I looked into using 2 PSU's.. just because well.. I'm using a 650W seasonic i got like 4yrs ago.. and I'm wondering if thats still good enough to power everything ? (9800GTX soon, Q6600, SB Audigy Card, 3 HD's 2 CD/DVD drives, 250mm fan on side, 2 other 120mm fans, and a VF9000 heatsink).

However I have a 500W one sitting in my room... I could use it to run all of the fans and stuff, as well as maybe the videocard im guessing... when i read up on it all i saw was just taking a wire and plugging it into the big molex connector that goes into your mobo.. that sounds kinda risky.. are there any other solutions ? like maybe something made to do such a thing by a manufacturer ? Other than buying a bigger PSU or buying those videocard PSU's...


Thanks!

Yes, they do make a proper jumper. CoolerMaster offered one with the original Stacker Case.

Really you're not going to connect both power supplies together to act as one,as that is a NO NO.

If power supply 'A' is the main and 'B' is the secondary, 'A' supplies the motherboard and 'B' supplies everything else.

You just need two wires coming from the motherboard connector of 'A' and connected to the same pins of 'B'. These wires will only provide the on and off signal to B.



You may wish to read this:

http://www.directron.com/2powersupplies.html

There can be dangers to anything but the above configuration.

Cheers

The Seasonic should be fine by itself.

i dont see a porblem with 650 watts running that. my old 520 ocz xmod runs, a quad, 8800gt, 2 optical drives, 3 hard drives, and a few fans just fine

Can anyone throw me the name of a benchmark that would test power consumption maybe ? Or anything that I could do to test to see if its hitting its limit or what not... and yes I'd use the 2ndary PSU for things like my CD/DVD drives, my 2 2ndary HD's.. But if the one 650W Seasonic is good enough I'd like to see if i can test it to see for myself.


Thanks

You can buy a power meter thingy at a hardware store that will show you your overall system draw.

Will do.. I get my 9800GTX in a few days.. I'll post up some benchmrks.. as I got a Q6600 as well.. but im running on a board that allows 1333mhz FSB and 1066mhz ram =)

My score was around 12k with my 2900XT.. we'll see how more badass this is.. I'll post the results for what the XT was too with it.

The device is called and clamp on amprobe and is used around ONE conductor only. It measures the magnetic field surrounding the conductor and from that measures current.

Normally the power draw for a computer is measured through your main power cable. If you have an extra power cable kicking around, cut back about 4" of the outer insulation and unravel the three wires. You place the clamp around either the black or white wire and take your reading from there.

I just use one of the power requirement calculators you can find online and then assume ~80% PSU efficiency. You'll want to be a bit above that number obviously but it's a quick and easy way to see how much you'll really need.

http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/Power

As an example with the above guide (which I thought would be biased in power requirements but actually seems quite reasonable) my system is only coming up at 215W's of power used.

No, I ws refering to one of these.

http://www.whateverworks.com/itemdy00.a ... ode=NXCKC6

thanks Flam.. that was easy to use.. unfortunately after i put in all my information it said service unavailabe =( ... oh well...

Q660 @ 340 x 9, idle temps 24C, load 38C, 1.38Vcore.
Now my videocard is my old 7900GTX currently which is half broken anyways so until then..

CPU Score; 4856

It was around 3800 before the OC, I think I can go higher but i had to drop the ratio from 1:1 down, it seems my ram is finicy about going over 800mhz it is officially rated 800mhz.. but its supertalent and nearly 2yrs old.. any suggestions on something new to pickup ? Preferably under $80 (my mobo is rated for up to 1066mhz memory as well).

Ty =)

Most DDR2 requires 2.1V to perform to it's specifcation.

A great device to easily measure overall system draw. The amprobe I mentioned will also allow one to measure the current in any wire coming from the power supply.

Cheers

Thanks for the tip.. 2.2v got it at 810mhz =) running stable w/ Prime.. my processor never got about 40c but my system temp was 40 as well.. mind you i didnt have my 250MM fan plugged in because once i turned on my PC my 2 other HD's turned off.. then i replugged it back again and now it works so.. who knows..!

=) Any suggestions on a new ram kit under $80 be great, but from what I've looked at it really doesn't matter.. only if i get for the 1066mhz ram I wouldn't have to OC it at all to help along the processor.. but then wheres the satisfaction in using factory stocks speedS :L

Just put in my 9800GTX
14817 3dMark06
6154 SM2.0 Score
6156 HDR/SM3.0 Score
4898 CPU Score

CPU @ 340 x 9 , videocard @ stock!

Now to install the 700W rocketfish..! i didnt plan on a new PSU but i was offered it for $80 so.. what the hell =)