diz_guy

Hi all, well first off, I have to say I know nothing much about power supplies, and I did read both of the stickies up top, however, I am still concerned that one day my power supply will end up frying my system (even thought I don't know the chances of it at all).

System specs;
Codegen 600W PSU, 12V - 24A
DFI Lanparty NFII Ultra
ATi Sapphire x1650 pro
1 dvd burner
2 sata hard drives in Raid 0, and 1 spare ide drive

in my bios, i recall my -12v rail stating -12.69 more or less
From what I have just said, I have a few questions to ask:

-What are the chances that my power supply will fry my motherboard?
-What is a short? Why does this happen?

My computer doesn't restart, shut down, or anything like that. I was looking into this because of the fact that I have no idea why motherboards can get fried besides the cause of a 'short' in the power supply.

Thanks in advance

oh, and if there's anymore information you need, please feel free to ask.

Tumbleweed36

First of all, let's talk about your power supply.

Codegen 600W PSU, 12V - 24A

A Codegen is a very weak brand and not very good quality.

With only 24 Amps on the +12 rail and a pci-e card, that is a possible problem, because you should have 26 Amps minimum for a pci-e card.

You mentioned the voltages and that can be caused by it trying to keep up with demands. The +12 rail should be between 11.4 and 12.6 for normal operation. Fluxuations from that either higher or lower can cause damage to parts.

Shorts can be caused by things such as overloading a capaciter in the supply, poor quality (from a poor quality supply) components in the supply, overheating the supply, and the list goes on.

Yes, a weak power supply can fry memory, motherboards, CPU's, etc.

When you decide (I am not telling you that it is necessary at this time, you have to decide that) to purchase a new power supply, look for one of the following brand names:

Seasonic – Any Model
Corsair – Any Model
PC Power & Cooling – Any Model
Thermaltake – “Toughpower” Series Only
Coolermaster – “Real Power Pro” Series Only
Silverstone – Any Model
OCZ – 600 Watt and 700 Watt Series Only

magnethead

that said, i was working on a system that had a poor quality PSU, and we had a power surge. IT took out anything plugged into the motherboard and/or PSU. Turns out i looks like, during the surge, the 12V line went up to as high as 18 volts. I looked in the PSU, and it had several bloated capacitors.

diz_guy

hi again, surprisingly enough, my power supply died on me yesterday. no power will go to my motherboard but if i plug in another power supply, it works. well, i reread everything about power supplies and yet i'm still a little bit confused.

i want to buy a new power supply, seasonic s12 II 330 watts (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151035) . I can see that it has dual railings, 17a + 17a, however i'm not sure if i should get this because it only has 330 watts? my last power supply had 600 watts and one 24a rail.

oh btw, the power supply calculator recommends 428 watts, i just thought that railing is more important?

thanks

Tumbleweed36

You could probably get by with a 500 to a 550 watt power supply with that video card, however, I recommend a 650 for anyone buying a new supply so they don't have to do this again real soon. A Seasonic is top of the line and a great power supply, but you need to buy something larger and one of the following brand names:

Seasonic – Any Model
Corsair – Any Model
PC Power & Cooling – Any Model
Thermaltake – “Toughpower” Series Only
Coolermaster – “Real Power Pro” Series Only
Silverstone – Any Model

diz_guy

thanks for the reply, i may want to go for the silverstone zeus 650w. just wondering what are people's thoughts on it. newegg reviews says that this thing is loud, but noticeably loud to me is about 40+ dBa.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817163108

thanks

Tumbleweed36

I don't have a Silverstone but have been told some are a little on the loud side. However, a great power supply anyway.