rec.autos.simulators

by **Dave Henri** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:41:00

I just snagged a couple of CompUSA powerbricks to stuff in my aging
computer systems(2 PIII 500's). If I upgrade to AMD XP systems, these will
be ok but right on the limit.(300watts).
Here is my question, since I will still have the original power supply,
couldn't I use the new power brick for the cpu & motherboard and keep the
old PS taped to the top of the case and use it to supply the power to the
peripherials??(hard drives, Voodoo 5, cdrom etc.)
Is that nutcase tech or a half workable idea??
dave henrie

by **Ian Riche** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 00:47:36

It would work - I've done it myself for diagnostic purposes. It's not
particularly elegant, however!

Also, dont't assume that your 300W is not up to it. My Deer 300W
supply is currently powering an AMD XP 1700+, with two hard drives,
CD-burner, DVD drive and Voodoo 5 without any problems.

It's as much down to power supply quality - and the current that it
can supply at the various voltages - as total power rating.

Ian
--
Ian Riches
GPL Rank +1.76 Monsters of GPL +284.19

by **na_bike** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 01:02:56

But the other PSU was a Baby-AT, right? Isn't the ATX ones relay
switched from the MoBo?

by **MadDAW** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 01:24:33

I have seen dual power supply systems before. I just ran into a little
problem myself. I have an ASUS A7M266 motherboard with a 1.4 T-bird CPU. I
flashed the BIOS so that I could run an XP chipset. The BIOS flash appeared
to work ok going thru multiple reboots and running for over an hour with no
problems. After power it down however it wouldn't restart. To make a long
story short after the BIOS flash my current 300w power supply no longer
supplied enough initial power to start things up. I ended up buying a 350w
power supply to get the system up and running. So I'm not sure if a dual
power supply would provide enough "kick" to get it going or not. BTW my
300w was a CompUSA as well. the new 350w is a Sparkle.

MadDAWG

by **Ian Riche** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 01:29:57

>>It would work - I've done it myself for diagnostic purposes. It's not
>>particularly elegant, however!

>But the other PSU was a Baby-AT, right? Isn't the ATX ones relay
>switched from the MoBo?

Whoops - correct. The other powersupply was an old AT one. Not sure
how it would work with two ATX supplies.

Sorry for the confusion!

Ian
--
Ian Riches
GPL Rank +1.76 Monsters of GPL +284.19

by **Thunderl** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 02:24:24

If both are ATX power supplies then cut the motherboard connector off one of
them, that's the one to use for the peripherals. The trick with 2 ATX
powersupplies is, well, powering them on <g>. To fix that simply slice open
the green wire near the middle of the connector on the PSU that'll power the
motherboard. Take the green wire from the other PSU and wrap it to this
wire. Then do the same with any of the black wires. When you power on the
main PSU the green wire will trip the relay to power on the second PSU. If
you're really serious about this your best bet it to search some of the
overclocker websites where multiple PSU's are often discussed and have
how-to articles.

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by **SimRace** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 02:41:13

Good advice, I have found that the green wire is the one (in an ATX
connector) that is on the 'clip' side of the connector, like the 4th down
from one side, then the black wire 4th down from the other side (still on
the 'clip' side) mates well to trip the unit on. I short these with a paper
clip if my power supply acts up to see if it is the PS or the mobo. Its the
only way I have ever been able to get an ATX unit to fire up without being
plugged into the mobo.

Good luck, wear *** shoes and use *** gripped tools :)

by **bertr** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 04:34:18

Dave,

I just upgraded to an Athlon XP 1700+ about a month ago, and also worried over
whether my existing 300W PS would suffice. No Problem! And I have 2 hard
drives, a Voodoo5, 1 DVD drive, 1 CD-RW drive, a SBLive card, and a load of
fans.

I say try things with your existing power supply first. I'll bet you'll be
OK. If not, go ahead and up the wattage. (I'm no expert, but I would
recommend, in that case, to just get a 350W or 400W PS and swap them out.
That's what I was planning to do, if need be....)

> I just snagged a couple of CompUSA powerbricks to stuff in my aging
> computer systems(2 PIII 500's). If I upgrade to AMD XP systems, these will
> be ok but right on the limit.(300watts).
> Here is my question, since I will still have the original power supply,
> couldn't I use the new power brick for the cpu & motherboard and keep the
> old PS taped to the top of the case and use it to supply the power to the
> peripherials??(hard drives, Voodoo 5, cdrom etc.)
> Is that nutcase tech or a half workable idea??
> dave henrie

by **na_bike** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 07:13:24

I recommend that one who looks at PSUs stop staring at the wattage
number and instead look at AMDs recommended PSU list for the
prospected CPU in question.

<http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_869_...4358,00.html>

The total Wattage number doesn't mean all that much in this context.
It's about how much current the PSU can put out on each rail and how
much _combined_ power it can muster... There are 250W PSUs that can
take an XP1800 and there are 300W PSU that can't.

by **Dave Henri** » Thu, 21 Feb 2002 07:48:43

"na_biker"
... There are 250W PSUs that can
well the compusa box says AMD approved but doesn't say for how high a cpu
speed. Went for this to replace my son's box first...he'll be the guinea
pig.
thanks
dave henrie

rec.autos.simulators

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???

totally OT: Two powersupplies???