I've ran searches to no avail. I guess more than anything im looking for people to tell me: Yes, I have more than 2TB installed and im runnning x32 windows. And you can access ALL OF THEM simultaneously. Heres my problem. I try to plug another harddrive in to my mainboard, via ide-usb converter(sata ports maxed!) and the system nearly locks up. What I mean by NEARLY is I could still perform simple tasks, E.G. internet explorer, but when I enter MY COMPUTER, it doesnt show ANY of the devices(LOCAL DRIVES, ODD, ETC. Is my mainboard maxed, or is x32 windows maxed? I have 3 harddrives equalling 2TB. hmmm, I suppose my usb header could be maxed. Is this possible? If so, would a sata card be a good choice? Or is x32 operating as limited as I fear? I am aware of RAM limitation, does this also include harddrives? Or is it simply 2TB on a single volume?
The only limit in how many hard drives you can install is the available slots. I have 5 hard drives (4x500gb 1x300gb) installed on my media computer (amd 3800 single core/ windows xp/ 1gb ram). You can add either a PCI sata card or PCI ide card to increase the available slots. Even a lowend cpu will have no problem reading or writing to all the hard drives at the same time. The USB hard drive you have connected is probably what is giving you problems, it's either running at usb 1.0 speeds or some other problem. It's best to get a PCI adapter card, I've used them with no problems. (the only minor problem is hard drives connected to PCI card won't show up on BIOS, so it's best not to use it as a boot drive connection).
A while back I tested my systems power consumption. It would only PEAK at 50% of the psu's capability. Its a 400W thermaltake. on bootup, the tester showed no more than 200W, and that was only for an instant. And I read somewhere that my current drives only use 15w peak. So I think... I have enough. Correct me if im wrong. while its running, only the processor has the ability to jump the wattage greatly. A benchmark of the cpu made it spike about 65W. No other component matched it. Is my understanding flawed? I am a newbie. I gather by your question, your confused that I should have a problem?
Hmmm... It recommends a 550W PSU. I suppose the 12v rail, is the most important ive heard. I have 3 HDD's 4 ODD's 89w 5200 athlon, 8600gt asus nvidia, multiple usb connections, 6 I believe. Yah, I could do with a new supply I think. Perhaps I'll give this one to my bro. He just called with a problem which could be PSU related. I wonder what creaky's running, for wattage?
I really appreciate your input JONY. It's running at 2.0, but I imagine given its capability, 2.0 may not be quick enough. I think Im gonna replace my supply, and get an add on card! THANKS ALL.
For reference, older 400W Thermaltake units like PurePowers can only output about 200-250W. yes, lots of manufacturers lie about the true output of their units. However, I'm currently voting for the SATA to IDE converter being faulty.
It works on one drive. When I plug in another... FREEZE! LOL. Right when I cross 2TB. I suppose it is possible though, that im hitting the limit of my powersupply. Whats funny is, I can have all 4 ODD's ripping to All 3 HDD's and no stutters and I can still do other things simultaneously! I have 3 usb-ide's. 2 odd's use and one harddrive. My mainboard only has one ide and 2 sata's. I know, I know, time to upgrade. I kinda jumped into this build without thinking of the future!
It's possible, but overloading your PSU is far more likely to either shut the PC down, cause a crash, or make the PSU go bang, if you have a cheap nasty one. Stuttering sounds like you could have a problem with your Motherboard's southbridge.
Im afraid after all my reading, Im really leaning toward power supply. It only has a SINGLE 12v rail. And I dont know, but I dont doubt either that Im near its max right now. As I said, I jumped into this build. NEVER again. Apparently wattage isnt the most important factor to consider when building a computer. 12v Rails seams to be what people concentrate on. Seeing how this ones ran, And considering for future, I'll probably go 3-4 rails on my next build. Heck, I might just go for THE BADBOY, slap a warranty on it and be happy
Actually, one 12V rail is actually best in some cases. It doesn't matter how many rails you have, it's how powerful they are.
its an 89w 5200 athlon. The processor seems to be the most wattage hungry too. When I was running benchmarks, the processor demanded the most juice.
the 5200+ is a very hungry CPU, yes. I can see why the PSU would be a problem. I'd recommend replacing it with either an Antec Earthwatts or Corsair VX unit.
I heard my name mentioned.. My PSU is a sexy Corsair HX 620W(atts). As you know from the other thread i have 6 internal SATA 500GB drives, 7 USB2.0-connected 500GB and a couple smaller USB2.0-connected drives. Plus 3 dvd burners, 2 of which are SATA, the other is IDE (Oh and i have another 6 USB2.0-connected dvd burners on this machine too!). Anyways, my m/board (MSI P35 Platinum with a Q6600 cpu) has 5 SATA connectors - 5 of the internal hard drives are hooked up to those, the other hard drive is hooked up to an e-SATA connector via an e-SATA->SATA converter cable i got off eBay. The 2 SATA dvd burners are connected via a (very) cheapy PCI-e card but they work well enough. I forget how many USB2.0 slots i have. All that's really left to mention is that i don't buy stupidly/outrageously (overly) expensive video cards (getting the hint that i detest wasting money on video cards LOL) so the video card is a cheapy old GeForce 6100 card ie it doesn't stress the PSU. I wouldn't know or care what a 12V rail is if i stepped on one, but what i do know is that my 620W has no problem powering 6 internal hard drives & 3 internal opticals plus silly amounts of USB2.0.. and as per my comments in the other thread i know of no 32-bit OS-limitations re 2TB or anywhere near it, mine handles 6.5TB without issues..
Thank you for the clarification creaky. And unless im looking at the wrong PSU (Doubt it) you have 3 12v rails with a max of 18amps each. No wonder it can power all that! You spent a chunk on that bad boy! Just wait til more than 2tb comes out on a single volume, THEN people will be either upgrading to 64bit, or a new file system. Nice board. Ive looked at it more than once! Bet you when GPU's start running encode jobs, or other tasks you upgrade.
Yeah, most of my machines have either onboard video/sound, or old PCI graphics cards if those particular machines' onboard video was insufficient for dvd watching. Indeed, if encoding required GPU resources then i'd upgrade. It's been many years since i was into pc gaming, i just use all my old style xboxes/xbox 360/various other old consoles for that.
