***OFFICIAL Power Supply/BIOS THREAD***

[ATI LoVeR 8500]

Since most of the problems have been PSU or Motherboard Bios version related with the Radeon 9700, we should have an official thread. The clutter in this forum is getting to high, this should help.

From what it looks like, an Average system needs a 400watt good name power supply to keep the Radeon 9700.

-Enermax
-Sparkle
-Seasonic

Seem to be the best for the Radeon 9700, especially Enermax.

AVOID NO NAME POWER SUPPLIES! BUY ENERMAX!

The Antec power supplies under 500w have not been that great either.

So post here if you need help. If you have a working Radeon 9700 post your PSU, and system specs, and BIOS VERSION!

Post steps too on what you did with your Bios or powersupply!

Keep the clutter down! I'm not a mod, but all those damn threads are annoying as hell to sift through!

[karlotta]

PCpowerCooling 400wSILENCER®

MSI via133a BIOS,3.0

[Captain Beige]

Enermax 350W
KR7A-RAID with latest (9N) bios

problem: cold boot issue

I'm thinking of buying a Enermax 550W PSU

atm, my +5V is only 4.81V
this is because I'm running too many devices ?

[LucidDefender]

Enermax is meh. Enermax power supplies have no warranty at all, are extremely expensive, and you aren't guaranteed to get one with decent voltages.

I'm also wary of the new Antec Trupower power supplies. There have been many reports of them dying, and it's also reported that need to time to "burn-in" before you get decent voltages.

I had very good luck with a Heroicihi 350w power supply in my brother's P4 setup. It's constructed very well, has dual fans, is inexpensive, and has excellent voltages. Herocihi supplied Antec with their 350 watt power supplies, according to what I've read.

[ATI LoVeR 8500]

Originally posted by Captain Beige
Enermax 350W
KR7A-RAID with latest (9N) bios

problem: cold boot issue

I'm thinking of buying a Enermax 550W PSU

atm, my +5V is only 4.81V
this is because I'm running too many devices ?

What devices do you have? A 350w PS seems borderline to me, but if that system is loaded then, that might be a problem.

[divisionbell]

This stuff about 350W PS not being enough is BS. Soory, but a 300W PSU shoudl run it fine. The high watt power supplies out are FAR exceeding the needed power that computers really ned(this does not include 'super cooled pc's).

[Sasquach]

its not the wattage that matters, its the +5 +12 whatever those values are.
if those are consistent with the ratings then you should be fine.
if they are not (lower by a little im guessing) then your in for some trouble.

at least thats how i understand it.

[Wild_Bill]

Originally posted by ATI LoVeR 8500
What devices do you have? A 350w PS seems borderline to me, but if that system is loaded then, that might be a problem.

Enermax 350w, EpoX 4G4A+, Revision 2424 Bios, 3 x 80Gb 7200 RPM H/Drives, Liteon 48xCDRW, Liteon 16xDVD Rom, Pioneer 104 DVDRW, P4 2.26B @2720, 512Mb PC3200 @DDR400, 4 x Case fans, Audigy Platinum, Firewire capture card, 2 x NIC's - No stability or power issues here.

L8ters

Bill.

[X-Reaper]

Wheres a good place to buy Cases with the Power supply already installed? I'm thinking about getting the Enermax 400 watt PS.

[jima13]

umm, nevermind

According to Dan > http://www.dansdata.com/sfpsu.htm < Enermax, Topower, and Super Flower are all made in the same factory in Guangzhou, China; the Super Flower looks quite a bit like the TTGI > http://www.emaxasp.com/a-pro/details...m=PS%2DTT500SS < I've been using; currently have 3 of these 420,470 and 520 and have had no issues so far (my 9700 isn't installed yet though)

FSP Group and Zippy/EMACS power supplies have been used by PC Power and Cooling. FSP Group came from the merger of Fortron Source and Sparkle Power about 8 years ago. A 460w Zippy can be found here> http://rackmountpro.com/productpage.cfm?prodid=828

Directron.com uses a crude weight rating on some of their power supplies ie the PCP&C Turbo Cool 425w weighs 7lb compared to the 4.32lb of the Antec 550 True Power.....power supplies by the pound and $$ to match.

Noise? well the specs on the Turbo Cool list 44db, my watercooled system with the TTGI 520w, 3 120mm fans and the waterpump running hits about 35db.....unless I run the power suppy fans on the high setting, then I bump over 40db.

Just my .02 cents.....

[Wild_Bill]

Originally posted by X-Reaper
Wheres a good place to buy Cases with the Power supply already installed? I'm thinking about getting the Enermax 400 watt PS.

It would be easier to buy a case without a power supply then fit your own - most quality cases come without power supplies.

L8ters

Bill

[gravioli]

Antec Truepower 330W powering the following:

HP dvd200i DVD+RW
Kenwood 52x CD-ROM
60GB Western Digital
40GB Western Digital
Firewire Zip 250 Drive

No problems whatsoever.

[Captain Beige]

Originally posted by ATI LoVeR 8500
What devices do you have? A 350w PS seems borderline to me, but if that system is loaded then, that might be a problem.

