How to find the 5v line on a power supply?

[Michael Kennedy]

The 2 fans and the gold plating.. They always blow the numbers out of
proportion on those for some reason.. I'd say its more like a 300W psu
max..

*clarification... I'd say it shouldn't be rated for more than 300W...

 

[kony]

3. 300W, not AMD recommended.
Delta DPS-300BB from an Acer computer. It managed to put out 380W, the
limit of my test load resistance, so maybe by common standards it is a
400W, especially because its filter capacitors are larger than those in
any other 300W PSU I've seen, and the transformer is larger than normal
despite operating at 95 KHz rather than the more common 60 KHz.
$13-15. Kony can tell you more about this model PSU..

I still have a couple of those, one of them powering an
overclocked Mobile Barton Athlon, the other in a dual PSU
system with a 2nd, 240(?)W Delta. Good unit... Delta always
uses HQ parts, targets for sustained current, and overall is
just a tremendous bang for buck when you can get ahold of
them in the grey market. Main limitation on this particular
model is it's clearly optimized for 5V current instead of
12V. There's that issue about needing the load on the 3V
rail sometimes, too, but it seems a subjective thing to some
of us...

Understandably some people will scream bloody murder if
their PSU acts dead, but otherwise I seldom want load
resistors in the densely populated output area on the PCB if
the system itself is loading it too.

I'd take same wattage Delta over most brands. Did you see
Anandtech's Computex coverage? 300W video cards... YIKES!
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2770

I think my next built-from-scratch gaming rig will have 2
Delta server PSU in it. Not PS2 though, ~ 5-1/4 x 5 x
11-1/2 (ie - just big enough for a 120mm _rear_ fan). I can
get 72A per 5V & 12V rails for $100 total
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=484
(really closer to $130 after factoring for time and parts
to make a load-sharing board, essentially a minimalized
redundant power board with added RC filters on it.).

Found some double sided 3 oz. 0.093" copper clad on ebay,
should be perfect for it... couldn't even find copper clad
over 1/16" at Digikey/Mouser/Allied.


Same 'site linked above has some of those 300W Deltas, or
rather the Intel Server variant, DPS-300JB,
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=2324
but at this price-point I'd be contemplating a last-gen.
400W Sparkle instead if I needed any PSU with beefy 5V rails
in PS2 form. Although, it's also because I have spare
Sparkles, like always picked up when the price was right...
since I never get hung up on particular models rather than
"what it is" vs. price.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

That one is really amd certified? Wow.

That's why I don't trust AMD PSU certification at all. 98% of the
reviews also can't be trusted because they test at just half the rated
power. So it's best to just pick something made by one of the best
manufacturers, like Delta, Zippy/Emacs, Enhance, Lite-On, Seasonic,
Fortron-Source, PC Power & Cooling, Win-tact, Etasis, or NMB/Mineba, or
sold by Antec.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

On 9 Jun 2006 16:40:02 -0700, "larry moe 'n curly"

I still have a couple of those, one of them powering an
overclocked Mobile Barton Athlon, the other in a dual PSU
system with a 2nd, 240(?)W Delta. Good unit... Delta always
uses HQ parts, targets for sustained current, and overall is
just a tremendous bang for buck when you can get ahold of
them in the grey market. Main limitation on this particular
model is it's clearly optimized for 5V current instead of
12V. There's that issue about needing the load on the 3V
rail sometimes, too, but it seems a subjective thing to some
of us...

And no junk electrolytic capacitors. My Deltas contain only Rubycon,
Nichicon, and Chemicon, none of the Fujyyu junk found in Antecs.

Understandably some people will scream bloody murder if
their PSU acts dead, but otherwise I seldom want load
resistors in the densely populated output area on the PCB if
the system itself is loading it too.

I initially thought tha my Deltas were dead because they wouldn't start
even when I attached a load resistor to the +5.0V rail, but they merely
needed a load on the +3.3V as well. Another oddity was that I
couldn't simply ground the green Power-On wire to turn it on but had to
plug in the AC first and then ground that wire.

I'd take same wattage Delta over most brands. Did you see
Anandtech's Computex coverage? 300W video cards... YIKES!
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2770

My fastest graphics card is just a Radeon 9550.

It seems that CPU power consumption has topped out, but how long before
the same happens with graphics chips?

I think my next built-from-scratch gaming rig will have 2
Delta server PSU in it. Not PS2 though, ~ 5-1/4 x 5 x
11-1/2 (ie - just big enough for a 120mm _rear_ fan). I can
get 72A per 5V & 12V rails for $100 total
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=484
(really closer to $130 after factoring for time and parts
to make a load-sharing board, essentially a minimalized
redundant power board with added RC filters on it.).

That's an awesome project.

 

[kony]

My fastest graphics card is just a Radeon 9550.

So overclock it till the wheels fall off?
My most power hungry card at the moment is a volt-modded
FX5900. I calculated that it should be using about 120W,
but for all that power it can't do FSAA or AF so well. I
strapped a ~ 1U all copper skt A 'sink on it and then began
wondering if it needed stilts so it didn't break off at the
AGP connector from the extra weight. I haven't been
motivated to push the o'c on anything more valuable yet,
beyond what coolbits allows.

It seems that CPU power consumption has topped out, but how long before
the same happens with graphics chips?

I'd expect it to happen right about when they realize there
is no way to strap on a larger/better heatsink, though
they've already gone beyond Intel in coming up with more
elaborate heatpipes and custom 'sink designs to fit the
allotted space in creative ways. I dont' know if it was the
Anandtech article or elsewhere that I read it, but
supposedly nVidia & ATI's next gen parts won't use as much
power. I welcome that as I still like to avoid video or CPU
over ~ 80W each unless it's only due to free performance
boost from o'c.

That's an awesome project.

Maybe, but it also means the case will be a little over 10"
wide (as I'd put them side-by-side horizontally) which seems
a little big for a gaming system.