Power Supply Woes

ndrupert

ndrupert

Geek Trainee
I recently had a hercules 400w ps and it fried some parts in my computer. They replaced the parts but game me the same brand ps. Now im getting the same problem as before! asus probe is reporting the ps to be putting out 13v when its supposed to be putting out 12v is this bad? will it explode again?
I have been looking at a startech 400w ps from compusa. Does anyone know if those are reliable because its pretty cheap (around 40$).
 
I've not heard of either brand of power supply. I do know there is a Hercules brand that makes sound cards and such, but I don't see power supplies listed on their website, so I'm gonna take a guess that the same Hercules PSU you have isn't made by the Hercules I'm thinking of.

If you're willing to spend a little more, you can get a Thermaltake 480W Silent Purepower PSU for $55 @ Newegg. I haven't personally used that unit, but it's got good specs to it and is fairly cheap for the specs it has. Thermaltake is also a pretty good brand from everything I've been reading in this respect.
 
I ran down to compusa and they didnt have the startech 400w. So i got a compusa brand psu thats 400w it costed 50$ and my asus probe is showing 12.2v. Yay i beleive thats good enough. As long as it doesnt destroy my hard drive like my old one. And btw that hercules I looked for company websites as well but couldnt not find any. However if you search for hercules power supply you get places to buy them ;). I wouldnt recommend them to satan, thats how evil they are.
This new one is kinda whacko. I dunno.... it fluxes alot and it runs hot. Also the 3.3v was really low for a bit and the computer would turn off. I reconnected all my drives and stuff to different wires from the powersupply and it seems fine now. I will upload a screenshot. Just go to http://photos.yahoo.com/ndrupert2003
 
You'll have fluctuations, but as long as they're not over 10% either way, you're fine.
 
Ok but when the new psu gets hot all the volts go down so i turn the computer off and wait for it to cool and i turn comp back on. What should i do to keep it cool instead of what im doing now (case is open and on open floor with house fan pointed at it) even doing this the 3.3 volts drop when I am playing a game. Is it a pos psu or do I need a bigger psu? its 400w supplying an asus a7n8x-e mobo w/ amd xp 3200, 512 ram & geforce 4 ti4200, 2 cd drives, and a 30gb hard drive. I even detached the floppy drive hoping it would help and it did some.
Also i have an older psu thats reliable and 250w will that work?
 
Sounds like you got a crappy power supply.

See the first rig in my sig? I run 2 optical drives and 3 hard drives along side an Athlon XP 2400+ system with a Radeon 9600XT and some other stuff. I'm only using a 350W power supply, but it's a quality unit.

I don't know what other power supplies CompUSA stocks, but if they're anything like Best Buy, you should be able to find an Antec TruPower 400W or better unit.
It will be more expensive, but it will be better than the CrapUSA PSU you've got now.

The wattage is really irrelevant. Amperage (Amps) are everything.

Good brands: Antec, Sparkle, Enermax, Thermaltake, and, if you have the money, PC Power & Cooling (the Rolls Royce of power supplies).
 
ok i will return this one and hopefully get my momey back and get a antec
EDIT:
I put in my old 250 and it runs perfectly. The 250w is actually blowing cold air out of it. I love it.
 
Be careful running cheap PSUs. You think they're ok then... bam! They die on you the day before you have to hand in your English preliminary coursework and then suddenly start when you get back home.
 
pshhh I dont use my computer for school so its all good. But gaming is my life, my pathetic, worthless life. So if my computer is broken I have less of a life than I had when the computer worked.
 
If that is the case with your life. Then go out side and find some cardboard boxes and put them togther to look like a computer. Then draw a stick figure with a gun in its hand on the box. Their you go your playing computer games in no time. Just kidding.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top