Athlon 1GHz (100 FSB)
SBlive! 5.1
9700 pro
Linksys NIC
56k v92 modem
LS-120
DVD-ROM
CD-RW
HDD
Chasis fan


to the guy (edit: Wild Bill, plus same thing for gravioli) who said had no problems with same power; you're using P4 not Athlon, so have an extra 12V connection from PSU

[Wild_Bill]

Originally posted by Captain Beige
Athlon 1GHz (100 FSB)
SBlive! 5.1
9700 pro
Linksys NIC
56k v92 modem
LS-120
DVD-ROM
CD-RW
HDD
Chasis fan


to the guy (edit: Wild Bill, plus same thing for gravioli) who said had no problems with same power; you're using P4 not Athlon, so have an extra 12V connection from PSU

The EpoX 4G4A+ does not have or use the 4 pin P4 additional power connector needed on some of the 850 chipsets! - but I see where your heading, maybe the Athlon's suck more juice than a P4 Northwood.

L8ters

Bill

[killrose]

Originally posted by Captain Beige
Enermax 350W
KR7A-RAID with latest (9N) bios

problem: cold boot issue

I'm thinking of buying a Enermax 550W PSU

atm, my +5V is only 4.81V
this is because I'm running too many devices ?

No, I think it's because Enermax has a sucky 5+ line. I just sent mine back to Newegg under RMA for the same problem. I could run an XP1600+, but anything over that and crashes. I'm surprised that you are still up and running with 4.81 idle.(?)

[david]

KR7A-RAID 9n bois 400 watt sparkle - all going great!
300 watt sparkle = no go

abit KD7 default bios 400 watt sparkle - all going great!
300 watt sparkle = no go

[Chuki]

431watt enermax everything just peachy, and system is quiter then a whisper... Matter of fact, my harddrive is fregging annoying!

[X-Reaper]

That sparkle ps, these are good ratings for it? I can pick it up cheap from Pacificsolutions.

http://www.partshelf.com/sparpow400wa.html


I know nill about Power supplies.

[Malachi1313]

I disagree with Antec power supplies being not that good. Unless your refering to the ones that aren't "True Power". Here are my specs and everything runs GREAT:

Antec True Power 330 Watt
MSI KT3- Ultra 2 w/5.5 bios version

Incidentally here are the components that are running off that power supply: 3 HDD's, DVD, CD burner, and 4 case fans. Quality not Quantity is the order of the day. Ran 4 loops of 3Dmark 2001 se with NO lockups or stutters.

[Menel]

Enermax 431W Whipser with gold plated connectors

4 harddrives, 2 of them in RAID 0
2 NICs, Audigy, RAdeon 9700 duh!
2 cdroms, and like 16 fans

Works perfectly

[gravioli]

Originally posted by Wild_Bill
The EpoX 4G4A+ does not have or use the 4 pin P4 additional power connector needed on some of the 850 chipsets! - but I see where your heading, maybe the Athlon's suck more juice than a P4 Northwood.

L8ters

Bill

The ECS P4S5A doesn't use an additional connector either.

[HonestJohn]

So far, so good with

550w Antec Tru-Power PSU
ECS K7S5A Motherboard / BIOS 6/26/02

[KJ]

Antec 300w-yeah sure, laugh all you want, but it's working
MSI KT3 Ultra2-R

[lognoronon]

I am using an allied 400w psu and so far its working just fine. I have the latest bios for my motherboard as well.

[Red Harvest]

Originally posted by divisionbell
This stuff about 350W PS not being enough is BS. Soory, but a 300W PSU shoudl run it fine. The high watt power supplies out are FAR exceeding the needed power that computers really ned(this does not include 'super cooled pc's).

Simply not true, another oversimplficiation. The problem is what particular rails are pulling the watts and the tolerances are wide. If you follow the ATX spec. on PSU design you are allowed very wide voltage tolerances (+/- 5% , e.g. 4.75 to 5.25 V on the 5 V rail.) Motherboards, memory, vid cards, and CPU's don't like it when the voltage is fluctuating over a 10% range with load!

A great amount of the power usage will come from your 3.3 and 5 V rail and they won't be rated near the nominal wattage combined. Also, they are not the only parts pulling power.

So here is the problem: you system might require ~200 W on the 3.3 and 5 V rail combined. OK, perhaps your 300W PSU can do it, but can it do it with tight tolerance? MOST can not. That is why PC Power and Cooling and the new Antec True Powers (and the new Vantec) should be so useful--high wattage with tighter voltage regulation.

I have had mediocre luck with an Enermax 430W myself. My old Antec 400 W Smart Power outperforms it on the boards I've tested. The Enermax does seem OK with overclocked 1.4 GHz and with an AthlonXP 2100+, but I question whether or not it could support the 9700 on my system.

[OmegaOne]

I really really hope that my 431W Enermax VE will be suffecient for the card...

I will kiss Woody Allens arse if it is too weak :/

[DaleK]

Antec 430 watt True Power. My 5 and 12 volt lines don't fluctuate at all. I also have a p4 1.6a @ 2.5 ghz with DDR running at 412. Everything is beautiful.

[Fotis]

Does anyone know if Herolchi's produce much noise?

[Jandar]

Stated this in another thread, but here it is again....


CompUSA boxed 500watt Power Supply (Antec reboxed special)

Soyo K7V DRAGON +
AMD XP 2000+
512MB Mushkin DDR


1 WD 40GB
1 IBM 40GB
1 Maxtor 40GB
1 Maxtor 60GB

1 Pioneer DVR-104
1 24X10X40 CDRW (ricoh rebadge)

2 120mm Fans
1 80mm fan

1 blue neon
2 blacklights


no problem with all turned on, even have no problems with lights on when I powerup.

[ragingWS6]

Using PC Power and Cooling 425ATX (425W) and everything runs great. Never had a problem with it since the PSU upgrade (fixed 8500 problems with Epox 8KHA+). System is the first one in the sig....plus 4 system fans, and a cold cathode light inside. I have experienced NO lockups on the 9700!