On Wednesday, August 18, 2010 08:52:41 am Thomas Cameron did opine: > Say, hypothetically, I have 8 identical Intel DG45ID motherboard-based > system with 8GB memory and a single drive with a cheap-o generic 300w > power supply. All running Linux, so sorta on-topic. > > Say those systems have been running for over a year, but lately they've > been really flaky. Random lockups, sometimes they boot with garbage > characters on the screen instead of the normal OS boot, sometimes they > hang at various parts of the boot sequence, spontaneous reboots when > kickstarting. > > Say the Antec web site says I need more like a 350w power supply, and I > read somewhere that PSUs tend to age and get less efficient over time, > so I am guessing that I've been starving these things for juice for > weeks or maybe months. > > Hypothetically, could I have actually damaged these systems if the PSU > was under-powered? Or would a new, higher powered PSU fix the problems > I've seen? > > I would guess that too much juice might hurt the systems, but would too > little actually damage anything? > > I know it's not thermal, they're in a very cold room with dedicated HVAC > and the airflow is great. But is it clean? The cpu fan could be full of dust bunnies by now. > Hoping someone who knows more about electronics can chime in. > > Thanks > Thomas As a C.E.T. with 60 years of chasing electrons for a living, I would tend to agree with your thoughts, with one exception. Antec. I have had, over the last decade, much better luck with the PSU's I can get for $20-$40 from the importers than I ever had with Antec. Every Antec I ever bought was in the recycle bin by the time the so-called warranty was used up, or within a couple of months later from low voltage output. I have 4 HD's totalling 3.5TB in this system, and the 350 watt hi-pro brand psu in it is at least 2 years old & still running great, and its voltages have not faded a bit in that 2+ years. -- Cheers, Gene "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, then you clearly don't understand the situation. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
