I'm looking to buy a few (or one large) extra hard drives so i can finally have enough space to meet my needs, but i have a problem. Right now i have an Antec 430watt True Power PSU running... A Athlon 3000+ (Stock) With stock fan A 160gig SATA HD A 250gb ATA HD A 80gb ATA HD A 8x Dvd-rw Drive. A Geforce 6600GT (agp) A Vantec Nexus Fan Controller with 3 blue fans (always on lowest setting unless gaming) A Chaintech AV710 Sound Card Would i have enough power to add another large (say 250-500gb) hard drive? Or even have enough power to add 2 250gb hard drives with a sata controller?
Well via my bios it looks like the +12v is running at 11.9. But via MBM it shows at 16.3 and Sisoft shows it running at 15.50. I would trust my bios more than programs however, no?
If your 12v rail was at 15 or 16 volts, your PC would be dead now. 11.9 seems about right. He's right you know... buy a multimeter!!!
Eh i really didnt want to spend anything. Just advice if it would be pushing it on the power levels. I really only wanted one HD. Edit: Buying a multimeter would be a waste of money for me, even if its cheap. I'de use it once for this and then it would find its way into my drawer.
Until you next needed it when you didn't expect it. You'll thank me for this advice one day... maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life... Sorry.... always wanted to use that quote in a conversation
How are you supposed to check the max current with a multimeter? Work out the current the stuff draws and calculate resistance then measure the current through an appropiate resistor. It might (just) work, but surely google for your PSU specs? I would second the buying a multimeter anyway, only about £5.
The maximum current that the supply is rated to deliver is usually printed on the side, unless you're referring to current drawn by the system. It's not easy to calculate that, because it's pulled by all sorts of difficult parts on different voltages.
