Harddisk clicks -> System freezes/reboots

Tim ignored_mailbox at yahoo.com.au
Wed Jan 24 12:13:06 UTC 2007


Tim:
>> I've seen one or two of those before.  They made me think of stereo
>> system salesman, the ones who push what *they* call a 800 Watt unit onto
>> clueless customers.  Some of the estimations seem a little exhorbitant.
>> 
>>  - You need a 500 Watt power supply.
>>  - What for?  I'm not trying to cook a roast with it...

Ric Moore:
> Just to keep this thread alive, since I'm enjoying the hardware howto,
> just how many watts does a DvD burn use? Just wondering what the draw
> would be. Ric

It is a bit hard to specify power ratings in computer power supplies, as
there's several of them.  A 300 Watt supply might well be able to supply
enough current on the 12 Volt rail, but not on the 5 Volt rail, for
example.  You need to check all the supplies, but then they don't always
list things that way, nor do the products your powering usually list
their requirements.

Your drive might specify how many Amps it needs for both the 12 and 5
Volt supplies.  Your supply needs to be able to provide for them, at the
very least, plus whatever else is in the box.  That's the harder part,
many things don't mention their needs.

I have a PC using just a 90 Watt power supply.  It has on board video
and sound, 500 MHz Celeron processor, floppy and hard drives, and a DVD
burner.  It all works fine.  Yep, ninety watts.  It flies in the face of
various power supply calculators.

-- 
(Currently testing FC5, but still running FC4, if that's important.)

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