD Monitor

AM I ok? Id like to know what each is using if anyone might know. Also what are +5, +12, etc. I see them in MBM. What should I be looking out for? THanks

 

[Zepper]

You could measure all the currents with an AC/DC Amp meter. and then calculate the Watts. But why bother as long as it's working?
.bh.

 

[techfuzz]

You need to check the specs for each component. You will most likely find this information on the product specification PDF (or other). Add up each along with the various rail usages to determine if your 365W is enough. BTW, that's not really 365W continuous so check the specs on your power supply to find the max concurrent ratings. Nobody is going to know how much each component uses off the top of their head.

The 5v and 12v rails are quite possibly the most important indicators of a power supply and its quality. It also will tell you if it's being shorted power. The closer to 5v and 12v the rails are, the better quality power that is being fed to the components inside your computer. Better quality = More Stable

techfuzz

 

[timers]

Using MBM, my +5 is at 5.21, and my +12, is at 10.01

Is that good?

 

[tRaptor]

Come to think of it, i should check mine too.

My:
5+ is at 4.84
10+ is at 11.98

 

[risen]

The 12 volt line should run within 5 percent plus or minus. So that would mean 11.4 to 12.6. This came from an atx specification version 2.1

Table 6. Voltage Tolerances
Voltage Rail Tolerance
+5VDC ± 5 %
-5VDC (if used) ± 10 %
+12VDC ± 5 %
-12VDC ± 10 %
+3.3VDC ± 4 %
+5VSB ± 5 %

 

[timers]

If my +12 runs around high 9's to low 10's. What does this mean? My -12 is at like -52

 

[risen]

I have read posts that it can damage your components but I really do not know. Also the specs you are seeing are they from the bios or while in windows using monitoring software. I have also seen posts that say the windows numbers are sometimes not correct, the best is to look in the bios. Toms hardware had an article that told how you could compute what the load was on your system. The following link will take you to the part of the article that shows how this is done. Hope this helps

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/powersupplies-02.html

It shows a heavy loaded system uses 355 watts.

 

[risen]

One other thing, assuming your 9-10 volts on your 12 volt line is correct, I think it is a sign that your power supply is not adequate. But hear again this is based on things I have read, not experience.

 

[Baronz]

Originally posted by: risen
One other thing, assuming your 9-10 volts on your 12 volt line is correct, I think it is a sign that your power supply is not adequate. But hear again this is based on things I have read, not experience.

A 360 watt PSU should be enough for what he's running...thats if its not malfunctioning.

 

[DannyBoy]

I am running "6" EIDE devices

Err...How?

 

[timers]

Ok well 4 EIDE
and 2 as part of my built in RAID, but Im not using them in an array, so there SCSI I guess.

 

[McCarthy]

IDE which is (or is not) on a RAID channel is still IDE. Not SCSI. Either you mispoke or I completely misunderstood you.

No problem having more than 4 IDE devices, just that 4 is the common setup in 2 controller/Master-slave.

 

[Zepper]

Those utilities can report wrong values or perhaps the monitor chip is malfunctioning. Check your voltages with a digital multimeter to be sure. If your +12 is really that low and your -12 that far off, your PSU should be replaced!
.bh.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: timers
Ok well 4 EIDE
and 2 as part of my built in RAID, but Im not using them in an array, so there SCSI I guess.

Ahhh well you see now, you didnt mention ANYTHING about raid now did you

 

[dejacky]

Motherboard Monitor is good for that.