HDD power requirements.

VIRII · 5 Nov 2006 at 23:04

I have an Antec Sonata case with the supplied Antec 380 watt power supply in it.
The intention is to use it as a media server / backup solution utilising a bunch of old HDD's.

It currently has 4 HDD in it and no optical drive, I was planning on adding an IDE controller card or two and running 6 HDD and 1 optical drive.

Will the combined power draw be too much for this power supply?

The rest of the system is a stock AMD 3200 Socket A.

smids · 6 Nov 2006 at 01:06

Hmm, 6 x 22W = 132W roughly just at startup. Usually about 11W during operation for an HDU.

Now, I think that will be predominantly from the 5V rail and a small amount from the 12V (check the top of the HDU for ratio).

Socket A CPU = 40-45W? Something along those lines (trying to compare it to the P3 (usually about 35W), as I'm not entirely sure on the Socket A consumptions).

Other power e.g. gfx, sound, motherboard - umm, let's say 50W.

About 220W.

Now that is a good PSU and is rated @ 380W so it *should* be fine.

Do check though that your motherboard has an option for staggered spin up of hard drives as that kind of load immediately at startup can really strain the PSU. Startup will have a huge peak, much higher than normal operation but in fairness, I think it should be fine. If your motherboard doesn't have the staggered spin up option, try and get an add on card with that and that way it will not put any more strain on the PSU than it currently receives from 4 drives.

Sorry for rambling - thinking as I type.

ste_bla · 6 Nov 2006 at 01:59

For example a Sata Seagate 120gb 7200rmp will use 12 watts while in use

300w would be fine but try maybe;

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

VIRII · 6 Nov 2006 at 09:31

ste_bla said:
For example a Sata Seagate 120gb 7200rmp will use 12 watts while in use

300w would be fine but try maybe;

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

Thanks for that, I added in a couple of extra items on that site (notably a 9800 pro) to give an extra power useage buffer and it recommends 375Watts.

smids said:
Do check though that your motherboard has an option for staggered spin up of hard drives as that kind of load immediately at startup can really strain the PSU. Startup will have a huge peak, much higher than normal operation but in fairness, I think it should be fine. If your motherboard doesn't have the staggered spin up option, try and get an add on card with that and that way it will not put any more strain on the PSU than it currently receives from 4 drives.

Sorry for rambling - thinking as I type.

I do not think that my motherboard has a staggered start up option, I don't think the PCI card that I bought has either, are there any software options?
Alternatively I could wire a switch into the power lines going to the additional drives and turn them on after boot or will the system have difficulty knowing that they are there if I do that?

If you could recommend a card that can take 4 IDE drives and stagger the boot then that would be great.

smids · 6 Nov 2006 at 11:28

Hmm, problem with that is expense. I'm not all too sure on cards because the ones I know would cost more than the 4 hard drives

.

I would say don't worry about it - that PSU is a good make and will surely be able to cope. Just don't go sticking a 9800pro or something in there

.

ste_bla · 6 Nov 2006 at 18:14

VIRII said:
Thanks for that, I added in a couple of extra items on that site (notably a 9800 pro) to give an extra power useage buffer and it recommends 375Watts.

2 Questions;

1) How ddid you get 375w? With 3200xp, 2x133sd ram, 6x7200rpm, DVD-RW, PCI-Raid Card and a 9800pro is only 320w!

2) If its just a back up server do you need a 9800? Could just get a 9500 or simular for £5 on MM and that takes it to 289w

VIRII · 6 Nov 2006 at 18:20

ste_bla said:
2 Questions;

1) How ddid you get 375w? With 3200xp, 2x133sd ram, 6x7200rpm, DVD-RW, PCI-Raid Card and a 9800pro is only 320w!

2) If its just a back up server do you need a 9800? Could just get a 9500 or simular for £5 on MM and that takes it to 289w

1 - I think I had 6 hdd and 2 optical drives a 9800 pro 2 sticks of ram and a 3200 socket A chip as well as a couple of ide cards and so on.

2 - No I don't need a 9800pro, I use the onbaord graphics normally but I was trying to see how much difference it all made.