Power Supply Worry

[Philgo]

Hi all,

Has anybody ever come across a power supply that gives off too much voltage, this is something that I have worried about for years.

The scenario that I have imagined is building a new system, plugging it in and bang, every component in the box fried.

The bottom line is should I worry, has it happened to you.

[bistro]

Never encountered that problem personally or on the forum. Best way to avoid that is not purchase an obvious "cheapie" or install a used one without knowing it's age/amount of usage.

[DrMDJ]

Never had it happen to me. Now of course it always could be possible to get a bad power supply such that the voltages it output were not to spec because of some design or manufacturing flaw. But (in line with what Bistro said) going with a well know brand reduces the chance of this to a minimum.

[Philgo]

Thanks bistro and DrMDJ, looks like I shouldn't worry so much, unless anyone else has had problems.

[SuperSparks]

When I rebuilt my PC recently I decided to check the PSU voltages with a couply of very high accuracy meters (I'm an electrician so I've got all the best test instruments). ALL voltages were with 0.003v of nominal. That's pretty remarkable given that I normally consider a power supply to be good if it's got a regulation better than 3%.
Also in the event of a fault the Power_Good line will hopefully prevent the 'puter from booting up.

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Nick.

[Philgo]

SuperSparks, what is the power_good line?

[DrMDJ]

It's one of the lines from the power supply to the motherboard connector through which a signal (pulse) is sent after the power supply has stablized and is ready for operation. The signal bsically tells the mother board "the power is ready, go ahead an begin the boot process".

[Philgo]

Thanks again DrMDJ and thanks SuperSparks

[zorroonecrow]

why anyone needs a power supply greater than 200 watts is beyond me .

even the packard bell pentium i have only has a 150 power supply i think

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o4 breathalyzer is a safer lower drunk driving test in rhode island----out of the night when the moon is bright

[Philgo]

Sorry zorroonecrow, you can't compare a up to the minute AMD system with a Packard Bell.

Most of the power supplies on the AMD list are 300 watt and you can't get away with less if you are building a powerful system.

[bistro]

zorroonecrow: I'll refer you HERE for more info on power supplies....

[wonderinguy34]

Originally posted by bistro:
zorroonecrow: I'll refer you HERE for more info on power supplies....

Great Link ! Guess I better not add that AGP video card ,I wanted to.


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PII266
Win95b/WinNT/Linux
192 megs ram
30gig Maxtor HD Pri Master(Win95/fat32,Linux/Ext2)
4 gig Quantum Pri Slave(winNT4/NTFS,sharedpart/Fat16)
Creative PC-DVD Dxr2
Creative CDRW 6424
Sound:SoundBlaster PCI64 integrated
Video:ATI mach64 VT2(Int)/Monster II
NIC:3C900B
SCSI Card :came with UMAX610s scanner


Power supply:145W


[This message has been edited by wonderinguy34 (edited 03-23-2001).]