Spreading my power supply too thin?

[tre]

Got a question about my own computer for once. I took a dell vostro tower that I got dirt cheap during one of the dell online sales awhile back and have slowly been upgrading the piss out of it.

I now have this poor little tower powering two internal hard drives, an optical drive, an nvidia GTS 450 (with the external power connector connected to two sata connectors), a TV tuner, and a wireless card. This is all on the original 300 or 350 watt PSU (not sure which it is, too lazy to pop the cover and look). I'm running a clean install of Windows 7 and have up to date drivers for everything.

Since the new video card, the computer now stutters at times. Its most noticeable during videos because the sound slurs for a tiny bit. My thinking is the PSU isn't providing enough power to all the peripherals. I don't have a spare atm so I'd just buy a new one to replace it if the general consensus is that's the case. The computer runs great other than this minor annoyance.

Anyone either agree or have suggestions of other things it could be? Just want a little reassurance before I drop $50 for a decent psu.

 

[numnutz]

anything is possible "but" I would look at other things first however have you looked at your video card manufacter website or info, they usually suggest how much ps you need but again anything is possible but most times when I have ps issues, the system either reboots, or shuts down on its own. what are the recommended specs for the video card you installed? how much memory you running in the system? For todays systems 380watt is the absolute lowest I go. 400 or better on most.

also even if its not for your own system you should have a spare ps or two laying around if you repair computers for a living so its worth the investment.....

 

[tre]

anything is possible "but" I would look at other things first however have you looked at your video card manufacter website or info, they usually suggest how much ps you need but again anything is possible but most times when I have ps issues, the system either reboots, or shuts down on its own. what are the recommended specs for the video card you installed? how much memory you running in the system? For todays systems 380watt is the absolute lowest I go. 400 or better on most.

also even if its not for your own system you should have a spare ps or two laying around if you repair computers for a living so its worth the investment.....

I know I'm under the minimum PSU spec for the card. They say 400 minimum and I'm using a 350 if that. It happens when the card isn't doing much (and supposedly not drawing much current) so thats why I figured I'd throw out the question. The system has 4GB system memory btw.

The reason for not having a spare PSU is because I work at a shop, don't do anything out of the house. I don't feel like lugging my tower down there to see. I have some I could pull from my other computers to check but would rather not. I just figured I'd ask to see if others agree with my assessment.

 

[14049752]

I wouldn't think it'd be the power supply causing that. As said above, it might be possible, but I would suspect several other things first.

But more on the topic, yes...that power supply is going to suffer eventually. Part choosing the correct power supply is accounting for loss of capacitance from the caps...I think it's something like 10% loss after a year of use. If you intend to use it for a long time, you usually want to get a supply that's more than your max power draw to account for that problem.

 

[tre]

Ok so that's two people who think it could be something else. Anyone have any suggestions on things I could check?

 

[DarDar]

Have you done anything to improve the airflow in the case? I had a similar type of issue with one of first self builds. Added bigger and better fans and it solved the problem!

Also - is there built in graphics on the mobo? could be a conflict if not disabled

 

[loaner]

This is all on the original 300 or 350 watt PSU (not sure which it is, too lazy to pop the cover and look).

I know I'm under the minimum PSU spec for the card. They say 400 minimum and I'm using a 350 if that.

I have some I could pull from my other computers to check but would rather not. I just figured I'd ask to see if others agree with my assessment.

Ok so that's two people who think it could be something else. Anyone have any suggestions on things I could check?

I have a suggestion....get off your a$$ and check your power supply instead of people shotgunning your problem...even if your too lazy to crack the case on your rig, you can google the specs on your rig to see what power supply came with it.

 

[tre]

I have a suggestion....get off your a$$ and check your power supply instead of people shotgunning your problem...even if your too lazy to crack the case on your rig, you can google the specs on your rig to see what power supply came with it.

