# Thumping/heartbeat sound before post



## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Hola!

Ever since I got my new video card a month or two ago(ATI HD 6870), when I first hit the power button to turn on my comp, the computer turns on but doesn't post and I hear this thump-thump......thump-thump.... sound like a heartbeat in regular intervals. After about 10 seconds usually it then beeps once and posts to load the o/s, etc.

There have been a couple occasions where on post it freezes before listing the IDE/SATA drives, etc., so I just end up hitting the power to turn it off and then back on and usually it'll post ok. There has also been a time or two where I hear no thumping, but it never actually posts. Just sits there fans running.

Anyone have any ideas? My system specs:

Gigabyte G41M-Combo
Windows 7 64-bit
Antec 550w Basiq Plus
Core 2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66ghz
4 GB DDR2 pc-6400
Creative Soundblaster X-fi Titanium 

Any help much appreciated  Thanks so much!


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## makinu1der2 (Jan 1, 2008)

Open the case to see if you can determine where the bumping is coming from.

The Antec 550w Basiq Plus would be my first suspicion


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Ah sorry, I totally forgot to specify that I hear the heartbeat sound from my speakers.


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## makinu1der2 (Jan 1, 2008)

Post the temp and voltage readings from the BIOS.


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Well damn, something just happened. I restarted to go into BIOS, but it kept freezing as it was detecting my second sata device and saying "Entering setup", so I tried unplugging one of my hard drives (have 2 hooked up normally). That let me get into BIOS, where I found the voltage/temp numbers:

VCore- 1.268V
DDR- 1.952V
+3.3V- 3.312V
+12V- 12.112V

CPU Temp- 39C

And now for some reason the post is not recognizing any of my drives at all. At the boot screen, it'll be at the part where it has detected the RAM, doesn't do anything for about 30 secs-1 minute, and then eventually will finish posting (but I catch a glimpse that it says NONE next to all of my sata ports), then the inevitable "insert system disk and press enter".

Yikes. One other thing that occurred to me while I was down there in the components looking around- When I initially got the video card, for its 12-pin power requirement I used 2 of the 6-pin power cables from the PSU together to hook up the card(As it didn't have a straight-up 12-pin connector I could use). Not sure if that might have caused issues. I just tried plugging in an old video card and still having the no devices issue.

After a proper CMOS clear and placing the new video card back in, I'm now detecting my drives. So at least back to square one now, not sure what happened before.

The thump continues. 

So I tried removing the ATI card and using the onboard video a few minutes ago and it did post quicker(after about 4 seconds) and without the heartbeat sound (though did have one thump when first hitting the power button). 

After I plugged the ATI card back in, I also noticed that I would get a thump out of the speakers each time I plugged in or unplugged the DVI cable from the card.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Your PSU is poor quality and not 80+ certified.
You need a good quality 650W minimum.
SeaSonic-XFX-Corsair (not the GS or CX Series) are top quality PSU's.


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Weird, yeah my box doesn't say 80+ certified for the PSU, but I've found a couple sites saying it is: http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/psu_reports/ANTEC_BP550 PLUS_ECOS 1498.1_550W_Report.pdf

I wonder if it's possible that they could have just gotten certified after I bought the PSU?

I'll start looking into the other PSUs though, thanks


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

I find no indication that it is or ever was 80+certified.


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

The 80+ site itself lists it (BP550 Plus) as one of their compliant supplies. I'm seeing a couple different box shots on the net, one older one(like the one I have that doesn't say 80+), and a newer looking one with same model but says 80+.

80+ site: Ecos Plug Load Solutions

My box shot (minus 80+ label): FRYS.com | Antec

Newegg listing that says 80+: Newegg.com - Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

I have 5 PC's and I hear no repeated thump form the speakers with any of them at any time. However, all of my PC's are properly powered.
It may be possible to run your hardware from a 300W PSU but who know how long.
The PSU is the life of the system and using a low quality/underpowered PSU only puts your hardare at risk.


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

Tyree said:


> I have 5 PC's and I hear no repeated thump form the speakers with any of them at any time. However, all of my PC's are properly powered.


I've worked in professional audio for a few years. I have dealt with people that want to plug computers into large P.A. sound systems more times than I can remember. The thudding on boot is something that just happens on some systems (more common on systems with more than one audio interface installed). Given that such thuds can, and do, destroy P.A. systems, mute-on-boot is standard practice going into either my Mackie or SoundCraft desks. The M-Audio AudioPhile range of Firewire and USB cards almost always thump on boot, and often at specific points during boot. I'm happy to expand on the why/when etc. if required, I didn't believe it was required for this post.



Tyree said:


> It may be possible to run your hardware from a 300W PSU but who know how long.


It was built in about August 2008, and is running an average 8 hours a day 5 days a week. In terms of usage. At this precise moment it's pulling a measured 269 watts under full load with CPU at 100%. The fleet of similarly spec Dell machines (over 150) that are Intel Core2 Quad have 300W PSUs and have all been going strong for years.



