Give more juice to your PC and get better performance
One of the most important (and often overlooked) component in a gaming rig is it’s power supply unit (PSU). If you have dual graphics cards set up in SLI or Crossfire or a high-end processor, then a good PSU is a must.
IF YOUR PC IS BEHAVING STRANGE
Often, a slow and unresponsive PC is the sign of a failing power supply. If your PC is sluggish or locks up for no reason, and you’ve done all the virus and diagnostic checks, then a faulty power supply is the most likely cause. Swapping out the old one for a new will resolve the problem and you’ll also notice a boost in your performance.
DASTARDLY PC
One weird problem that I’ve been facing with my PC is that it’s performance dropped dramatically for no good reason. It would lock up often and take a long time to resume what it was doing. And the load on the processor would suddenly jump to 80 or 90 per cent! This is usually the work of a virus, so I ran all sorts of scans but my PC came out clean. I use an up-to-date firewall and antivirus program so an infection was unlikely. I ran memory and hard-disk diagnostics but no errors were found. The culprit? My aging 400 Watt power supply. I quickly switched it for a new Thermaltake 420W
and everything returned to normal.
OTHER SYMPTOMS
Tracking down a problem to a power supply can be tricky. So, here are the most likely symptoms:
- Any power-on or system startup failures or lockups
- Spontaneous rebooting or intermittent lockups during normal operation
- Intermittent parity check or other memory-type errors
- HDD and fan simultaneously failing to spin (no +12V)
- Overheating due to fan failure
- Small brownouts that cause the system to restart
- Electric shocks that are felt when the case is touched
There are also some obvious clues that should lead you to suspect a faulty power supply. These include:
- A system that is completely dead (nothing happens when the system is turned on)
- Smoke
- Circuit breakers popping when the PC is turned on
Source: Techrepublic
GET THE RIGHT WATTAGE
Often, the main problem is that you’ve exceeded the load of your existing power supply when you added something new. So, check the wattage of your PSU and make sure you don’t exceed it!
BUYING A NEW PSU
If you’re shopping for power supply units, then one place I’d recommend is Newegg.com – it has a wide range of brands and the customer service it unbeatable. I’ve bought mine from there.
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Nov 27th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Is their any good PSU available here in Bd? If yes, any idea about where they are available, their price, brand etc?
Jan 29th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
i m looking for a 500 watt power supply.. can anyone tell me what will be the price here in bangladesh?
Feb 8th, 2008 at 7:42 am
@ Redwine
Well, if you are talking about a brand power supply, then I suggest going with the Thermaltake 420W PSU available from UCC, IDB. But I don’t know about any 500W PSU.
Mar 12th, 2008 at 6:07 am
hey guys i need some help i bought a XFX 8600 GT(pci-express graphics card)
but the vendor repeatedly asked me to buy a brand power supply unit for 4000 taka!
he said unless i buy a brand power supply unit if i install the graphics card it will get burned and may burn my motherboard,cpu too
guys look i use a casing which has built in power supply unit and costs only 1700 taka.
so is it really necessary to buy a brand power supply unit for 4000 taka?i dont remember the power rating(watt) of the brand power supply unit.
and when i asked the vendor whats wrong with my casing’s built in power supply unit(made in china)(it says its power rating is 350 watt)?
the vendor replied that all these casings which are available in our computer market have fake rated power supply unit built in to them.And though they have stickers saying they are 350 watt they are actually 150 watt power supply units and not good enough for power hungry Pci-express cards.
vendor said same thing about other power supply units(which are rated 500 watt but actually they are only 150 watt) for retail sale in computer shops.
So is this true or not?
and my graphics card’s box says it needs a power supply unit of atleast 350 watt.so any advice what should i do?do i really have to buy brand power supply unit for 4000taka?(thats a lot of money and that money can buy me 2 gigabyte ram)
if so, can i buy brand power supply unit for less money(less than 4000 taka) from any where else in Dhaka?
i am looking forward to some advice P
Mar 12th, 2008 at 10:39 am
@ shamim
Well, the vendor is right. The XFX 8600 GT requires ample power. While a 350W is barely sufficient but the power supply that came with your casing if probably original and therefore won’t perform well. At the moment, your best bet is to get a 400W PSU, but that costs around Tk4,000, so the vendor was right.
If you want to get better and cheaper PSU, then you have to order from an online retailer. I am also selling my 400W PSU at an extremely low price, so, if you are interested, feel free to contact me at mrahman[AT]gamersworldbd[DOT]com
Mar 15th, 2008 at 6:15 am
thanks m8 for your response. i sent an email to you check it.
Mar 15th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Hey m8 i have another problem i need help.i borrowed my cousin’s Playstation2 for a few months.Its menu language is japanese or chinese not sure about that and its the slim version of ps2. so i tried to play a couple of games on it but all the games just hang on loading screen though some times i can play games for 2-3,5-10 or even 20-30 minutes and then game hang.i am not sure whether it has any mod chip on it or not. another trouble is it scratches all the game discs.Even i bought some new games and the discs were without any scratch.After i played them for 20-30 minutes and game hang i get the disc out and see in the middle part of the disc there is circular scratch which is quite wide like 5 mili metre but its different from one disc to another some times the scratch is 2 or 3 mili metre.
so is it a problem i can solve my self or i need to take it to repair shop?
if so can any body tell me about a good repair shop for ps2 i mean where is it?and how much is there service/repair charge?how much it may take to repair the problem?
cya P
Aug 2nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
My power supply burnt five times and the solution was found after buying an UPS. Anyways, I want to know the procedure of buying things online by a credit card from abroad while staying at my home at dhaka.
Aug 4th, 2008 at 11:32 am
@ Hasan
To buy online, you need to have an international credit card. Normally, low quality Chinese power supplies are mostly at fault. I use brand ones such as Thermaltake 900W and I have no problem with it,
Mar 29th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Is there any UPS what can give back to a GAMING PC?
Mar 29th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
And what is the normal or average temperature my CPU should have during playing games?