Ok, I've been running my new system for a week or two now, specs in my sig. The problem I'm having is random hangs, bsod's etc, it just wont get past CPU test 2 in 3DMark05 if I run all tests in order, however it will run that test if I don't run any others. I've put these down to one of two things:
1) overheating RAM, as its hot to touch, and/or overheating PWM chips on my graphics card. Both are normally passive cooled, and becuase I've replaced the nearby fans for waterblocks, neither are getting much airflow over them.
2) PSU Power. Its rated at 480W, with 18A on the 12v rail.
Though I've not had any warnings about low power from the gfx card, I think the latter is the problem. I've seen the 12v dip to 11.39v underload, baaad!
So what I did was to rig up 2PSU's to take some load off to test. Connected via relay, the second PSU powers on with the first, and they are plugged in as follows:
PSU1 - Watercooled 480W (12v+ 18A) [Unbranded but Decent enough quality]
Main 20pin ATX plugged in (via 20->22pin adapter)
Four pin Floppy connector -> Floppy Drive
Four pin Floppy connector -> MoBo
Four pin power connector -> x2 Maxtor 7200rpm 120GB SATA drives
Four pin power connector -> Dual PSU relay (Doesn't draw much if any current)
PSU2 - Aircooled Unbranded 550W (12v+ 15A) [yuk!]
Main 20pin ATX plugged in to relay (No current drawn)
Four pin ATX extra power connector plugged in to MoBo
Four pin power connector -> 6pin GFX card power connector
Four pin power connector -> Motherboard extra power connector
So I would have thought that would be enough to take the load of my 480W PSU, but no! Its still having the odd crash, and the 12v+ rail still drops below 11.4v (not as much as before)
So I'm now concerned that more amps are required than just 18? If this is the case, no matter how I rig up a 2nd PSU it wont be enough, unless one of them has more than 18A... Which is a BIG PROBLEM when my replacement PSU on order has dual 18A 12v+ rails, which I thought would be more than enough.