It's a 300W PSU. Not sure how that helps because either way it's underpowered which we all knew. But now I've gotten off my a$$ as you put it. My apologies for asking a computer question on these forums.

DarDar, thanks for the suggestion on the airflow. There is decent airflow in the case but it may still be getting a bit hot, I'll see if adding some more fans helps.

Also, I ordered a new PSU since I'll probably burn this one out soon anyhow. Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'll let you all know if it helps.

 

[loaner]

It's a 300W PSU. Not sure how that helps because either way it's underpowered which we all knew. But now I've gotten off my a$$ as you put it. My apologies for asking a computer question on these forums.

IS THERE A HIDDEN CAMERA IN HERE OR SOMETHING??????????????REALLY?????????????

I call shenanigans....

 

[ATTech]

It's a 300W PSU. Not sure how that helps because either way it's underpowered which we all knew. But now I've gotten off my a$$ as you put it. My apologies for asking a computer question on these forums.

IS THERE A HIDDEN CAMERA IN HERE OR SOMETHING??????????????REALLY?????????????

I call shenanigans....

Just a small tip, there is a quote button that you can click and it will quote the whole post. Saves you from a copy/paste.

 

[loaner]

Just a small tip, there is a quote button that you can click and it will quote the whole post. Saves you from a copy/paste.

you mean like this?

Trust me, if I need help...I'll start a thread. Do you have any tips for the OP or are you just having a problem with how I quote>?

 

[ATTech]

you mean like this?

Trust me, if I need help...I'll start a thread. Do you have any tips for the OP or are you just having a problem with how I quote>?

No need to get all up in arms about it. The fact that you weren't using the normal quote method lead me to believe you weren't aware of it. Thus, I offered a harmless helpful tip.

Everyone has pretty much covered it for the OP: Yes that's a low amount of power. No that's probably not what's causing the issue.

 

[DarDar]

you mean like this?

Trust me, if I need help...I'll start a thread. Do you have any tips for the OP or are you just having a problem with how I quote>?

Yes i do! Non conformance to standard quoting methods is not acceptable!

 

[The Silent Hobo]

Got a question about my own computer for once. I took a dell vostro tower that I got dirt cheap during one of the dell online sales awhile back and have slowly been upgrading the piss out of it.

I now have this poor little tower powering two internal hard drives, an optical drive, an nvidia GTS 450 (with the external power connector connected to two sata connectors), a TV tuner, and a wireless card. This is all on the original 300 or 350 watt PSU (not sure which it is, too lazy to pop the cover and look). I'm running a clean install of Windows 7 and have up to date drivers for everything.

Since the new video card, the computer now stutters at times. Its most noticeable during videos because the sound slurs for a tiny bit. My thinking is the PSU isn't providing enough power to all the peripherals. I don't have a spare atm so I'd just buy a new one to replace it if the general consensus is that's the case. The computer runs great other than this minor annoyance.

Anyone either agree or have suggestions of other things it could be? Just want a little reassurance before I drop $50 for a decent psu.

I would definitely suggest a new PSU, 300 is way too low for running what you're running, and you could destroy your system drawing too much power from that small a PSU, a 450w or 500w should help you out a bit.

Josh

 

[Blues]

First the original post seems like an end user post not a tech post we always ask everyone to do as much trouble shooting and research as possible before posting. This thread lacked 2 clearly obvious things to check firstly what the PSU Wattage was and second as it was known the a component "required" a 400 Watt and the PSU was known to be at best 350 Watt it should have been replaced before asking others. Below I will give what my initial response would have been to the issue.

The PSU is apparently less than the video cards minimum so upgrading to a 400+ Watt is the first step in this problem. I would reccomend a 500 Watt for good measure but you will likely have to drop down ~$60 on one like this.

 

[tre]

I just installed an Antec 520W and the problem is indeed gone. Plus this PSU is a lot quieter than the old one. Hoorah

 

[meanderer]

I won't expect a Dell 300W PSU to handle a mid 400 series GPU, period.