have a PSU Question

encore18

Obliviot
Well im usually pretty good at building pc's but i just want a little backup on this one, I just bought a AMD 3700 939, ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe, EvGa 6800GS, And A 512 Stick of Crucial Ram, I was kind of tight on funds and in a couple weeks im ordering 3 more sticks of ram and a new case and psu.

Well now for my question, i just want to get back up and running and back into gaming so i only have two extra psu's sitting around as my 550 took a dump, my two spares are a Aopen 230 and another one thats a 200. I was thinking about hooking the 230 to the mobo and using the 200 to run my drives, i know how to wire it up so they both come on at the same time and all but i was just wondering if its a good idea, its only gonna be for a max of 2 weeks, i have a empty server tower sitting around so space isnt a problem, i am just worried about my hardware
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
If you know how to daisy chain them together you should be fine as long as you are extremely cautious of how you are doing things. You don't want one PSU doing more work than the other one really.

It's iffy, but can be done.
 

encore18

Obliviot
i just dont want to burn up a bunch of new parts, all the 230 is gonna power is the mobo, cpu, ram, gfx card, and the 200 will power my Cd drives and 2 hard drives.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Yeah, that sounds good for the most part, but the 200W will only be pushing at least 40W [don't quote me] of power for that stuff there. I'd wait for a definitive answer from Matt when he see's this thread :)
 

PUTALE

Obliviot
i think it should be fine but if you look at the specs of those 2 psu, I think that they are probably not strong enough for your system setup(look at the combined 12v and such, I doubt that they would be enough to power your system). you do run a risk of ruining a lot of parts if suddenly one of the psu failed, so I do suggest go out and get another psu.
 

madmat

Soup Nazi
Personally If the 200 has a P4 plug on it I'd run it to the CPU because if you run everything other than the drives on the 230 you will be pushing it's weak little 12V rail way too hard.

Remember it's only 30W higher than the 200 and that's divided up between all 3 rails so that's not even 2.5A on the 12V rail more.

The CPU can draw anywhere up to 9A all by it's lonesome and the Vidcards can do damn near that as well.

Make sure to ground the cases of the PSUs together so as to not introduce any ground loops into the circuit.

Good luck!
 

LOOP

Obliviot
encore18 said:
i just dont want to burn up a bunch of new parts, all the 230 is gonna power is the mobo, cpu, ram, gfx card, and the 200 will power my Cd drives and 2 hard drives.

The Motherboard, Video Card, and the CPU all use the 12 volt line, and I doubt that on a 230 Watt powersupply that you have enough amps to power all three.

You can get a nice Rosewill 500 watt powersupply from newegg for 50 bucks. I was you, I wouldn't risk killing my motherboard, cpu or video card with a bad power supply setup. Just get a new power supply, doesn't have to be a 100 buck one, since you can get some very nice ones for 50 bucks that will power all of the above without a problem.
 
I disagree strongly. VERY strongly.

Your Rosewill PSU will have wider tolerances, less efficiency, etc etc. That might be alright for an older rig, but when you start talking amp requirements, don't even THINK about looking at a generic PSU.
 

tugovony

Obliviot
Rosewill does not manufacturer any of their own parts, they just put their brand name on other company parts. Rosewill is owned by Newegg, and they were trying to make a good name for themselves when they first came out and released some very hi-quality parts under their own brand. I'm not sure if they are still doing that, but for a while, you could rely on their name for good quality parts.

I'm not sure which Rosewill power supply that Loop purchased, nor am I'm sure about which PSU he is recommending, since I checked on Newegg and there are a few different model PSUs that are under the Rosewill name when you do a search on Newegg.

You shouldn't discount the possibility that it is a rock stable PSU, even if its cheap.
 
Top