Intel vs. AMD

@baltekmi,
No,of course it won't mess up your board(Unless there is a fault with the power supply.) SLI ready just means it has the extra power to run 2 graphics cards.

 

so is that what the -5v is for...sli?

 

crowy,

Actually It's 37.8 GB for the 18.7 GB file. I just rounded it off to 35 GB to allow a little slack in case rick5446 buys it and doesn't get quite as good compression. I am going to do a full backup of my C drive pretty soon and I will give you the used hard drive space and the file size it creates from it. I'll do it before the end of the week. TrueImage 9 does a great job. It's a little tricky to understand but it works way better than anything I've ever used before.

Right now the C drive has about 38 MB on it but I usually clean everything up before I do the backup so I expect around 36 or so MB to be on the drive as I've already un-installed programs I don't use or have replaced with other programs. I haven't used it in a while so I don't remember if it makes a report, but if it does I will PM you the results.

Happy Computering,
theonejrs

 

Lol you wrote 35MB not 35GB theone, that's why he said "are you sure?" I don't get readings off my Hiper for -5V or -12V, but it doesn't bother me, the system works!

 

@Baltekmi,
-5 volt support has been optional in PSUs since ATX12V 1.3 because it's rarely used anymore. It's rarely included in new PSUs. But some old motherboards or ISA expansion cards require -5.
Your psu doesn't have -5v!!

 

Would it be possible a PSU has a -5V rail but it has no reason because the mobo doesn't use it? My old board may have used -5V, but the A8N-Sli SE probably doesn't.

 

@sammorris,

Thats correct,my psu has -5v which is only used if your board needs it.As I said,this is optional on the later psu's.
12v is used for motors IE:hard drives/dvd-rom drives/system fans.
+5volts is used for the digital circuitry.

 

Well that's not strictly true, 12V is the voltage that's run through regulators to power the CPU and GPU, so most of the digital circuitry effectively runs off 12V, even if it actually uses 1.3V or 2V or whatever.

 

@sammorris,
I have to disagree though not entirely.
This may explain it better:


The exception being cpu and PCI express.

 

A bit of a big exception is it not? I was speaking from the PCI express standpoint, since that's what most aDers use. You're right, AGP cards do use 3.3V instead I think, but speaking from the PCIe standpoint, 12V is running most of the circuitry.

 

@ sammorris,
I think you misunderstood me.
If you have a look at the chart everything that contains a motor uses 12v.Although those same things also use 5v,that is for the digital circuitry contained therein.

 

Hence why I said that's not strictly true, rather than not true at all! I never disagreed with your motors are 12V argument, because that's correct, I just took issue with "5V powers the digital circuits" some yes, but not all!

 

@Sammorris,
No worries!I can't even remember how we got started on this!!LOL

 

You and me both!

 

i might be off base here just heard about this, but has anyone heard of the new towers? BTX instead of ATX... suposivly to be better tower has a air intake in the front then sucks out the back. anyone heard of this or am i just way behind on this?

 

I've heard of this and don't really give much of one about it. You can set up an ATX case pretty much how you like, the only quibble I have is that mobos are always mounted on the right, and I'd prefer the left.
You can do anything with regard to cooling with ATX if your imagination allows!

 

crowy,

I've been looking at the PSU Calculator and find that according to it my D940 draws 173 watts at 3.8 at 1.375v. At 3.2 it draws 130 watts at 1.3v.

One of the things I've noticed in regard to power supplies is that every failure that's been reported here and the Hounds lately have been top rated brands like Thermatake and Antec, that were brand new. One Antec even went up in smoke and flames! While I buy cheaper but decent quality ones and have never gotten one that was bad. When I said I was thinking I would buy an Aspire TurboLink 500 Watt PS, which was on sale at the time for around $40 (sorry, can't remember exactly), I was roundly criticised with coments like "I wouldn't buy a $40 PS" My previous PS was a PowMax Demon Silver Chrome 480 watt PS that was around $30. After more than a year it still works fine.

