hey guys........gimme a helping hand here plz

C

CASTLECASCADE

New Member
I built (assembled) my own system two years ago (first and only one). I selected each part and have been very happy with it so far. Not a single glitch.......until, yesterday, when I decided to add one more hard disk. I smelt smoke; in the beginning, the computer won't power on. I was sure the power supply got fried. But after 10 minutes, I came back and powered again -> Realized the psu is working; but TWO of my hard disks (one, the new one) got fried. I confirmed this by testing them on a different machine.

System specs:
Quad core Q6600
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
Corsair 4gb RAM
BFG Geforce 8600GT (not a gamer :)
2 - DVD writers
1 - WD Raptor Hard drive (sata)
3 - 500GB Hard drives (problem occured when I added the 3rd one) (all sata)
No additional fans for the CPU
Corsair HX520 PSU (modular)

I am relatively a newbie (my only credit: i built a system of my own...yehh!)
Wasn't my 520watts PSU enough for the 4 hard disks and the rest of my parts (MY VIDEO CARD DOESN'T NEED ITS OWN POWER).

So, i fried two of the 500gb hard disks (warranty issues are separate; i will try that route). But my question is: WHAT PSU SHOULD I BUY NOW (i am going to sell the hx520, as it is clearly not enough)? Is HX620 enough?..or even higher?

Or should I have looked at what PSU slot to fit each peripheral in? I mean, there is stuff like 12Volt railing (three of them?) and other Volt railing which have their own maximum Amperes. This is STUFF I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Should I have somehow divided my peripherals based on the railings (hx520 being enough watts for my parts)? Or do i need more power and how much?


THANK YOU GUYZZZ........:(


p.s. oh, please ask if you need any more info

p.s. forgot to add:
The first time (when i fried the first disk), i just smelt smoke; the case being closed. The second time, I unplugged the connectors from the fried hard disk. Then tried to power on, I could actually see a continuous spark and smoke from another of my hard disks where the connector plugs in. I switched the comp. off immediately (after few seconds). But that one too got fried.
Now the only other thing to mention is that, since I was short of enough PSU to hard disk cables, I had to use a connector. The one that converts the 4 pin power plug from the psu to the SATA plug that goes to the hard disk. I don't know if using that contributed to the problem.
Thanks again.
 
Last edited:
CASTLECASCADE said:
I built (assembled) my own system two years ago (first and only one). I selected each part and have been very happy with it so far. Not a single glitch.......until, yesterday, when I decided to add one more hard disk. I smelt smoke; in the beginning, the computer won't power on. I was sure the power supply got fried. But after 10 minutes, I came back and powered again -> Realized the psu is working; but TWO of my hard disks (one, the new one) got fried. I confirmed this by testing them on a different machine.

System specs:
Quad core Q6600
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
Corsair 4gb RAM
BFG Geforce 8600GT (not a gamer :)
2 - DVD writers
1 - WD Raptor Hard drive (sata)
3 - 500GB Hard drives (problem occured when I added the 3rd one) (all sata)
No additional fans for the CPU
Corsair HX520 PSU (modular)

I am relatively a newbie (my only credit: i built a system of my own...yehh!)
Wasn't my 520watts PSU enough for the 4 hard disks and the rest of my parts (MY VIDEO CARD DOESN'T NEED ITS OWN POWER).

So, i fried two of the 500gb hard disks (warranty issues are separate; i will try that route). But my question is: WHAT PSU SHOULD I BUY NOW (i am going to sell the hx520, as it is clearly not enough)? Is HX620 enough?..or even higher?

Or should I have looked at what PSU slot to fit each peripheral in? I mean, there is stuff like 12Volt railing (three of them?) and other Volt railing which have their own maximum Amperes. This is STUFF I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Should I have somehow divided my peripherals based on the railings (hx520 being enough watts for my parts)? Or do i need more power and how much?


THANK YOU GUYZZZ........:(


p.s. oh, please ask if you need any more info

p.s. forgot to add:
The first time (when i fried the first disk), i just smelt smoke; the case being closed. The second time, I unplugged the connectors from the fried hard disk. Then tried to power on, I could actually see a continuous spark and smoke from another of my hard disks where the connector plugs in. I switched the comp. off immediately (after few seconds). But that one too got fried.
Now the only other thing to mention is that, since I was short of enough PSU to hard disk cables, I had to use a connector. The one that converts the 4 pin power plug from the psu to the SATA plug that goes to the hard disk. I don't know if using that contributed to the problem.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
The HX520 is plenty of power for a rig with a low power gpu like the 8600gt. However, it sounds like your molex->sata adapter was bad..
 
Enough for the low power GPU and 4 hard disks?

Then it is a good news for me. I can just get the additional cable and don't worry about buying a new PSU.

4 hard disks don't take too much power?

Thank you
 
not really, hard drives are kind of low power compared to things like gpu's and cpu's(that raptor might be an exception) and like bomber said, i would blame it on the adapter you used, since your psu is a quality unit
 
CASTLECASCADE said:
Enough for the low power GPU and 4 hard disks?

Then it is a good news for me. I can just get the additional cable and don't worry about buying a new PSU.

4 hard disks don't take too much power?

Thank you
Click to expand...
Your entire rig probably isnt using much more than 200W or so anyhow.. Heck, two 4890's in crossfire plus an i7 draw just under 500W.
 
I have a similar issue one of the molex plugs on my corsair is bad anything I plug in gets fried. Once you figure out which ones it is just tape them up so you don't use them.

Good luck getting a new hard drive I don't think the warranty covers faulty PSU plugs.
 
Thanks pal. I will see how the warranty goes. I will try anyways.

Still one question remains.

When I plug in stuff to the Corsair, do I need to worry about the different, Railings, how much maximum ampere each can take/give etc? Or is it okay to connect everything (mentioned in my previous posts) to the psu as long as the connector fits and cord reaches?

p.s. I don't even know which slot is which railing. They all look the same (the psu slots in to which I plug in the modular cables)
 
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