Tyree said:


> The PSU is the life of the system and using a low quality/underpowered PSU only puts your hardare at risk.


A high quality PSU offering the right amount of power is far better than a low quality CPU offering far more power. If you look in any pre-built system from the likes of Compaq, Dell, HP etc. you wont see massive figures on their power supplies. Again I'm happy to go into distribution of watts/current over differing voltage rails as relates to life expectancy of the components use if you want.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

The OP has made no mention of attempting to use P.A. equipment. From what I understand the thump is being heard through a PC speakers configuration.

You don't mention what you're using for components with the 300W PSU but you appear to more than fortunate.

We suggest nothing but the best quality PSU's with sufficient power for the included components to avoid the common problem that we see all too often in our shops with PC's that use low quality/underpowered PSU's.


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

Tyree said:


> The OP has made no mention of attempting to use P.A. equipment. From what I understand the thump is being heard through a PC speakers configuration.


I described that because it's the environment in which I have encountered most computer configurations. P.A. equipment is no different to PC speakers, aside from the most obvious - output power.

Regardless, my point is the thumping is from the audio device, and is caused by the system powering down and then back up. Any high quality audio system will thump if a device connected to it powers up, unless that device has a suppression system in place, which I've only ever seen by default on ProTools rigs.



Tyree said:


> You don't mention what you're using for components with the 300W PSU but you appear to more than fortunate.


Can't remember the model off the top of my head, but the self-build is an Asus mobo, there's a single 7200rpm HD, single DVD multi-write drive, couple of 120mm fans on a speed controller, single Firewire card in one of the PCI slots, currently 4Gb RAM in 2 sticks.

I'm afraid I made a mistake on the Dell's, they're not 300Watt power supplies. They're Dell Optiplex 760's with a Core2Quad processor, all have replaced HDs so they're running 320Gb SATA II drives, RADEON HD 3450 graphics (low profile cards) and have 235 watt power supplies. Small Form Factor cases.
Full spec here: http://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/products/optix/Optiplex_760_Spec_Sheet_en.pdf
The only exception is we do have a room of 15 which are the mini tower units, and they do have 305watt power supplies.

I understand power supplies and audio very intimately as I've had to for my job. PC power supplies are a source of constant amusement for me, as I see 1000 watt power supplies being put in systems that physically can't use more than 400 watts, and rarely draw more than 200 watts. Idling, your average desktop could be as low as 40 watts.

Under utilising a power supply can also cause as much damage as over-driving it. If under-utilised, the voltage output of a power supply sometimes never stabilises, causing unwanted noise on the circuits. 


If you want to test your power usage, the easiest and cheapest way is with a "Plug Through Energy Meter" - not as accurate as testing current draw with a clamp meter on each rail, but far safer and easier, and a lot cheaper than a clamp meter. If you talk to your electricity supplier, they might even send you one free (some do, some don't).

Or of course things like this...
Thermaltake Power Supply Calculator
...which are usually fairly consistent with systems when tested for power consumption.


Going back to the OP issue directly, whatever it is, if the issue comes down to the power supply, it will be a faulty one, not because it's under-specified or a bad brand. The Basiq power supplies are at the budget end of the quality PSU market, true, but it's not like it's some unbranded generic rubbish from Wal-mart, it's a good quality power supply that for the vast majority of people performs very well indeed.


I'd try disconnecting the drives, and any other devices that are pulling power such as lighting, case fans (obviously leave the CPU fan powered!), USB devices ... see if it still thumps repeatedly then. Without the drives and fans connected, that will drop the power demands down a bit.

I did Google to see if I could find any test data for power draw on that graphics card... and what do you know, I did!
Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 CrossfireX review
...two of them in Xfire, and 421watts.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Matt you dont buy power supplies that can jusr handle the system, you buy power supplies with enough wattage to allow the system to breathe i.e handle voltage spikes, blackouts and brownouts

secondly those tests never mentioned how they are done. I used to test them for a living and they are always tested in perfect conditions. Anyone who would be a 421w psu to run those cards in crossfire is a fool and asking for trouble.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

greenbrucelee said:


> Matt you dont buy power supplies that can jusr handle the system, you buy power supplies with enough wattage to allow the system to breathe i.e handle voltage spikes, blackouts and brownouts
> 
> secondly those tests never mentioned how they are done. I used to test them for a living and they are always tested in perfect conditions. Anyone who would be a 421w psu to run those cards in crossfire is a fool and asking for trouble.


 The other thing you absolutely have to allow for is degrading which the best of psus do over a period of time! I have to believe what this user is hearing is caused by inadequate power on the system anyway so the rest of this discussion is impressive but to me meaningless.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Rich-M said:


> The other thing you absolutely have to allow for is degrading which the best of psus do over a period of time! I have to believe what this user is hearing is caused by inadequate power on the system anyway so the rest of this discussion is impressive but to me meaningless.


