CPU Power Rating 2

[Wassup393]

I've just upgraded to an Athlon XP 1800+ and I've read in the manual that it reguires a minimum of 22A of +5V. Further investigation of my power pack reveals an output of only 17A. What will be the effect of this and should I upgrade to a new pack?

Sam

 

[Wassup393]

OK, I've read the manual further and it tells me that a Duron requires only 14A of power, so I'll assume that the power pack was created for this processor.

Sam

 

[paparazi]

Essentially you will be very close or exceeding the power supplies maximum rating even when not at 100%, like driving a car in first gear at full throttle all the time, the engine may last for a hour, a week, a month or it may not blow at all but one thing you can be sure of, if it blows then you rarely get away with just replacing the power supply, I know of one systems power supply that took the lot! CPU, hard drive, Motherboard and ram, oh sorry the graphics card was OK.
Unfortunately I speak from experience, we are just seeing the last one or two returns from a poor case choice for our budget sytems early 2002, this low end case was used to build an estimated 40 Duron base units and to date at least 25 have been returned dead, nearly all have had to have hard drive replacement, some, new motherboards as well, but only 4 or 5 have just been a straight power supply swop.
Really bad news considering the small profit margins in the cut throat business that is custom building.
Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[Wassup393]

So, are you saying that by just running my PC in it's present condition could damage it!? Wow. I thought it just might jam occasionally. Ok, I will definitely gat a new supply ASAP. Thanks for your help.

Sam