Power issues

[nsxdemon]

I've always wondered whether my system could be powered from my Enermax 550...now before you guys say that 550W is overkill for almost any system on earth, lemme give ya my setup and then we'll talk:

Intel 850GB motherboard (onboard LAN, sound)
Intel 1.4 GHz CPU (no o/c)
Visiontek GeForce4 TI 4600
10/100 PCI NIC (could be removed because of the onboard LAN)
Highpoint RocketRAID 404 PCI RAID controller
52X CDROM
12x DVDROM
Yamaha 16x10x40 CDRW
250MB Zip

And of course the hard drives (all of which are being used):
Atlas 36GB 10KIII (10,000 RPM)
IBM 60GB 75GXP
IBM 75GB 75GXP
2 x WD1000BB


K well that's it...up to now I haven't had power issues, but I'm planning on adding 3 WD1200BBs onto the setup for more storage, and I don't want to run into unexpected power problems. If the PS won't cut it, I won't mind all that much as long as I know about it before I actually install the drives.
So is the Enermax 550 strong enough to handle 3 more 7200 RPM drives? I *would* go with the 5400 RPM WD1200ABs but the BBs are actually slightly cheaper for me right now (go figure!)
nsx

 

[Bullhonkie]

I wouldn't worry about it with that beefy of a power supply. My old system was as follows:

ABit KT7
1.2GHz Thunderbird
Gainward Geforce3
Adaptec 2940UW scsi controller
Creative Labs PCI 128
Intel Pro 10/100 S
3com/USR Winmodem
32x IDE cdrom
16x IDE dvdrom
12x10x32 SCSI plexwriter
Imation IDE LS-120 floppy
(1) 10krpm 68pin 18GB Cheetah
(3) 10krpm 80pin 18GB Cheetahs
(1) 7200rpm 40GB Maxtor
(1) Black label 60mm Delta screamer
(4) Sunon 39cfm 80mm case fans
(1) Sunon 60mm case fan

On occasion I also had a 30GB 75GXP hooked up. All this was running off a 300W Sparkle PS, and all of my voltages were always hovering right around where they should be. Never had any problems.

 

[nsxdemon]

So if that's the case then what in God's name will bring this monster to it's knees?? I'm prolly not gonna try it, but I wouldn't mind knowing the Enermax 550's limits. Would a whole slew of Barracuda 180's take care of it (my YY-0221 case can hold up to 4 of them in the hdd cages, and then another 6 in the 5.25" bays)? Or would you also need dual o/c'ed Athlon XPs??!!

But seriously, as far as standard user storage (ie 7200 RPM drives with a 10K SCSI boot drive) can this PS just take as many drives as possible? The case holds 8 standard height hdds in the cages and I'm planning on filling up the remaining openings within the next month or so with the three WD1200BBs.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it
nsx

 

[Bullhonkie]

Originally posted by: nsxdemon
So if that's the case then what in God's name will bring this monster to it's knees??

That's a good question. I don't know too much about electrical requirements of stuff, but someone who does and has a lot of time on their hands could probably figure out what drives/peripherals and how many of each it would take to fully load an Enermax 550. Of course there's only one other way to know for sure, try yourself and see what the limit is.

I actually thought I would have to go and get a beefier PSU when I started adding all the other drives to my system. To my amazement though my PSU never even flinched. I ran out of drive bays, or else I would've found more to stuff into that system. Btw that's a sweet case you've got - and I thought my Addtronics 7896A was quite the monster.

From my relatively little experience with power supplies under a lot of load, I would think you'd be fine with pretty much whatever you could throw at it. You may want to get a few other opinions on that though just to be sure.

 

[nsxdemon]

bump ^

 

[nsxdemon]

bump again

 

[Pariah]

I had a setup similar to yours running a standard 300W Antec a while back. A TruePower 330 will be plenty for that system.

"So if that's the case then what in God's name will bring this monster to it's knees??"

Probably nothing available. All the highend server boards use different power connectors. This board here which uses the standard 20pin will require more than your standard run of the mill 350W PS:

Thunder HEsl-T (S2688)