The Longest Pause In The World...

[Markel]

The longest pause in the world is...

...how long it takes to get the POST beep the first time you power on your computer after you've had a power supply burn out and just installed a new one.

But when it finally happens, WHAT RELIEF!!!

As I was getting ready to go to be last night, I started a process doing a format conversion on 2 movies (i.e., heavy CPU demands). All of a sudden my computer turned off, and wouldn't power back on. (Sick feeling begins.) I reached to the back and the area of the case around the power supply was quite warm. Uh oh. :mad:

There's a TigerDirect outlet 15 minutes from my work, so at lunch today I ran over there (since they have the Antec True430 for $80 - best online with free shipping is about $73, but I didn't want to wait on shipping). Took out the old PSU (which was a "bargain" 400 watt one) -- hmm, the fan doesn't turning very freely. Popped in the Antec, hooked everything up, plugged in the power, hit the power switch (it started now!) and waited...and waited...and waited. It seemed to be taking a lot longer than I usually remember waiting to hear the beep. But finally, ahhhhh.

The Antec is a lot quiter than my old PSU, to boot. :)

[DaFunkyUnit]

i totally feel you, man. Like when you build a machine from scratch and you first turn it on. first PSU goes on, CPU fans start spinning, case fans go, but you wait, and wait for that beep (and hopefully something to come up on the monitor). <sigh>

o, btw, there is a Hardware topic, you know? ;)

[raimin]

Originally posted by Markel
The longest pause in the world is...

...how long it takes to get the POST beep the first time you power on your computer after you've had a power supply burn out and just installed a new one.

But when it finally happens, WHAT RELIEF!!!

As I was getting ready to go to be last night, I started a process doing a format conversion on 2 movies (i.e., heavy CPU demands). All of a sudden my computer turned off, and wouldn't power back on. (Sick feeling begins.) I reached to the back and the area of the case around the power supply was quite warm. Uh oh. :mad:

There's a TigerDirect outlet 15 minutes from my work, so at lunch today I ran over there (since they have the Antec True430 for $80 - best online with free shipping is about $73, but I didn't want to wait on shipping). Took out the old PSU (which was a "bargain" 400 watt one) -- hmm, the fan doesn't turning very freely. Popped in the Antec, hooked everything up, plugged in the power, hit the power switch (it started now!) and waited...and waited...and waited. It seemed to be taking a lot longer than I usually remember waiting to hear the beep. But finally, ahhhhh.

The Antec is a lot quiter than my old PSU, to boot. :)

Happened to me like 2 months ago. Old POS $20 PSU stopped working. Prayed it was just PSU. Piked up same True430. worked fine ever since

Best sound in the world :D

[Markel]

Originally posted by raimin


Happened to me like 2 months ago. Old POS $20 PSU stopped working. Prayed it was just PSU. Piked up same True430. worked fine ever since

Best sound in the world :D
Yeah. The first time you build a system, it's nice to hear, but then you don't anticipate anything being bad. But after your PSU blows, it's really scary wondering about what else it might have taken out with it. Especially when you've got 240GB of Raid 0 hard drives on an older onboard Raid system that might be hard to duplicate.

But I'm really impressed by the True430. My system used to have CPU temps running up to the upper 50s under load, now it stays well below the mid-40s. And the internal temp of my case used to be in the mid-upper 20s, now it stays at 20-21. And much quieter, to boot!

[irwin]

I think the Antec psu is a lot quieter than your old one, to boot! :)

[Markel]

Originally posted by passwird
I think the Antec psu is a lot quieter than your old one, to boot! :)
Yeah, it does boot better with the Antec. ;)

[Dave_7]

On more than one occasion... I've had my heart sink as I press the power button for the first time after assembly... and nothing. Only to find that I had yet to connect the case buttons to the mobo.

:P



Dave.

[Devhux]

Originally posted by Dave_7
On more than one occasion... I've had my heart sink as I press the power button for the first time after assembly... and nothing. Only to find that I had yet to connect the case buttons to the mobo.

:P



Dave.

On my P4 1.6GHz system I built, I connected everything up, and then powered up only to discover that somehow the CPU wasn't in its socket firmly enough (don't ask me how that happened -- it didn't make sense).... even the onboard Port80 indicator didn't help diagnose that one.

(Luckily I've learned from my mistakes on future builds.

[johnnymk]

Originally posted by Markel



But I'm really impressed by the True430. My system used to have CPU temps running up to the upper 50s under load, now it stays well below the mid-40s. And the internal temp of my case used to be in the mid-upper 20s, now it stays at 20-21. And much quieter, to boot!

Why would a different power supply affect the CPU temperature?:confused:

[Joshua]

Originally posted by johnnymk


Why would a different power supply affect the CPU temperature?:confused:

Possibly the new PSU has bigger/better fans in it?

[PrObLy]

Originally posted by johnnymk


Why would a different power supply affect the CPU temperature?:confused:

Some of the crappy bargain 'high wattage' power supplies get extremely hot when the computer is under load and they usually dont have a big/fast enough fan to fully exhaust all that hot air, so it essentially just shoots the heat right at your processor's HSF making your case like an oven.