I designed and built a rather sophisticated PS checker that cost me about $500 to build. It's heart is a rather large Variac, which is a wire-wound variable transformer with a big knob on the top of it, that's a little larger than a 50 DVD cake box. It has 2 1000 watt meters for each 12v rail and 1 meter for 5v and 1 for the 3.3v. As you increase the resistance it increases the load. It also has switches to isolate a particular line including splitting the 12v rails. Both my cheap power supplies are within spec. my 500 shuts down at 503 total watts while my 480 shuts down at 478 watts, and it's a year old! I don't use digital readouts as I prefer analog gauges because they are more linear and easier to read what you are looking at. The gauges have "tell-Tales" so I know exactly at what point they reach overload.

The funniest thing is that If I had gone by the reviews, I would have run away from either of the power supplies I bought. I took the Aspire apart and was very impressed with the quality inside of it for the price! Someone even posted a rating list of power supplies and both of them I own are in the "Not Recomended" section.

Same thing with cases. aabbccdd's case is an expensive Lian-Li and he's having problems getting the heat out of the case, while my cheap $30 or so case does an excellent job of cooling with my 20% overclocked D940. Temps right now are 42 and 35C. The CPU temp is that high because I'm running a folding program in the background. If I turn the folding program to pause, the CPU temp drops to 30C. I'm begining to think that the best way to go is buy and inexpensive case in a layout you like, without PS or fans and put high CFM fans and a 2 fan PS in it. Hey, it works very well for me and is nice looking to boot!

Happy Computering,
theonejrs

 

Hmm, I can't say I vouch for that. The cooling offered by my ridiculously cheap SuperFlower case was pretty good in all respects, but the NZXT Lexa is better at it (not quite as good value in that sense, but every bit overall). After my Qtec brutally destroyed some of my old rig, I'm not buying a Cheap PSU again. Touching wood, you don't hear of too many Hipers packing up...

 

sammorris,

For sure! You do have to check out the design. It has to have provisions to be able to install decent fans and have decent air intake. These days a couple of cheap 80mm fan just aren't going to do it. I wouldn't buy a case that didn't have air intakes on the right cover. Basically you wouldn't want to buy any case that didn't have provision for anything less than a 120mm on the back. My case has that and I haven't seen any reason to put an intake fan in front, although it has provision for it. I'm also of the belief that a side fan is something you need as well. My 80mm center mounted window fan blows cool air almost directly on the memory and into the airflow of the CPU cooler and rear fan. My temps say that I've got it right. Maybe I was just lucky, but because of the work I do with air turbines I know a lot about air flow characteristics and air flow in general.

I'll give you a good example. You always want the side fan to be a lower CFM than the exhaust fan. Why? To insure air flow from the rest of the case. If they were the same CFM you would have pockets of slow moving air inside portions of the case that would cause hot spots and consequently heat being trapped where you don't want it. I've run an infared thermal probe all over the inside of my case and the temp only goes up above 35-37C when you get near the memory, cpu or voltage regulator. Since that's what generates the most heat, my set-up seems to be pretty efficient.

Take your case. I can see that it was well designed in terms of airflow and it's the most beautiful case I've ever seen. Trouble is, most people buy what looks nice rather than taking a good look at the design inside. Some of these Alien looking ones are pretty but more effort went into their looks than their functionality. Your case seems to have succeeded at both!

Happy Computering,
theonejrs

 

@theonejrs,
Your doing well to get those specs from those psu's.
Usually you need to deduct 30% from the rated wattage of any given power supply to allow some headroom as most psu's are over rated by the manufacturers although there are exceptions such as hiper who under rate there psu's.IE: If you buy a psu thats rated @500w, then 350w is what you should comfortably expect .There are some cheaper brands that are exceptional value for money and there are some more well known brands that are over rated and under performing and some that are just down right dangerous. Also over time,capacitors age,so your psu's initial 500w rating will gradually decline.

Some of these PSU's are dangerous to your system, some are just sub-standard,
however NONE can be recommended, for high performance or over-clocked systems.
This guide could be used as a rule of thumb when considering buying a psu but remember there are people out there with some of these power supplies that have had no trouble with them:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29248