Re : Whining PSU

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Guest

I must admit i dont understand this whole crap PSU thing.

surely any product sold should work as advertised otherwise
it shouldnt be on the market.

how can a 400watt psu be sold, when it isnt actually 400watt,
isnt that illegal? and yet it just seems to be accepted as ok
in this instance.
Click to expand...

The U.S. goverment doesn't regulate power ratings for anything but
car engines and audio amplifiers, but it seems that enforcement for
the latter virtually disappeared long ago. Consumer protection in
general has become fairly weak in the U.S. since the 1980s, and
currently only the very worst or most prominent fraud is
prosecuted -- sometimes. It also doesn't help that the typical
buyer of computer power supplies is ignorant, easily impressed
by unimportant factors and more interested in style than
substance. It also doesn't help that almost no web sites exist
that do even halfway proper power supply testing, and as far as
I know only www.tomshardware.com and www.silentpcreview.com
do, and only the first site tries to test to destruction.
Almost everyone else's "full" load test consists of a load of
just 150-300W, regardless of the supply's power rating.

All computer power supplies can probably put out their rated
power, at least for several seconds or until their transformer
heats up. But the better supplies can meet their ratings for
extended periods in hotter environments, and to see the effect
of temperature on power capacity, look at this comparison made by
PC Power & Cooling, between their 510W supply and a 550W Enermax:
www.pcpowerandcooling.com/pdf/Turbo-Cool_510_vs.pdf
At a realistic 40C air temperature, PCP&C claims that their
510W model can put out 510W while the 550W Enermax can manage
only 366W. And keep in mind that Enermax is far from the worst
supply on the market.
 
do_not_spam_me said:
...
The U.S. goverment doesn't regulate power ratings for anything but
car engines and audio amplifiers, but it seems that enforcement for
the latter virtually disappeared long ago.
Click to expand...
Correct. The ATX specs, including the power supply spec, are industry
standards. Intel is the keeper of the specs and you can get copies from
www.intel.com . As for a company making a power supply that doesn't
meet the spec and calling it a ATX unit, no secret police are going to stop
them in the middle of the night. Newsgroups such as these will see many
venomous comments about the bad ones. The best thing is to buy from big
chain stores on a credit card, test immediately, returning ASAP if it fails.
But becareful to look into the credentials of a poster being negative -- is
he or she to be trusted? ("Consider the source.").
 
Correct. The ATX specs, including the power supply spec, are industry
standards. Intel is the keeper of the specs and you can get copies from
www.intel.com . As for a company making a power supply that doesn't
meet the spec and calling it a ATX unit, no secret police are going to stop
them in the middle of the night. Newsgroups such as these will see many
venomous comments about the bad ones. The best thing is to buy from big
chain stores on a credit card, test immediately, returning ASAP if it fails.
But becareful to look into the credentials of a poster being negative -- is
he or she to be trusted? ("Consider the source.").
Click to expand...

Buying from a retailer with a good return policy is not going to do
anything about the (potential) damage to the rest of the system if that
power supply fails. Warranty is almost always limited to replacement, or
perhaps up to a full refund of purchase price from retailer.
 
kony said:
Buying from a retailer with a good return policy is not going to do
anything about the (potential) damage to the rest of the system if that
power supply fails. Warranty is almost always limited to replacement, or
perhaps up to a full refund of purchase price from retailer.
Click to expand...

Are sure the sound is not coming from a small fan on the motherboard ? Mine
made a screeching sound. Not easy to locate.
When I finally located it I removed it. It was evidently not needed. I've
been running without it for a year. No problems.

PWY
 
PWY said:
negative --
is

Are sure the sound is not coming from a small fan on the motherboard ? Mine
made a screeching sound. Not easy to locate.
When I finally located it I removed it. It was evidently not needed. I've
been running without it for a year. No problems.

PWY
Click to expand...

Hi PWY

Thanks for your reply. :)
There's no fan on the board/chipset. It's one of those passive heatsinks.
I'm taking it back to the store to get them to check it out. It's either
just 'cause it's a cheap board, I've been using crap PSU's or, it's a
Turkey. lol.
Thanks again :)

Scotoma
 
Scotoma said:
Hi PWY

Thanks for your reply. :)
There's no fan on the board/chipset. It's one of those passive heatsinks.
I'm taking it back to the store to get them to check it out. It's either
just 'cause it's a cheap board, I've been using crap PSU's or, it's a
Turkey. lol.
Click to expand...

