250W PSU not good enough?


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i just got a ECS K7S5A and a Duron 900 the other night and strangeness was all that was goin on last nite. First I built the system and when I powered it on only the heatsink fan and case fan came on. I turned it off then tried turning it on again and nothing happened... then tried again then the fans just came on. I waited a while then a like 10 minutes later EVERYTHING just kicked into overdrive and started working... not everything though. Everythings eemed to be working fine after that but there was no signal being sent to the monitor. The vid card(S) (plural) I tried are fine but there was just no signal being picke dup by the monitor.

weird and strange. so we're using a 250W power supply so that might be the problem. any of u know whether a 250W can hold a Duron 900? here's the specs, nothing special:

ECS ELITEGROUP K7S5A

AMD Duron 900 MHz

Tt Volcano 5

Western Digital 30GB

40x CDROM

250W PSU

Voodoo3 1000 16MB (hehehe)

Linksys 10/100 NIC

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the 250W power suppy is not enough. I tried running a 750mhz Intel Slot-1 P3 and it did random reboots and some of the same problems you are describing. You're gonna have to get a new power supply but MAKE SURE it says that it is AMD RECOMMENDED. If you know of any computer shows in your area, check those out because you can get some really good deals. If thats not an option check Pricewatch. Good luck!

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If the price difference between the 300W and 350W PSU's are small, then just get the 350W PSU. Are you a power user or is this system gonna be left alone with only upgrades happening year or 2?

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A "GOOD" high quality 250W supply is OK, but a 'GOOD" 300W would be better. I have a 250W running a 1GHz athlon with 2HD, 2 CDRWS. A good 250W is better than a cheap 400W. You have to look at the specs and see how much current each of the different voltages can supply, and match it to the requirements of your system.

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300 should be plenty. 250 should be enough but apparently isn't. I think mine (see below) uses about 250 watts so yours should be much lower but if it's a low-grade (reads: cheap-ass) power supply it may not actually supply a full 250 watts (i won't get into the details of why)...bottom line is get a GOOD QUALITY (like antec, pc power & cooling, enermax, etc) power supply...it is one of the most frequently neglected PC components.

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well this comp isn't for me and is being used by someone that doesn't need much comp power. so yeah it's just gonna be a sitter that'll be upgraded every other year.

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Originally posted by darkmark327

300 should be plenty. 250 should be enough but apparently isn't. I think mine (see below) uses about 250 watts so yours should be much lower but if it's a low-grade (reads: cheap-ass) power supply it may not actually supply a full 250 watts (i won't get into the details of why)...bottom line is get a GOOD QUALITY (like antec, pc power & cooling, enermax, etc) power supply...it is one of the most frequently neglected PC components.

im curious about yer vid card. i got a visiontek geforce3 ti200 and it has 64MB DDR. but yers has 128MB?? im confused

thanks the advice ppl.. and yeah it is a cheap-ass psu (*cough*DEER*cough*) :p

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Some companies choose to relaese some Geforce3 cards with 128mb. But it is pretty much useless unless you are running the highest FSAA, then the extra 64mb kicks for a small boost.

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I dont think its the power supply, power supply problem are random reboots and blue screen while loading windows (not what you have). Try one video card at a time. Also see if in the bios there is an option of what vidoe card to use first (AGP or PCI)

I have a Duron 800 on an old PSU from an HP that had a P2 233mhz (i thinks its only like 220W) and my 5V and 3V our great. No singal to the monitor usually means a PCI card or AGP card is loose or not in all the way.

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It could be the PSU, I used to get BSOD, reboots and freezing with a 250W PSU and then I changed to a 400W Powertronic (looks like a Enermax) and it ran fine after that.

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I have a 250 W power supply and I never have a problem what so ever, even on my newly built system

AMD Athon 1900+

ABIT AT7

OCZ 512 MB

ATI Radeon 8500

No BSOD, no crashes, no reboots...etc

I have never experience problem with it in the past neither do I experience problem now

I don't see a need for a more powerful power supply

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got a compusa 250W on my athlon 900 and duron 900

they are cheap supplies but they work.

i dont think thats your issue. if you just built this system, check to see if the mobo is grounded.

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Originally posted by jago6498

Some companies choose to relaese some Geforce3 cards with 128mb. But it is pretty much useless unless you are running the highest FSAA, then the extra 64mb kicks for a small boost.

you are mistaken...now some games (such as jedi knight and sofII) are beginning to make use of said memory if you set texture detail to very high.

Also let's look at the past...when they increased memory from 16 to 32 did it come into play? yes. when they increased from 32 to 64 did they say 'it's more than enough'? yes. Is it used now? yes!

Therefore the decision was quite smart I think.

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Originally posted by jago6498

Some companies choose to relaese some Geforce3 cards with 128mb. But it is pretty much useless unless you are running the highest FSAA, then the extra 64mb kicks for a small boost.

Anyway that reminds me I have to update my sig. :-)

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BS, 250W power supply is plenty. He probably needs to clear his CMOS or some crap like that. Having fans spin but seemingly "no power" is a common problem; it often occurs if your memory/cpu is seated improperly or there is a misconfiguration in the bios. I'm running an Athlon 900, CDROM, CDRW, GF2, SB Live, and a linksys network card on some generic POS 250W powersupply and I've never had any stability issues/random lockups/etc.

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hey ppl.. i eliminated all possibilities (obvious and not so obvious) and foudn out that the new cpu (Duron 900) is bad. not the PSU at all because I ran the Duron on my working rig and it gave the same symptoms; i transplanted my good ole Athlon XP 1900 to the new system I was talking about and it booted fine WITH THE 250W PSU.

so thanks to all yer advice and different opinions. i was about to go get another PSU tomorrow too. ;)

thanks everybody

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Originally posted by zi0nx5

hey ppl.. i eliminated all possibilities (obvious and not so obvious) and foudn out that the new cpu (Duron 900) is bad. not the PSU at all because I ran the Duron on my working rig and it gave the same symptoms; i transplanted my good ole Athlon XP 1900 to the new system I was talking about and it booted fine WITH THE 250W PSU.

so thanks to all yer advice and different opinions. i was about to go get another PSU tomorrow too. ;)

thanks everybody

LOL...but seriously everyone when you build yourself a rig do yourself a favor and don't neglect the power supply! Get a good one.

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Originally posted by Vlad

BS, 250W power supply is plenty. He probably needs to clear his CMOS or some crap like that. Having fans spin but seemingly "no power" is a common problem; it often occurs if your memory/cpu is seated improperly or there is a misconfiguration in the bios. I'm running an Athlon 900, CDROM, CDRW, GF2, SB Live, and a linksys network card on some generic POS 250W powersupply and I've never had any stability issues/random lockups/etc.

This is correct, but you normally get POST beeps through the speaker if something is up regarding things like that..

Such as BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEP for the gfx card, BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP for the memory etc

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I took out the speaker in my case. One less set of wires I can do without. My hardware runs perfectly and the only times I have problems are when I start screwing around with the software.

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Originally posted by Dessimat0r

This is correct, but you normally get POST beeps through the speaker if something is up regarding things like that..

Such as BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEP for the gfx card, BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP for the memory etc

lol sound like road runner :p

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power supplies are a pain in the ass, i remember when i tried to put the power suply from an old celeron 466 in a K6-III 450 (way faster btw) and it wouldn't run if i pluged a video card in because there wasn't enough power (or if i put a better fan on the cpu :))

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