Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Newbie question, power supply, motherboard...

Prometheus_SD7 · 12-23-2006, 08:29 PM

This kind of relates to multiple components, but since I am looking for a new motherboard (maybe), I decided to post this here, I hope this is the right place.

I've had my nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra for almost two years now (got around new years), I had to upgrade my power supply for it (250w to 550w, spent about $50). It was working fine for a while, but about late Spring Time, my computer started to act funny. It shut down, claiming it was a thermal event, so I just bought some fans, put them in, and hoped it would be fine. It kept happening.

I asked my uncle about it (he's some computer fixer guy or something) and he said my power supply was probably delievering the wrong voltage to something. I switched my powersupply back to the old one and it stopped, and it was fine.

Later in the year, I had two hard drive failures. Both of the hard drive were in long before I even got my new video card. Could that have been caused by the power supply? My brother told me that he read online that faulty power supplies can seriously damage computer components, and warned me against powersupplies $50 and under because they are probably made from cheap stuff.

I have a Dell Dimension 8300 I believe, so I contacted Dell with this problem and they claimed that the motherboard could not handle power supplies over 300 some watts, my brother claims that Dell is full of you know what, and there are no power limits on motherboards.

So my real question is, can certain motherboards only handle a certain amount of power? Is my power supply just faulty? Did my hard drives crash because of it? Will I ever get the full power out of my video card with my current setup? Also, with my current connectors I can only find 80-120 GB hard drives for my computer, and I would like at least 160 (big games these days), I pretty much have to upgrade my motherboard to get more than 120 GB right?

One last question (if this one remains unanswer I will just reask in the powersupply section). How does power supply work? If the most power consuming part in your computer calls for a 550w power supply, is that all you need? Or does it stack up? Say you have one of those fancy new physics cards that calls for 300w, would you need 850 watts for both? or just 550w?

I'm not sure what else to mention. Sorry for the long read, I think I put everything in there.

Thank you very much, it would mean the world to me if I could just fix this computer. Sorry if my questions are too broad of range for any one section on this forum.

Thanks again.

12-23-2006, 08:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
Prometheus_SD7 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 92 OS: XP SP3	Newbie question, power supply, motherboard... This kind of relates to multiple components, but since I am looking for a new motherboard (maybe), I decided to post this here, I hope this is the right place. I've had my nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra for almost two years now (got around new years), I had to upgrade my power supply for it (250w to 550w, spent about $50). It was working fine for a while, but about late Spring Time, my computer started to act funny. It shut down, claiming it was a thermal event, so I just bought some fans, put them in, and hoped it would be fine. It kept happening. I asked my uncle about it (he's some computer fixer guy or something) and he said my power supply was probably delievering the wrong voltage to something. I switched my powersupply back to the old one and it stopped, and it was fine. Later in the year, I had two hard drive failures. Both of the hard drive were in long before I even got my new video card. Could that have been caused by the power supply? My brother told me that he read online that faulty power supplies can seriously damage computer components, and warned me against powersupplies $50 and under because they are probably made from cheap stuff. I have a Dell Dimension 8300 I believe, so I contacted Dell with this problem and they claimed that the motherboard could not handle power supplies over 300 some watts, my brother claims that Dell is full of you know what, and there are no power limits on motherboards. So my real question is, can certain motherboards only handle a certain amount of power? Is my power supply just faulty? Did my hard drives crash because of it? Will I ever get the full power out of my video card with my current setup? Also, with my current connectors I can only find 80-120 GB hard drives for my computer, and I would like at least 160 (big games these days), I pretty much have to upgrade my motherboard to get more than 120 GB right? One last question (if this one remains unanswer I will just reask in the powersupply section). How does power supply work? If the most power consuming part in your computer calls for a 550w power supply, is that all you need? Or does it stack up? Say you have one of those fancy new physics cards that calls for 300w, would you need 850 watts for both? or just 550w? I'm not sure what else to mention. Sorry for the long read, I think I put everything in there. Thank you very much, it would mean the world to me if I could just fix this computer. Sorry if my questions are too broad of range for any one section on this forum. Thanks again.