I've just read the whole thread and can't tell if you've tried booting
it with the power cables disconnected from the hard drive(s)?
Some HDs can make a high frequency 'whine' that is difficult to
track down. Sorry if you've tried this and I missed it.
HTH
 
kony said:
On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 16:14:21 GMT, "William W. Plummer"
Click to expand...
Buying from a retailer with a good return policy is not going
to do anything about the (potential) damage to the rest of the
system if that power supply fails. Warranty is almost always
limited to replacement, or perhaps up to a full refund of
purchase price from retailer.
Click to expand...

What if they advertise overvoltage and overload protection, as all PSU
makers do?

Yesterday, I passed up a $5-after-rebate case and PSU from Fry's
because it had an EZ-Tronics PSU, a brand so bad that it makes Deer
seem like high quality in comparison. Actually I would have bought
this for the case alone, but the rear panel was so flexible that I was
afraid that AGP and PCI cards would pop out of their slots.
 
Rob Hemmings said:
I've just read the whole thread and can't tell if you've tried booting
it with the power cables disconnected from the hard drive(s)?
Some HDs can make a high frequency 'whine' that is difficult to
track down. Sorry if you've tried this and I missed it.
HTH
Click to expand...

Hi Rob

Thanks for your reply :)
Where was your reply 3 days ago!!! lol :))

My ISP's news server is on the blink so/or if I've missed anything then, I
apologise.

I took the mobo back to the store and it tested ( with a Mercury 300W!) ok.
Silent. Fsake!
The HD in the AthlonXP3000+ system is my 40GB ATA100 Samsung SP4002H which I
took out of the Athlon1800+ system. I was reluctant to remove the drive from
my other system as I thought it was great and could do no wrong. I was fond
of the drive. lol. In my mind it was a great wee drive. lol.
Got back from the store thinking the Gigabyte mobo must have been tested
with a lower freq' CPU. llf. So I set up the mobo on a table with only the
3000+ CPU, video, memory and plugged in the power. Bridged the power with
screwdriver and on it went, quiet as at the shop. Good guys at that store.
:) lol.

Plugged in the Samsung SP4002H and it was whining like a ****! The drive
that could do no wrong, screaming like a Banshee. A complete mental block
there me thinks! As well as some ****wittery thrown in for good measure. <bl
ush>

Anyways, I know how I'll be setting up a system in the future.

Thank you all for all your replies and and suggestions. Much appreciated.
:))

Scotoma
 
What if they advertise overvoltage and overload protection, as all PSU
makers do?
Click to expand...

1) Is the advertisement even true?

2) By what method is it "protected"? Blowing of a fuse is an overload
protection. At what level and response time does the overvoltage
protection kick in? If a power supply is highly overrated in capacity, it
would seem more likely they fudged the numbers for voltage to compensate
for high ripple and peak 12V load (sag) at system power-on.
Yesterday, I passed up a $5-after-rebate case and PSU from Fry's
because it had an EZ-Tronics PSU, a brand so bad that it makes Deer
seem like high quality in comparison. Actually I would have bought
this for the case alone, but the rear panel was so flexible that I was
afraid that AGP and PCI cards would pop out of their slots.
Click to expand...

Suppose it depends on what position you're in with regards to parts. For
some people a few slot bracket covers, motherboard standoffs, tethered
LEDs and switches, etc, might make the case worth cannabilizing. For
others there is no point to that, a used case can be found for similar low
price without rebate or free/abandoned at local mom-n-pop computer shops.
 
I've just read the whole thread and can't tell if you've tried booting
it with the power cables disconnected from the hard drive(s)?
Some HDs can make a high frequency 'whine' that is difficult to
track down. Sorry if you've tried this and I missed it.
HTH
Click to expand...

Hi Rob

Thanks for your reply :)

I took the mobo back to the store and it tested ( with a Mercury 300W!) ok.
Silent. Fsake!
The HD in the AthlonXP3000+ system is my 40GB ATA100 Samsung SP4002H which I
took out of the Athlon1800+ system to test the 3000+. I was reluctant to
remove the drive from my other system as I thought it was great and could do
no wrong. I was fond of the drive. lol. In my mind it was a great drive.
lol.
Got back from the store thinking the Gigabyte mobo must have been tested
with a lower freq' CPU. llf. So I set up the mobo on a table with only the
3000+ CPU, video, memory and plugged in the PSU. Switched on the power and
on it went, quiet as at the shop.
Plugged in the Samsung SP4002H and it was whining like a ****! The drive
that could do no wrong, screaming like a Banshee. I'll be testing it again
with a new HD to make sure it's not the controller on the mobo, but it's
looking, or should I say sounding like it's the Samsung HD.

Anyways, I know how I'll be building a system in the future.

Thank you all for all your replies and and suggestions. Much appreciated.
:))

Scotoma
 
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