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Is this PSU any good for my rig

Only has 15A on the 12V Rail :confused:, unless those specs are wrong, but if they are true, that looks like it most deffenitly wont run the system.
 
Review Date: March 5, 2004

Same as above this psu was probally highend in its day but sadly it sucks now.
 
probably isnt even made anymore seeing as the review is 3+ years old, and the reason its 12v is so low is because at that time cpu's where powered by the 5v or 3.3v rail (cant remember which one) i believe.
 
Ace Modder said:
well it is running my rig fine and dandy!
Click to expand...

But for how long? You must be stressing it to almost 100% :eek:

A good rule of thumb is to try and get a PSU which will only run at 50-60% capacity for what you need.

This means it will run cooler, quieter and less drop on voltages as well as lasting much longer.

If you do a google search on psu reviews you will find lots where the psu has blown up when tested at 100%. I think in the last round up of pc pro they cooked two PSU's.

No problem you might think, i'll replace it when it dies but you run the risk of damaging other components when it does IMO.

Buy something decent like a Corsair now.
 
In a review a system using a faster CPU used 400w from the plug. Based on an efficiency of 80% that's around 320w from the PSU. About 64% load on the PSU.
 
Raikiri said:
In a review a system using a faster CPU used 400w from the plug. Based on an efficiency of 80% that's around 320w from the PSU. About 64% load on the PSU.
Click to expand...

I still would not dare power a system like that with a PSU with just 2 15A rails, even a PSU like a Hiper Type-R with 18A/20A would be pushing itself with a 2900XT system and C2D overclocked system.
 
It has got two 12v rails each at 15amps.

However, please note at the following review:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/bluestorm_3.html

a pentium 4 with a 6800gt was pulling over 15 amps between them.

Not sure how the dual core intel compares but its sure to be more.

However the biggest problem is thw 2900xt - see here:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/ati_2900xt/10.html

it pulls 328w under load all by itself.

Remember the PSU you have, although labelled "500" is only a 460W PSU

If you start pulling 328W for the grpahics card alone, I would suggest the rest of your system will gobble up the 132W left so I stand by my original post, you PSU will be running at almost 100%. I'd be worried IMO
 
Raikiri said:
In a review a system using a faster CPU used 400w from the plug. Based on an efficiency of 80% that's around 320w from the PSU. About 64% load on the PSU.
Click to expand...

all that 320W is needed for the 2900XT alone :eek:
 
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