Is 620w enough?

Hudzy · 13 Oct 2010 at 23:20

Having just added an SSD into my system, I've been experiencing some pretty odd things. For example, plugging my audio card in caused one of my other drives to no longer show as connected, as well as taking boot times into the 2-3 minute range. Taking it out again solved that, as does disconnecting a couple of drives.

I've started looking at the PSU and wondering if the SSD just took my power requirements over the edge.

It's a Corsair 620 and it's powering:

Asus P5Q PRO
Q6600 @ 2.4
2x 2 GB DDR2
GTX 285
Xonar D2
6 HDD
1 SSD
1 blu-ray drive
and some fans

Given the odd stuff happening, is it likely to be a power issue? Anyone experienced similar issues?

stulid · 13 Oct 2010 at 23:23

it will be plenty.

cmndr_andi · 13 Oct 2010 at 23:27

I seriously doubt the SSD is causing you power problems - these things use less than 5W at full load.

When you reinstalled, did you install all your motherboard and sound drivers correctly?

May I ask what OS you are using?

Hudzy · 13 Oct 2010 at 23:33

cmndr_andi said:
I seriously doubt the SSD is causing you power problems - these things use less than 5W at full load.

Obviously not on it's own. I was thinking if I'd already been taxing the PSU it might be the proverbial straw.

I'm running Windows 7, drivers all installed. The hardware hasn't changed.

The only other change made is I'm now using the Marvell SATA controller as well as the Intel one. That's been a problem all on it's own. I had to change them to operate as normal SATA ports (instead of the Asus psuedo-raid they're set to by default) before they would detect any devices.

It just seems odd that the system was working fine until I installed the Asus audio driver and rebooted. The boot time was over 3 minutes and one of the drives had gone offline once in Windows. And that taking the card out, or a couple of the drives, apparently solves that.

I guess it could just be the Marvell controller acting funny. I searched around for info on it and it seems pretty worthless, at least on the P5Q.

Hudzy · 14 Oct 2010 at 00:22

Hmm. Well now I've just re-enabled the two drives on the Marvell controller and everything seems to be working.

It still boots a lot slower than with it disabled though.

Sycho · 14 Oct 2010 at 00:42

Have you enabled ACHI mode in bios?

Hudzy · 14 Oct 2010 at 02:45

Indeed.

Essexraptor · 14 Oct 2010 at 03:21

Strange indeed.... the 2nd Rig in my sig is very similiar, albiet no SSD yet and only 3 drives, but I have a TV card in and a XFI XtremeMusic Sound card and I'm running it on a 500W PSU.

Sounds as though the drivers that you installed may be the issue if all was OK up until you installed the ASUS sound driver. Or a conflict between the Intel and Marvell SATA controllers?

Essexraptor · 14 Oct 2010 at 04:12

Had a little time to take a look at your MB manual

With that many HDD's onboard I take it that your using the orange and white SATA connectors and the ASUS Drive Xpert/Marvell controller combo?

If everything was fine before the you fitted the SSD I take it both controllers were set to IDE? Possible solution would be to go back to IDE, which would require a re-install to your SSD

You'll lose a bit of performance and the ability to hot swap HDD but might just be worth a shot.

I'm interested because I was eyeing the same Orange/White SATA connectors up on by MB but it looked like to much hassle to set up.

Hudzy · 14 Oct 2010 at 17:04

Essexraptor said:
Sounds as though the drivers that you installed may be the issue if all was OK up until you installed the ASUS sound driver. Or a conflict between the Intel and Marvell SATA controllers?

It certianly looked like the driver's fault at the time, but it's the same driver I've been using for months with no issue. It's been reinstalled again now with no issue as well.

At the moment, everything seems to be working at least.

Yeah, I'm using the orange and white. Tests are now showing that the boot time is fastest with that controller turned off, so I think I'll just wait it out until I can replace several of the older, smaller drives with a bigger one.