Question about a power supply

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Flash_AAA

New Member
My power supply has been making some noise after i moved it to my house. So I'm considering on buying another one, a 420 watt thermaltake but it says it's P4 complient but nothing about AMD. Do you think it is compatable.


Thermaltake Silent PurePower, 420W ATX power supply.UL, CSA, TUV, CE Approved. Intel Pentium 4 Compliant
Specifications:
Type: ATX
Maximum Power: 420W
PFC: No
Power Good Signal: 100-500ms
Hold-up Time: >16ms at Full Load
Efficiency: >65%
Over Voltage Protection: +5V trip point<+6.8V;+3.3V trip point<+4.5V;+12V trip point<+15.6V
Overload Protection: Not specified
Input Voltage: 115 VAC / 230VAC
Input Frequency Range: 47-63 Hz
Input Current: 10.0A (Measuring 90-132Vrms);5.0A (Measuring 180-264Vrms)
Output: +3.3V@30A;+5V@40A;[email protected];+12V@18A;[email protected];+5VSB@2A


Thx your time
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
12V@18A
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Surprisingly, a bad PSU


1. P4 compatible = it has an ATX12 connector = AMD compatible
2. You'll want to look for a PSU with an absolute minimum of 24A off the 12V rail (if you want to be a bit more futureproof, set it at a minimum of 30A). Older systems made heavy use of the 3.3/5 rails, not so much of modern systems, all the major components are nailed off the 12V rail.
 
Yeti

Yeti

VIP Member
You'll want to look for a PSU with an absolute minimum of 24A off the 12V rail
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Really? Most PSUs that I've seen have 18A off the 12V rail. Also, if there's dual 12V is it additive (ie a 16A on 12V1 and 15V on 12V2 = 31A)?
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, take the PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510 or OCZ Powerstream 520 for instance (the PC P&C being the unquestionable god in PSUs and the Powerstream being the it-doesnt-cost-three-billion-dolllars-and-is-uber-insanely-good).

The PC Power & Cooling is rated as 3.3@30, 5@40, 12@34 (38 peak)
The OCz is rated as 3.3@28, 5@40, 12@34

Two features of modern PSUs, ActivePFC and dual 12V rails: neither of these groundbreaking PSUs have dual rails and the OCz doesnt feature APFC (at least not on their North American models)

1. ActivePFC, in Canada/USA (and other places but I dont know them specically to comment directly) is arguably a bad thing. APFC is there to provide power correction at the expense of a bit of efficiency ... sure.... great ... thats a good thing ... however in Canada/USA the power is generally quite stable 115@60 almost universally and generally speaking the power is mostly clean to start with thus meaning the APFC is reducing the efficiency of the PSU for no reason. Generally speaking passive PFC is good enough if you have "normal" power (it is interesting to note that for the PowerStream PSUs, only the international models ship with APFC)

2. Two rails is a nice feature and provides additional stability when connecting heavy drain devices. But if the single rail is solid as hell, as these ones are, "twin rails" is just a marketing trick (although it does have benifits but the benifits dont correspond to the price jump). The OCz PowerStream 600 features twin rails (20A and 18A respectively) and the PC Power & Cooling 850 packs four rails (17A,17A,17A,17A). But getting back to single rails -- you dont NEED them, it IS a good thing to have but it should not be the first thing on the "stuff to look for" list

Also, if there's dual 12V is it additive (ie a 16A on 12V1 and 15V on 12V2 = 31A)?
Click to expand...
Yes they are :)

Hope that was helpful
 
X

xelliottxsmithx

New Member
im really new at this and im buying parts. is an 18A power supply good?
you may haveposted it above but i dont understand everything fully
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
18A is acceptable as a minimum for a mainstream system however really the minimum should prolly be 24A ... power users should be looking at 30A or more.
 
mgoldb2

mgoldb2

VIP Member
On paper does this look like a good PSU. It the one that came with my case which seems to work great but am curious if you would consider it good

psuspec.jpg
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
Power output there looks great however a few other things to consider too:
1. Voltage tolerance: while not all PSUs can keep up with PC P&C's 1% variance, most good ones fit within 3% (ATX spec calls for 5% for everything except -12V which is 10% and the +12V can also go 10% at peak)

2. Holdtime: the longer the better: this is more of an issue with people dealing with not-so-great-power and holdtime is a measure of how long a PSU can hold its power output when there is ... um ... no power :p Usualy 16ms is normal

3. Power efficiency, the more the better
 
mgoldb2

mgoldb2

VIP Member
Praetor said:
2. Holdtime: the longer the better: this is more of an issue with people dealing with not-so-great-power and holdtime is a measure of how long a PSU can hold its power output when there is ... um ... no power :p Usualy 16ms is normal
Click to expand...

hopfully this does not matter for me because I have a fairly good UPS that suppose to keep constant power flow and clean up the power while it at it.
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
hopfully this does not matter for me because I have a fairly good UPS that suppose to keep constant power flow and clean up the power while it at it.
Click to expand...
Yeah most UPS units have something like "zero clamping time" so you shouldnt have too much of a problem. Furthemore, if its a decent UPS it will have an integrated power conditioner so the power will be indeed cleaned (thus negating the need for APFC which just reduced power efficiency)
 
mgoldb2

mgoldb2

VIP Member
Praetor said:
Furthemore, if its a decent UPS it will have an integrated power conditioner so the power will be indeed cleaned (thus negating the need for APFC which just reduced power efficiency)
Click to expand...

Is the intergrated power conditioner feature called AVR(automatic vultage regulation) because I know for a fact I have that.
 
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