PSU dead? Your opinion needed!

mcwildcard · 22 Dec 2006 at 10:20

Last night, I stuck in my new P5B, did a fresh XP install and got everything working hunky dory (although I did have a bit of hassle with my Audigy drivers locking up the system every time I tried to install them, but that seemed to sort itself out somehow). Then I started with the overclocking...
Jumped straight in at 400FSB to see if it'd be okay, save and reset, power light came on for 2 secs, then off, on for 2 secs then off, on for 2 secs then off, still off, still off... uh-oh. So I did the usual removal of the CMOS battery and used the jumpers to reset everything, stuck the battery back in and the jumpers back to the right place, pressed the power button and.... nothing at all.
Next step was to stick my 945P board in again to see what happened, pressed the power button and still nothing.
Stripped it down unplugged everything power related and stuck in an ancient 2mb PCI card and it just about turned on, got into BIOS but then it died again.
Stuck in my 7900GS again to see if I'd get anywhere with that on it's own, but apart from a token attempt by the fans to start moving again, nothing bar a slightly acrid burny smell. That's when I stopped trying.
Now my PSU was only 350w, but it coped amazingly, I'd of upgraded it, but it was built into my Arctic Cooling Silentium case, so that wasn't an option.
It was running the following before last night:
E6300 @ 2.5GHz (on a GA-945P-S3 mobo)
7900GS @ 620/725
2 x 1GB PC6400 OcUK Value RAM
1 x 250GB SATA HDD
1 x Soundblaster Audigy card
1 x Winfast PVR 2000 XP Pro

With all that in mind, does it look like a dead PSU (I'm pretty sure it is, but I want to check that there isn't anything I might not of thought of)?
Also, what power supply should I be looking for to replace it to run the above system @ 3GHz?
Considering how well the Silentium case served me in the past, I see that OcUK have the Pro edition with a 500W PSU for sale , would that be adequate?

From the Arctic cooling website:

"The AX-500F was tested with the following configurations:

AMD Athlon FX-62 CPU
2 GB Ram
2x ATI X1950 XTX (Cross Fire)

Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU
2 GB Ram
2x NVIDIA 7950 Gx2"

No PC over Christmas

All of a sudden I'm not so bothered that I have to work Christmas week!

Edit: Just bought the Silentium Pro, forked out the extra tenner for Saturday delivery so I should have it tomorrow!!! Even if it's not the PSU, my old Silentium was a bit haggard (I broke part of the fascia off whilst drunk and never got round to glueing it back) plus the much improved PSU will be handy. I see it as an Xmas gift to myself

w3bbo · 22 Dec 2006 at 11:50

Deffo sounds like a PSU issue tbh. I would seriously consider investing in a decent PSU and I don't just mean the wattage rating. Most if not all PSU's that come with a case are very weak at best and can quite easily damage your components by failing (as they quite often do). A 500w rating isn't always 500w. That 500w could mean that it reaches 500w for a split second but cannot supply a continuos 500w and there is also the problem with instable rails. The best bit of advice I could give you is this : The PSU is THE most important component in any PC setup, buy quality and it will give you years of service - buy cheap and you risk destroying your PC.

mcwildcard · 22 Dec 2006 at 12:27

w3bbo said:
Deffo sounds like a PSU issue tbh. I would seriously consider investing in a decent PSU and I don't just mean the wattage rating. Most if not all PSU's that come with a case are very weak at best and can quite easily damage your components by failing (as they quite often do). A 500w rating isn't always 500w. That 500w could mean that it reaches 500w for a split second but cannot supply a continuos 500w and there is also the problem with instable rails. The best bit of advice I could give you is this : The PSU is THE most important component in any PC setup, buy quality and it will give you years of service - buy cheap and you risk destroying your PC.

The blurb for the Silentium Pro does say that the 500w is continuous, although it would be nice for them to mention the Ampage on the 12v rail.
In my dead Silentium the 350w PSU was a custom Seasonic, so it was actually a good quality piece of kit, I just pushed it too far is all.
PSU aside, the Silentium is actually an excellent case, quiet, cool and not bad to look at either. Looking at the test systems on the Arctic Cooling website I'd say the PSU should be more than adequate for my needs.
I'll post on here the PSU details when the case arrives, make, 12v rail etc.
Assuming it all works and I can get online of course!

SiD-P · 22 Dec 2006 at 15:13

Try the PSU on its own, (just hot wire it) I forget which two pins to connect but Im sure someone here can tell you.

fornowagain · 22 Dec 2006 at 15:18

SiD-P said:
Try the PSU on its own, (just hot wire it) I forget which two pins to connect but Im sure someone here can tell you.

Its the green to black. And don't do it without a load on, like a fan.

mcwildcard · 24 Dec 2006 at 01:00

Well got my new Silentium case, very happy with it.

Tested everything out, looks like the PSU took the P5B with it, but I bought it on the cheap as a warranty repair, so the supplier should take it back without any hassle

I'll be getting a refund for it, so I'll probably just put the cash towards a (new) DS3. In the meantime I'll have to trundle along with my 945P board, which isn't exactly hardship.
I'll stick a few pics of the new Silentium Pro up in the cases forum soon, I like the new build, it's better than the old one (although slightly less quiet) and the PSU is far better by the look of it. Looks a bargain for £70 that's for sure.