What line does the cpu run off

[drunken_master]

Does it run off the 5v or 3.3v line. I'm looking to buy a new psu and wanted to know if i should be looking for better 3.3 or 5v lines. When i o/c my chip only my 5v line is reducing to like 4.7 when 1.4@1.6 Athlon. What PSU's do you guys recommend for a system, 2 7200rpm hdd's, dvd, GF3, athlon overclocked a shigh as it will go(system crashes while stablity testing at 1.4@1.6 as the line dips beneath 4.68 at 1.58Ghz it satys at 4.7 and remains stable, been on form about 8days). I've got quite a bit of cash, should I buy a huge psu so i don't need an upgrade in the next few years, like a 550w enermax, what other PSU's are supposed to be good, what generic brands are supoosed to be ok, Macron, Deer? Any help would be fine, and even though I have the case for a 55W enermax, i'd prefer to spend money on other stuff, ie/ I'm a cheap student to tell me what budget PSU to get!!

[Brad]

5v in most older boards, 12v in 90% of asus athlon boards, 12v in damned near every P4 board.

enermax sucks. your 5v would be at 4.3v and your 12v at 13.5v before you even started.

buy an antec pp412x, anything in the directron triple fan series, cwt 420w

[drunken_master]

Can you get the Directron units anywhere else, its £40 it get it delivered to the UK. Anyone know of a cheap USA store that will deliver international, or anywhere else. I saw the 500(oe is it 550w)directron unit and thought it lokked very good. I've found a similar unit here in UK but appears on internet store as unbranded, I'm gonna phone to check what brand it is but does it matter, if a PSU states it has specific stats it should run at them, shouldn't it? ITs £68 which is like $105. Its ratings are
+3.3v 26a, +5v@47A, +12v@28A 235W for 3.3v and 5v. 336 for 12v and maximum 450W +22 for -12v,-5v and +5vsb

Thermal fan protection, electric shock free protection(whats this)
Scan disc free protection, over voltage/current/short circuit protection, stable regualtin for all lines at +/-5%
Triple fan cooling, extended output, active PFC.

What do you think?

[Brad]

great specs, buy it!!! hehe, it has some really nice specs

[drunken_master]

So you don't think the brand matters, if the specs are good then it has to be good right. Thats what I think, is the main problem with unbranded PSU is they are normally very low spec? Or is it the quality of the unit, I don't want to spend £70 on something that may or may not be good. But then again, an enermax might turn out to be crap.

[Mr Evil]

There are a lot of things that are often not stated in the specs. For instance:
Line regulation
Load regulation
Noise
Ripple voltage
Hold up time
Efficiency

All of these are important and will vary widely between manufacturers.

[drunken_master]

Ok, i know, I guess my real question was if i go for this unknow brand PSU, is it going to fry my computer or is it maybe just going to be not as good as a equal wattage enermax /sparkle/antec. This is excluding bad PSU's, because all brands get them, I'm talking everyday usage, normal quality(no faults) PSU. Is it really worth me spending an extra £20-£50 on the branded counterparts, I'm pretty god damned skint, or is it just getting slightly lower quality for a better price. I think I'll get it because the fact is, I've got a really crap morex anyway.

Also, does faster ram consume significantly more current, ie if my 5v and 3.3v lines are a little low now, if i get a stick of OCZ PC3200(to replace my generic pc2100) will the board probably not have enough power too run at all. Do i actually need a new PSU first. I am about to(today) mod case with 4 new blowholes and 6 new fans +baybus.

[Brad]

MrEvil is right, but in my experience most psu's that have the P4 power connector on them are quite good.

All enermax's will turn out to be crap hehe, I've heard of about 5 people with them working well.

I know what spending money is like, If I was spending my money, I'd probably buy that triple fan psu. Even if it is a bad psu, just return it to the company.

I wouldn't recommend OCZ, they're just evil, Kingmax make ddr400 too, I'd much prefer their stuff in my system. As for your system running out of power, DDR ram doesn't really use that much power anyway

[drunken_master]

The power running out thing is because I think its tapped out almost at the moment, i think anything else will just cause it to be totally gone, I think I'm gonna get the triple fan PSU, the shops gonna phone me when they get some in stock, tomorrow or day after and tell me what brand it is. What PSU are you running, what 12v ampage you got. I can either get the 420 or 470W, main diffenece one has 18a 12v the other has 28a 12v. the 3.3V are the same and the 5v has like 4a more, so I think i'm gonna go with the £55 420W. Basically there is no way its not gonna kick my morex's ass. I think my main concern on money front was future compatibility and I'm gonna switch to watercooling soon, so peltier's were in my thinking, but I've heard that the new hammers are way power not hungry, they are gonna have core voltage inbetween .8(yes .8 not 1.8) and 1.5v. So it think they are gonna overclock almightily. if they are gonna run at .8v then they have made sure it won't crack at 1.5v, looks to me like they are looking out for their overclockability.SWEET