See Re: What modern PSU powers your Pentium3 setups? and links and rest of linked thread

I use a Corsair RM850x

darry wrote on 2021-05-09, 23:57:

See Re: What modern PSU powers your Pentium3 setups? and links and rest of linked thread

I use a Corsair RM850x

Thank you for the link, I will check it out. I checked the specs on your PSU, and it has the same amperage on the 5v as my Antec. It has been recommended I look for a 40 amp on the 5v. Almost every slot, and every bay is filled on this build.

Should use seasonic PSU. Quality PSU and true manufactured by Seasonic. As opposed as other who contracts out to few PSU makers and you don't know what it is made by whom.

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-05-10, 00:28:

Should use seasonic PSU. Quality PSU and true manufactured by Seasonic. As opposed as other who contracts out to few PSU makers and you don't know what it is made by whom.

Cheers,

Thank you, I will look into Seasonic PSUs. I will probably grab 2 or 3 for back ups, if I can find them with a lot of amps supporting 5v.

I found this among my random parts, with 5 more amps than the Antec that died. Maybe it will last until I can find some 40 amp PSUs:

pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-05-10, 00:28:

Should use seasonic PSU. Quality PSU and true manufactured by Seasonic. As opposed as other who contracts out to few PSU makers and you don't know what it is made by whom.

Cheers,

Seasonic is a great choice, quality wise .

Corsair products are indeed contracted out, this is no secret. The RM850x is made by Channel Well Technology and has had good reviews, AFAIK . My reason for choosing the RM850x was the 150W max combined on 3.3V/5V . Unless I have missed something, current Seasonic units top out at 125W on that front .

You don't need a PSU that will deliver 40A on +5V. That number is absolutely ridiculous. Your PC probably draws less than 200W at the wall meaning the load on the +5V rail will be much lower.
Depending on your location my recommendation for almost any pre 2002 single CPU gaming PC build is a HEC-300LR-PT. In Germany this can be had used for 15€ or less. Get one of those and recap it (or have it recapped/serviced at an electronics repair shop - still cheaper than a new PSU with a somewhat strong +5V rail).

Otherwise now that you have found a used PSU that works with your system measure the power draw at the wall under load. Multiply that wattage by 0.8 (to generously account for losses in the old PSU) and the resulting number is the power draw on all rails combined. Now if you go ahead and divide by 5 (assuming all power drawn by the system comes from the +5V rail, which it doesn't!) you end up with a current rating for the +5V rail on your PSU that has a comfortable buffer for situations where you simultaneously play 3D games on all cards while burning CDs and writing floppies in all drives. 😉👍

Oh and if despite all reasoning you're dead set on the +5V overkill because your previous failing Antec PSU gave you a scare buy an Enermax EG465AX-VE and replace the capacitors in it/have it serviced. If you want very strong +5V rails you have to use older PSUs because new ones focus on +12V.

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-05-10, 02:28:

Oh and if despite all reasoning you're dead set on the +5V overkill because your previous failing Antec PSU gave you a scare buy an Enermax EG465AX-VE and replace the capacitors in it/have it serviced. If you want very strong +5V rails you have to use older PSUs because new ones focus on +12V.

I am going to look into the PSU models listed, and I'm going to try the 30 amp PSU from the pic I posted above. It is the PSU I dug out to test and got the PC booting again, and it has 5 more amps than the Antec. There is absolutely no one in my area who services electronics, though quite a few instances where it would have been handy to know how to solder have popped up in the last couple of months, and from watching a lot of videos, it doesn't seem to difficult to learn. Plus, with all of these ancient components with capacitors that are bound to inevitably fail (such as on the Voodoo 5 that I don't want to buy again and will only get more expensive,) I think it is prudent to learn some new skills. I am an IT guy and find that I easily grasp electronics concepts with the more I watch and read. People out there are making custom ISA and PCI cards (like the Orpheus, Dreamblaster, AWE64 Legacy, etc.) and I would like cards that don't exist, such as an ISA USB 2.0/NIC/SATA combo card (such a thing would solves a few issues in this build.) I don't know if such a thing is possible, though I won't know until I learn.

I also think that my situation has to do with what was plugged in on each line. My floppy drives weren't working or acting screwy until I rearranged where the molex plugs were going, the day before the PSU failed. I have a feeling that the caps are going to be bad from sheer age, despite it being NOS.

That Delta PSU should be more than enough for your needs, those are well built and use good quality parts, such as Japanese capacitors. Besides, their ratings tend to be conservative, which means that if it says 30A on 5V it can probably do a bit more. As mentioned above by Doornkaat, a Pentium 3 + Voodoo cards won't get anywhere close to that power consumption, even if you somehow found the way for the system to use them all at the same time. Same goes for the drives.

The Antec probably had capacitor leakage even before it was opened, I have already witnessed that on a couple of NOS units. A shame because they are well built, but the caps suck... if you have the means to recap it, then by all means do it, it would be a great power supply for retro builds.

