Do I need a cooling ujpgrade 4 my 9700Pro?

[Tomac]

From what I've read in other posts about people w/the 9700 the lower-wattage PSU's that work are quality units running near or at max load whereas cheap generic PSU's w/greater overall wattage are failing because there's insufficient amps available on the 12V rail.
I have a cheap ($35) 450W single fan PSU that appears to be stable w/my XP2700 & 9700 rig but it also lists 16a on the 12V rail. I now keep that cheap PSU as a backup for my new Antec 430W True Power PSU.
You can try running your 9700 w/your current PSU but you risk damaging your mobo & the PSU if your system tries to draw more power than the PSU can provide.
Tomac

[Ricky1810]

Here, a friend who knows a lot of hardware and electronic is saying to me that a generic 300w psu whit the same "9 A on 12 v" is the same thing that having this 250W... is this true ? Must i get a really good PSU like enermax or antec ? Thanx !

[E^vol]

I can't say if you need it or not. But, having a good PSU is never a bad thing. It would help to keep your system stable.
The question is whether you can afford to buy a new PSU :?:

[theyneverknew]

Yeah when I first built my new rig over christmas I was using the crappy generic ps that came with my crappy generic case, unfortunately this meant that whenever i was gaming for more than an hour or 2 the comp would suddenly turn off . Then I got a nice Antec 400W ps and it solved all of my problems :D :thumb: . Unfortunately it also cost me like $80 USD :cry: In the end its definitely worth the stability though, plus it will run more fans and lights

[TOXIC]

Enermac PSUs are crap, they had a really good name about 18months - 24months ago but their quality has seriously dropped. The PSU of choice id defintly ANTEC some of those voltage rail are all over the place.

Dont skimp on the product that supplies ever component with power. I killed a proccesor and a motherboard with a Dodgy Aopen 300watt power supply.

[RDR]

I won't buy another Antec....I had an Antec 510w on a dual Athlon sever...it lasted about 3 weeks. i replaced it with an NMB 480w powersupply - & it's been fine ever since. Even just to look at it the NMB was a heavier, better quality unit:thumb:

the Antec could barely handle the 4x73GB scsi's spinning up - even if I staggered them.

[Ricky1810]

[RDR]

What is the worst thing that can happen????

As long as you aren't using SCSI drives - there's not too much that can happen (as far as permanent damage goes)

Unexplained instability & random restarts are common problems with underpowered systems

[Tomac]

If your system attempts to draw more amps than the PSU can handle then you'll often see voltages drop as the PSU tries to provide the required amps. Running any electronic gear at decreased voltage can lead to damage, whether it's to the PSU or the mobo/cpu/etc.
Tomac
PS- No permanent damage? At the very least you risk burning out your PSU. Check out these articles:

http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20011012/index.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.html?i=1128

[RDR]

PS- No permanent damage? At the very least you risk burning out your PSU.

yes - that's true - you very well could burn out your power supply - I didn't mention that. In most cases though, the risk to other hardware is minmal.

I'm not talking about trying to run a sever with a 165w ps - just the using a low/mid grade 300/350w ps vs. one of the top-of-the-line ps's like enermax in a typical gaming desktop

[Ricky1810]

[Tomac]

Check the date on the Anandtech article, it was written when systems drew most heavily on the 3.3V & 5V rails. Modern system components (cpu's, fans, HDs, video cards like the 9700) now draw most heavily on the 12V rail which is why cheaper/generic PSU's may fail: they provide plenty of power for older system specs but many times not enough over the 12V rail for newer systems.
Tomac

[revenant]

I removed the GPU shim and put AS2 in place of the factory goop to help the cooling process. I get a stable and artifact free clock of 378 on this card now. I also just put tweakmoster ram sinks on the bga modules. Since I have 3.3ns Infineon modules, I knew they were running hot at default speed for this card, so feel better giving them a place to put all that heat. I got these sinks from www.crazypc.com along with the Arctic Silver thermal adhesive. They were very easy to install, and the adhesive congealed into a state where I could put the card back in my pc within 30 minutes. I finally hit 17K on 3Dmark 2001 thanks to my new "cool" setup. Here's a pic....

[SmokeyTheBalrog]

How did you make sure that the ram sinks or the AC adhesive didn't short anything?

[revenant]

I put the AC on very carefully, and any spill over I cleaned up with a Q-tip. It's like a puddy in it's "work" phase, so it was easy to make sure it did not ooze all over the place. I did have a little get on the board on the first chip I gooped up. I pulled away to fast and a string of AC formed between the application stick and the chip. It fell down across some scary looking areas, but I cleaned them up very quickly and have had no problems at all. Feew! It all worked out in the end. I can now clock my ram at 333 with complete stability and no artifacts. I would recommend using these with the Zalman (the new one should allow enough room to use them) so you cool all of the hot components down properly when OCing. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but, seeing bare "high performace" memory modules naked does not sit well with me anymore. I am a big fan (ha, no pun untended) of taking all of the necessary cooling precautions that I can, within reason. Cheers!

:cheers: