This may be a daft question about PSU's!

Hi people, I would like a bit of advice if poss.
My system is as follows.

Win XP Pro SP1
AMD XP3000+ (not overclocked yet)
Chaintech 7NJL1 (Nforce2-Ultra 400) Mobo
256mb Twinmos 333 DDR
512mb Crucial 333 DDR
ATI Radeon 9700pro card, fitted with Arctic AGP Cooler/Silencer
30gb Maxtor 7200rpm HDD
1x DVD ROM
1xCD Writer
'Mercury' 400w PSU

I have an Alu case with digital temp reading on the front and a
motorized sliding front panel. This case is fitted with 4x 80mm Case
Fans (1 of these fans is lit by LED's) and 1x 40mm fan. In addition to
this there is a large fan on my CPU sink, and a small fan on my mobo
chipset.
The problem I am having is that my system will freeze up, then when I
hit the reset button to reboot, it tells me that my power connector is
detached from my video card..... It isn't. I have just upgraded from an
Athlon XP1800+ CPU, and fitted the Arctic Cooler to my Video Card.
Before this everything was fine, but since fitting the cooler, I am
having problems. Do you think my PSU is under too much strain with all
the extras in the case? It is a pretty cheap 400w one. The rail figures
are as follows....
+3.3v = 24A
+ 5v = 35A
+12v = 12A

-5v = 0.5A
-12v = 0.8A
+5vsb = 2A

Is my PSU giving enough juice to my system? Or should I upgrade? Is this
causing the freezing/crashing?

Sorry for the long post, but if anyone can help, you guys can!

Thanks,
Al
--

--
Al

Al wrote:
Hi people, I would like a bit of advice if poss.
My system is as follows.

Win XP Pro SP1
AMD XP3000+ (not overclocked yet)
Chaintech 7NJL1 (Nforce2-Ultra 400) Mobo
256mb Twinmos 333 DDR
512mb Crucial 333 DDR
ATI Radeon 9700pro card, fitted with Arctic AGP Cooler/Silencer
30gb Maxtor 7200rpm HDD
1x DVD ROM
1xCD Writer
'Mercury' 400w PSU

I have an Alu case with digital temp reading on the front and a
motorized sliding front panel. This case is fitted with 4x 80mm Case
Fans (1 of these fans is lit by LED's) and 1x 40mm fan. In addition to
this there is a large fan on my CPU sink, and a small fan on my mobo
chipset.
The problem I am having is that my system will freeze up, then when I
hit the reset button to reboot, it tells me that my power connector is
detached from my video card..... It isn't. I have just upgraded from
an Athlon XP1800+ CPU, and fitted the Arctic Cooler to my Video Card.
Before this everything was fine, but since fitting the cooler, I am
having problems. Do you think my PSU is under too much strain with all
the extras in the case? It is a pretty cheap 400w one. The rail
figures are as follows....
+3.3v = 24A
+ 5v = 35A
+12v = 12A

-5v = 0.5A
-12v = 0.8A
+5vsb = 2A

Is my PSU giving enough juice to my system? Or should I upgrade? Is
this causing the freezing/crashing?

Sorry for the long post, but if anyone can help, you guys can!

Thanks,
Al
--

The short answer is yes; the power supply is not adequate. My 400 watt
Antec PSU has better current output, as will any decent quality PSU. A
cheap generic PSU is a good way to ask for trouble and/or catastrophic
failures.
Suggest an Antec, Enermax, or other good quality PSU at least 430 watts.
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_powerSupply.html
http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp

The short answer is yes; the power supply is not adequate. My 400 watt
Antec PSU has better current output, as will any decent quality PSU. A
cheap generic PSU is a good way to ask for trouble and/or catastrophic
failures.
Suggest an Antec, Enermax, or other good quality PSU at least 430 watts.
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_powerSupply.html
http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp



Thanks for the info, I suppose I'd better go shopping!

Cheers,

--
Al

Al wrote:
The short answer is yes; the power supply is not adequate. My 400
watt Antec PSU has better current output, as will any decent quality
PSU. A cheap generic PSU is a good way to ask for trouble and/or
catastrophic failures.
Suggest an Antec, Enermax, or other good quality PSU at least 430
watts. http://www.antec.com/us/pro_powerSupply.html
http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp



Thanks for the info, I suppose I'd better go shopping!

Cheers,

You're welcome; happy hunting, er, shopping. ;-)