TheMobRules wrote on 2021-05-10, 03:53:

That Delta PSU should be more than enough for your needs, those are well built and use good quality parts, such as Japanese capacitors. Besides, their ratings tend to be conservative, which means that if it says 30A on 5V it can probably do a bit more. As mentioned above by Doornkaat, a Pentium 3 + Voodoo cards won't get anywhere close to that power consumption, even if you somehow found the way for the system to use them all at the same time. Same goes for the drives.

The Antec probably had capacitor leakage even before it was opened, I have already witnessed that on a couple of NOS units. A shame because they are well built, but the caps suck... if you have the means to recap it, then by all means do it, it would be a great power supply for retro builds.

Sounds good; I hope so! I had to hunt down a PC case with 4x 5.25 bays, and 2x 3.5 bays in order to put all of my drives in. Since beige PC cases with this configuration are rare these days, I bought one to paint, but the plastic was very brittle. I bought a black case meeting these requirements, and it took DAYS of sanding, stripping, painting, sanding, fixing, etc... It looks good (I'll post pics eventually,) but the way you have to install the PSU totally SUCKS. There is a clip that adds stability, but you have to COMPLETELY disassemble ALL of the components to get at one of the screws and to slide the PSU out. I'm not looking forward to going through this again, especially with continuously removing the Voodoo5 and other expensive parts... . In fact, Since I want a 1.4Ghz Tualatin and 133fsb, I may forget hunting down a compatible slotket and put my time and resources into finding another case (preferably one that doesn't need three cans of Chalked Chiffon spray paint) and buy one of the many Abit boards on Ebay with a bunch of RAM and a CPU and just build another P3 system. I'm even tempted to go with an ISA P4 build with an integrated NIC and USB 2.0 ports and just pretend that it is a P3...

At any rate, I will hunt down some backup PSUs.

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-05-10, 02:07:

You don't need a PSU that will deliver 40A on +5V. That number is absolutely ridiculous.

Agree, probably 25A+ would do, but please keep in mind that if you go to random PC store and buy a PSU like BeQuiet Pure Power 350W, it has only 15A on +5V (75W). That wouldn't work. I also don't want to spread information that it's always required to have ridiculous current on +5V, because it's not, but modern PSUs rated for 15A or less on +5V do exist (especially when they have two 12V lines). I had a Delta rated for 18A that didn't work with my dual P3 setup. But if you are at 25A or above, that should often be enough.

adalbert wrote on 2021-05-10, 14:34:

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-05-10, 02:07:

You don't need a PSU that will deliver 40A on +5V. That number is absolutely ridiculous.

Agree, probably 25A+ would do, but please keep in mind that if you go to random PC store and buy a PSU like BeQuiet Pure Power 350W, it has only 15A on +5V (75W). That wouldn't work. I also don't want to spread information that it's always required to have ridiculous current on +5V, because it's not, but modern PSUs rated for 15A or less on +5V do exist (especially when they have two 12V lines). I had a Delta rated for 18A that didn't work with my dual P3 setup. But if you are at 25A or above, that should often be enough.

The Antec is a 25aA on the +5V, so it is more than likely rotted caps, or perhaps this particular set up did something to the PSU. A yellow wire popped out of the molex plug coming off of the CF/IDE adapter, and I had to push it in. I had to use a couple of splitters to plug everything in (I have never had a build with 3 floppy-style connectors,) and it was acting strange with the floppy drives. I am feeling good about the 30A/+5V Delta, though I am going to thoroughly examine all of the wires on both the PSU and the splitters. I am also going to be careful with what I daisy chain on the cable powering the Voodoo5, as I am assuming that the V5 is the most power hungry component in the system. I have no idea how much current a continuously operating 5.25 floppy drive pulls, and that was the only thing going on other than the PC being powered on. Another thing to note is that this case came with two 80mm Thermaltake fans without components to adjust speed, and both are plugged into the mobo, and the bios reports that they are spinning at nearly 5k RPMs. It is probably not a concern, though the sound is very annoying and that much airflow is probably not necessary, so I will add some knobs to slow them down, or simply replace them.

adalbert wrote on 2021-05-10, 14:34:

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-05-10, 02:07:

You don't need a PSU that will deliver 40A on +5V. That number is absolutely ridiculous.

Agree, probably 25A+ would do, but please keep in mind that if you go to random PC store and buy a PSU like BeQuiet Pure Power 350W, it has only 15A on +5V (75W). That wouldn't work. I also don't want to spread information that it's always required to have ridiculous current on +5V, because it's not, but modern PSUs rated for 15A or less on +5V do exist (especially when they have two 12V lines). I had a Delta rated for 18A that didn't work with my dual P3 setup. But if you are at 25A or above, that should often be enough.

I do not understand why you feel you need to explain to me why buying a current PSU for an older system is suboptimal after my last two posts.
I have also seen your answer in the other thread:

adalbert wrote on 2021-05-09, 18:40:

Sure, I run P3 with GF3 Ti 200 off a pico PSU and 65W 12V brick. But a P3 with 3 graphic cards, 3 sound cards and 6 drives could […]
Show full quote

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-05-09, 13:02:

Please, guys, no Pentium III gaming PC needs 40A on +5V. Pentium III systems often draw less than 100W at the wall.

