Re: What PSU rating for Athlon 2400 with 6 HDDs?

From: General Schvantzkoph (schvantzkoph_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 10/13/04 

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 09:22:57 -0400

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 07:55:14 +0000, kony wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 01:53:07 -0500, none
> <gothika@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 21:23:10 GMT, Al Smith <invalid@address.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>>>Would a decent 350W PSU be enough? I am thinking of this Nexus PSU.
>>>>>> http://www.nexustek.nl/nx3500.htm The specification chart shows
>>>>>> current delivery at min load, normal load, max load:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> +3.3V 0.3A 14.0A 21.2/28A
>>>>>> +5V 1.0A 12.7A 30/25.5A
>>>>>> +12V 0.2A 4.5A 16A
>>>>>>
>>>>>> (1) +3.3V & +5V total output not exceed 220Watt.
>>>>>> (1a) When +3.3V is loaded to 28A, then the +5V maximum load is 25.5A.
>>>>>> (1b) When +3.3V is loaded to 21.2A, the +5V maximum load is 30A.
>>>>>> (2) +3.3V & +5V & +12V total output not exceed 330Watt.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Is this any good for my needs?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> With 6 drives I'd go with a larger power supply, get at least a 450W
>>>> supply or even larger. An Antec 550W supply is only $108. You don't want
>>>> to waste your time hunting down system glitches because you saved 30 bucks
>>>> on a power supply.
>>>>
>>>
>>>You don't want to waste $30 for nothing, either.
>>
>>Yes you do. The lowest rated supply I use for Athalon systems is 400
>>watts, and that is only with one HD.
>>Anymore and I go with a 500 watt.
>>Believe me if you really try and do any serious computing loads with
>>an under rated power supply you're asking for serious migraines.
>
>
> It's true that an insufficient power supply can cause both
> instability and eventual damage, but the typical Athlon
> system does not need 400W, and there is almost no "PC"
> system that needs 500W, even if the vast majority of the
> current were concentrated on only the 5V or 12V rail.
>
> With a typical PC, that being current-gen CPU, a couple hard
> drives, budget/low-end video card, etc, 300W PSU in a good
> name brand is sufficient. SFF systems demonstrate every day
> that even a 180-250W PSU will run a modern built with enough
> margin for another hard drive or two... but the PSU may need
> replaced sooner.
>
> Generics on the other hand, are a lottery. Their wattage
> rating means almost nothing, they can only be assumed to be
> somewhere inbetween 200W and 400W without further evidence.

The OP seems to be talking about a file server not a desktop PC. It's
hard to imagine why you would need 6 drives on a desktop. The disks are
going to be working much harder in a file server then they would be in a
PC. The symptom of a power supply problem on a file server is that a disk
suddenly drops off line, they system continues to run but you've lost that
drive until you do a reboot. It's very annoying. It's much better to spend
a few more dollars to get a robust supply. There will be $1000 worth of
drives in that system, it's silly to worry about 30 or 40 bucks extra for
a 550W supply vs a 350W.

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