PSU Recommendations, 3 DSP cards and Video..

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:26 pm

Hi all,

I am wondering if I will be needing a PSU upgrade, curretly I have a Enermax 330w PSU and have an ATI Readon card, TC PowerCore, UAD-1, Lynx...

But this week ill be installing the PowerPulsar in that box, so Ill have-

- PowerPulsar II
- TC Powercore
- UAD-1
- ATI Readon

All in one machine, so I am thinking, will 330w PSU be enough juice to power all this DSP processing? Maybe a Antec 430w PSU would be a little more suited for all this power?

Need some advice, I dont want to under power the machine, and the PSU upgrade is relativly cheap, about 100 bucks for a 430-550w Antec..

Cheers!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Basic Pitch on 2004-02-25 14:27 ]</font>

interloper · Post by **interloper** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 3:10 pm

Definintely go with the Antec 430W. You've got a substantial power requirement with all those cards. Add to that all the fans that I assume you have in that box to cool as well.

With PSU's, it's best to have more than necessary, kinda like power amps.

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 3:31 pm

Yes hehe,

I have a Lian-Li Aluminum case that houses 6-8 fans to keep it all cool lol, AMD chipset also so you bet it gets hot under the hood, ill invest in the 430w Antec, I dont think ill need 550, that sorta seems like overkill dont ya think?

Cheers!

interloper · Post by **interloper** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 3:50 pm

How many drives and cd devices do you have? What is the processor speed?

sinix · Post by **sinix** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 4:35 pm

Basic,

I just built a nearly identical system. I used this PSU:

Thermaltake Xaser Silent Purepower480W PSU

You may wish to read my post on the system for more detailed info.

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... forum=19&0

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 5:42 pm

http://www.enermax.com.tw/eg365p-ve-fma.htm

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 5:55 pm

Hi just off the top of my head here is a general run down on my system ( I just went to best buy also and picked up a 430w Antec Quiet PSU).

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+
MEM: 1G Crucial CAS2 PC2700
MOBO: Asus A7N8X Rev.2
HD's: 2x WD 80G 10m CACHE ATA7200(?)
ROM: Sony CDR-W (dont know the exact Number)
PSU: Antec 430W Truepower silent
DSP1: UAD-1
DSP2: TC-Powercore
DSP3: PowerPulsar
VIDEO: ATI Readon 9800 PRO
CASE: Lian-Li Aluminum (6 Fans)
OS: Windows XP Pro
SEQ: Nuendo 2.1

Think thats everything important aside from the onboard NIC I use for my DSL conenction to my router, this PC is not used for anything aside from music, so it wont have all sorts of junk on it..

Hopefully it will all mesh together

if not I guess I will have my Lynx card to fall back on. On a side note, I am semi cringing about this change hehe, my mixes are finally starting to sound really sweet and now I am gonna change out my sound source, I dont do much recording with the ins, so I am hoping the output signal sounds fairly sweet comparitivly speaking to my Lynx card..

Cheers!

next to nothing · Post by **next to nothing** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 6:02 pm

dude, 6 fans... try with one in the front blowing in room temp air, and one top rear blowing out. should be enough really especially if u have a PSU with a fan underneath it. i have a MIST PSU 350 minimum, and it has a 120mm silent PAPST fan underneath it and that is temperature controlled. this works wonders, and as my case is padded down in noise absorbing stuff and has no fan on the gfx card (ti4600) my system is stunningly silent. i have 2 case fans as well.

PS: 9800 gfx cards comes fanless as well

interloper · Post by **interloper** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 8:57 pm

I don't think the extra fans will hurt. You did well by getting the 430W PSU, that should be fine for your specs. That Alu case is nice too, because that metal does not conduct heat well at all.

Rule of thumb for electrical components like integrated circuits: for every degree of heat reduction, you are adding years of life to that device. Not saying that components won't work when they are hot, but they work better when they are cool. Too much heat means that there is too much energy within the substrate layer, reducing overall conductivity.

The simple analogy is a piece of copper wire. At nominal temperature, the atoms are not vibrating or moving excessively, and current flows normally. At higher temperatures, the excessive vibration and movement of atoms and molecules impedes the flow of electrons, thus reducing conductivity. Ever have a video game lockup because the fan on your video card went out? Same principle.

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 9:56 pm

Well all I can say is WOW, this Antec is much quiter than the Enermax 350w I had before, I can barely here anything in my case with the side panel open, im letting it run before I re-install all my DSP cards just to be on the safe side hehe

Cheers!

interloper · Post by **interloper** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 10:33 pm

Nice system, by the way. I think you are covered on the DSP front...

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 10:58 pm

Heh thanks

Whats sad though is that I have oddles of outboard gear that collects dust, those TC verbs and UAD comps are just too good to be denied, and hassle free, thats the beauty of digital editing, instant recall and no wires

super quiet mixes, its just to good and easy to not use this stuff these days.

I have gone as far as recently starting to sell off all my old analog outboard, I just dont have as much need for it, hence the PowerPulsar, I am not 100% sold on VSTi sounds aside from maybe some wierd atmospheric sounds and bass lines, but for leads it just sounds to toyish to me, where as the creamware stuff has a more true to outboard sound, since I got into all this DSP stuff my outboard gear is collecting dust.

I just sold my 303 on ebay yesterday *sniffle* and also have a moog for sale right now aswell since minimax has me covered

Now I just pray all these parts work and play nice with each other hehe..

If all goes well, next on the chopping block will be my juno106, then the alpha 2, then maybe the SH101 and JX3P, I feel seriously guilty though, its sort of like parting with your past. In the end I would like to just have a REALLY incredible controler and the rest in DSP, thn get a like a small ghost and stay in the digital domain hehe.

Cheers!

EddieK · Post by **EddieK** » Fri Feb 27, 2004 10:39 am

Hey, check out this supply. I've tried several different supplies, and my 30 shark system is the most stable with this one.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... WSE&depa=1