Sure, I run P3 with GF3 Ti 200 off a pico PSU and 65W 12V brick. But a P3 with 3 graphic cards, 3 sound cards and 6 drives could be pushing it 😁
But a dual Tualatin setup didn't want to run off a PSU with 18A on +5V line, while it ran with 22A. And some modern PSUs often have 20A or less on +5V, which is fine for usual single CPU / single GPU / single HDD setup, but may be too little if you start installing buch of devices in computer. We still don't know the current ratings for OPs PSU.

Anyway, you could also try to check if the CPU gets power, there could be also a problem with broken VRM. You can try measuring the voltage on MOSFETs near the CPU.

You try to make it sound like I suggest using a 65W PSU for a high end Pentium III gaming build. I am not. I have recommended to buy and recap a HEC-300LR-PT: a reliable and (at least around here) readily avaliable contemporary PSU that is relatively easy to service.
But just for the hell of it I threw together a very similar setup to what the OP intends on running:

I wasn't able to push the system to 140W at the wall. In fact it would idle at around 100W and draw around 120W-130W under load.
If we go ahead and pretend this was all coming from the +5V rail and also assume the Enermax EG365AX-VE was running at 80% efficiency at this load level (both of which are certainly not true) we still end up below 25A with this rather exotic setup.
So please stop suggesting I was giving bad advice like using a modern BeQuiet! PSU for a build like the OP's and please don't make it sound like I didn't know what I was talking about just because I don't buy into the hype of severely overprovisioning on PSUs. Especially when I already suggested a different, very suitable PSU.

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-10, 02:50:

I am going to look into the PSU models listed, and I'm going to try the 30 amp PSU from the pic I posted above. It is the PSU I dug out to test and got the PC booting again, and it has 5 more amps than the Antec. There is absolutely no one in my area who services electronics, though quite a few instances where it would have been handy to know how to solder have popped up in the last couple of months, and from watching a lot of videos, it doesn't seem to difficult to learn. Plus, with all of these ancient components with capacitors that are bound to inevitably fail (such as on the Voodoo 5 that I don't want to buy again and will only get more expensive,) I think it is prudent to learn some new skills. I am an IT guy and find that I easily grasp electronics concepts with the more I watch and read. People out there are making custom ISA and PCI cards (like the Orpheus, Dreamblaster, AWE64 Legacy, etc.) and I would like cards that don't exist, such as an ISA USB 2.0/NIC/SATA combo card (such a thing would solves a few issues in this build.) I don't know if such a thing is possible, though I won't know until I learn.

I also think that my situation has to do with what was plugged in on each line. My floppy drives weren't working or acting screwy until I rearranged where the molex plugs were going, the day before the PSU failed. I have a feeling that the caps are going to be bad from sheer age, despite it being NOS.

Hey, learning some basic electronics maintenance and troubleshooting skills is not only very possible but also fun and very handy when dealing with old hardware. 👍
I can only recommend it! Especially if you have nobody else to do maintenence for you it's an invaluable skill in this hobby. Have fun! 😁

On the topic of the Delta PSU I think it has been said before but that's certainly a good PSU for your build. Lucky you have it on hand! 😀 Still it can't hurt to look into recapping the PSU soon. 👍

I agree you won't need 40A on 5V, and I'll throw in a third for Seasonic. Personally I would go for a platinum. I use their 430W fanless model on my K6 (3dfx) build.

I like Seasonic as well.

Quite a while ago, I only used to use Antec. Then came the issues with the capacitors in them. I ended up recapping a few of them... I couldn't find any good brand caps the same size / rating so I had to extend a few wires from the boards and mount a few of the caps elswhere.

The original caps in those old Antec units were way overrated for their physical size... aka... a scam.

I stopped using Antec PSUs after that.

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-10, 00:58:

I found this among my random parts, with 5 more amps than the Antec that died. Maybe it will last until I can find some 40 amp PSUs:

The Delta will be enough to run two of those builds. Coppermine chips are not very power hungry, and Delta has some of the best engineering and build quality in the business. To put it plainly, I would trust a Delta PSU with Chinese caps over an all Japanese cap mid tier PSU like a Channel Well.

gdjacobs wrote on 2021-05-11, 00:26:

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-10, 00:58:

I found this among my random parts, with 5 more amps than the Antec that died. Maybe it will last until I can find some 40 amp PSUs:

The Delta will be enough to run two of those builds. Coppermine chips are not very power hungry, and Delta has some of the best engineering and build quality in the business. To put it plainly, I would trust a Delta PSU with Chinese caps over an all Japanese cap mid tier PSU like a Channel Well.

I wonder how good/bad current chinese caps are . Are we still in capacitor plague territory or has the bar been raised somewhat ?

I mean, there are probably decent chinese caps on the market and would imagine that Delta (and likely other reputable manufacturers) have a selection/testing process that weeds out the most shady crap.

My question is more along the lines of has the bottom of the barrel improved much since the capacitor plague peak or have more reputable electronics manufacturers simply gotten more selective regarding caps and now avoid the worst caps ?