That settles it... AMD CPUs do require a 300W PS

[ablang]

My brother's computer is proof positive that AMD CPUs require a 300W PS. Yesterday, his computer was turned off. Hitting the power button did nothing. A burning smell could be detected. I suspected that the power supply was dead. Upon opening it up, I discovered that a component was burned on the circuit board of the power supply. It was a donut-shaped item held up by copper wire wrapped around it. It and a small part of the circuit board around it were black and reeked of the burning smell. Apparently, the power supply burned out trying to power the hungry CPU.

It was a AMD K6-2 300Mhz with a 230W PS in a mini tower AT case with 1 CD-RW, CD-ROM, floppy, and 6.4 GB HD. The PS lasted about 2 years.

[MrEd]

Don't want to rain on your parade, but I've got an AMD 700MHZ Duron on a 250 watt PS which is also running my Sony CD-RW, an Acer CDROM, 20gig hd, 8gig hd, floppy, 3 sticks of pc100 RAM, ATI RAGE FURY PRO, and a couple other things I just can't recall now, just fine. Maybe it was a surge or something. Is this a home built computer or store bought? If so, what brand is it?

-MrEd
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[OuTpaTienT]

Sounds more like a cheap, or old, or dirty power supply that just failed. A K6-2 hardly needs a 300w ps. A 235w would have no problem with a K6-2 system.

[jad1097]

Hmmm.. Amd K6-3-400, 224MB ram,1 30 gig and 1 8.4gig Maxtor, Acer 4X CDRW, Generic cd-rom, CL PCI 512 sound, V770 TNT2 AGP video, NIC, 56K modem, Hauganpauge PCI tv tuner and a generic case with a 250watt PSU. Oh, lets not forget the two 80mm case fans the one on the CPU and the one on the video card.

I had the PSU fan go bad which caused the PSU to overheat which caused constant crashes, I R&R'd fan and decided to buy a few cans of compressed air to blow out the dust once a month. I built this in Oct.-Nov. of 99' and have no problems.

[ablang]

It was a homebuilt system using ASUS P5A-B board, Atop or Aopen Case & PS. The interior of the PS did have a lot of dust inside, but in my opinion, not enough to cause it to burn.

I don't think it was a surge even though it was a bit windy that day. Both our computers were plugged into its own power centers, plus mine has a UPS, but mine didn't go down.

Could it be that the rest of you guys running AMD's on less than 300W PS are living on borrowed time?

[This message has been edited by ablang (edited 02-08-2001).]

[JayMan]

I've got a 1Ghz Tbird, only have a 250watt PSU, don't think its amd approved. Also does my 16x dvd, hdd, superorb fans, prophet II PRO, 4case fans, etc........ no problems here.

JayMan

[Dputiger]

I ran a K6-2 300, 64 Meg of RAM, a Voodoo2, 4 Meg Diamond Stealth S220, hard drive, fan, and CD-ROM all on one 200 watt PSU for four years. Case+fan still going strong.

The K6-2 never required nearly enough power to drain a 200 watt, much less a 300 watt, PSU. In fact, the K6-2's are relatively economical chips--they have a fairly low power draw.

[Barney]

This burned PSU has got nothing to do with the K6-2. It isn't a big powerconsumer. And there is no such thing as an AMD K6-2 approved PSU.

Even Athlons don't need a 300w PSU. There are 300w PSU's that aren't approved by AMD and 235 watts that are...

I run a SlotA Athlon 750@950 on a SkyHawk 250w unapproved PSU. I also have a GF256 videocard on it, 2 Delta60 mm fans, another 60mm fan, a Sunon 80mm fan and a couple of small ones. Also 2 writers, an Asus 50x cdrom and a Maxtor 10gig 7200rpm hd. I had it run RC5 almost uninterrupted for over a week and keeps cracking.

Ronald

[capybara]

in A+ class the teacher said a rough rule of thumb is: 30 watts each for mobo, socket 7
cpu, video card, and each disk drive
(floppy, hdd, cdrom, etc). david in
san diego. =)

[ablang]

Hmmm. So then all those guys who say things like "AMDs require 300W PS" don't really know what they are talking about?

I even saw a sign in a store once.

"Warning: AMDs require 300W PS or else you will have problems"

[Gomer]

I bet they were trying to sell 300W PS's too.

I have an AMD K6II 450, Pioneer 16X DVD, Plex 12x10x32 burner, diamond v770 video, 2 pci cards, 1 ISA card, and 2 USB devices all running fine on a 200W PS.

[MrEd]

ABLANG, they were talking about the Athlon class of processors, but they don't really "NEED" 300 watts unless you're running a whole **** load of things off of it. ie. multiple cdroms, cdrws, more than one processor, three or four hd's, etc. etc... If your brother plans on upgrading his system down the road to an athlon, then a 300 watt power supply is more than enough. If he's just going to try and keep that one going for awhile, then go find another 235-250 watt. That's more than plenty. Just tell him to blow it out now and then.

Just curious, does he have that thing on a power strip or surge protector by chance? Or is it plugged straight into the wall?

-MrEd
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[alondra]

running two loaded AMD comps with 250W PS. no problems. you seem to have overlooked the posibility that the PS just failed.

[RobRich]

I originally intended this to be an Athlon discussion. However, in reference to the K6-2, I have buily several 550+ Mhz systems with 230watt power supplies.

BTW, I commonly use 430watt Enermax supplies for my Athlon systems. However, I have built a few with as small as 230watt units.

Later,
Robert Richmond