I agree with that too. Also the fact the sound goes away when the graphics card is removed further proves it to be a power issue. I still don't know what PA equipment has to do with it though. :4-dontkno


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

So all these top brands don't know what they're doing with PSUs... ok...



Rich-M said:


> The other thing you absolutely have to allow for is degrading which the best of psus do over a period of time!


I'd love to know what formula you're using to work that out. I've been looking for 15 years, and never found anything helpful in respect of this. 

The only thing I have found is people basing the idea of PSU aging around the idea that capacitors dry out and age, therefore the PSU ages too... any good electronics engineer will tell you thing just don't work that way.


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

The fact you remove a component and the thumping goes away does not prove it is a power issue, nor does it eliminate it. It could also be a compatibility issue with something else in the system.



Amd_Man said:


> I still don't know what PA equipment has to do with it though. :4-dontkno


PA equipement, like most professional quality sound equipment, tends to show up defects in PC systems far more than cheap (sub £500) PC speakers do. 

The OP had a thumping sound coming through their speakers.

I simply said that I plugged a very wide range of different systems into PA equipment, and that such thumping does appear on other systems, and is not restricted to the OPs machine.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

MattCharman said:


> So all these top brands don't know what they're doing with PSUs... ok...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Power supplies do degrade with time and that's just a fact. Anyways I'll bow out as you just don't seem to get it and want to argue your beliefs over facts.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

MattCharman said:


> So all these top brands don't know what they're doing with PSUs... ok...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


its not the fact that the companies dont know what they are doing its the fact a lot of companies that make power supplies use cheap compnents which degrade very quickly.

How many times I have seen a psu say is 800w when in reality its 650w couldn't be counted many companies have power supplies which are only 70% certfied

power supplies degrade over time its just down to the quality of the components how long they actually last and when many average pc users load the computers up with external equipment even though low voltages these put strain on low quality power supplies.

Again I used to test power supplies for living so your argument about capacitors dying out doesn't wash because they do. Thats why high quality Japanese capacitors are the best because they have a longer life span than others.

There are too many users who underpower their systems this also causes power supplies to die much quickly and with low quality makes of power supplies these can cause serious compnent damage. If you like just google problems with huntkey power supplies. They have a habit of exploding when pushed within 20% of their alledged capacity. I have personally seen this happen when we tested them.

Winpower and powerman power supplies have a hibit of taking motherboards and ram with them when they fail. I could go on and on with bad makes

Top quality power supplies are basically anything that are made by seasonic

here are top quality and good makes:seasonic,corsair,xfx,cwt,thermaltake tough power series only, ocz extreme,be quiet,coolermaster pro, newer enermax.

however I would only ever suggest corsair,seasonic or xfx as they are top of the line.


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

greenbrucelee said:


> its not the fact that the companies dont know what they are doing its the fact a lot of companies that make power supplies use cheap compnents which degrade very quickly.


Given we were talking about the power supply output power, and the appropriate power supply selection for a given set of components, throwing a red herring in there of "some companies" isn't really very helpful, is it.

Let's be specific. I'm sure that Dell, HP, Compaq, Fujitsu Seimens, IBM, and Packard Bell, are all pretty proficient at selecting appropriate components for their systems, and their choice of power supplies are usually matched nicely to the components in the case. They last for absolutely years if well looked after.

The original argument against me that 300 Watts was crazy for a Core 2 Quad based system with an average GFX card is just pure nonsense, because that is exactly what all the afore mentioned companies do. I even gave you the model number of the main PCs we have that contain the power supplies I descried, but yet still people are in denial.

I find that laughable. This isn't about my belief, it's simply a fact that if you open up the cast majority of high quality PC systems made by well respected manufacturers, that's what you find in the boxes.



greenbrucelee said:


> How many times I have seen a psu say is 800w when in reality its 650w couldn't be counted many companies have power supplies which are only 70% certfied


I've not seen many because I don't buy cheap rubbish, simple as that. I'm confident the manufactures I mentioned above don't buy cheap rubbish either.



greenbrucelee said:


> power supplies degrade over time its just down to the quality of the components how long they actually last and when many average pc users load the computers up with external equipment even though low voltages these put strain on low quality power supplies.


If you're the professional you claim to be, then you should know that the components don't degrade gracefully and die, they are more inclined to run perfectly well within spec then suddenly deteriorate quickly (not that there aren't exceptions, it's just not the norm).

When capacitors on a PSU die out, they tend to make the power supply unstable, and it will just go. Sometimes it will fail quietly, with dignity... sometimes if you're unlucky or bought cheap rubbish it will go out with a mighty bang and a lot of horrible smell.

Yes high quality JapCaps have a longer life span... they're better manufactured generally so far less likely to leak etc. too. I didn't say capacitors didn't die out, I was saying that it was irrelevant to the output power of a PSU, which is absolutely true. PSU's don't slowly lose the amount of output power over time, they lose stability eventually which is completely unrelated to their output power or how hard they are driven, unless of course it's a side effect of too little cooling or airflow. In reality, it's far more often heat and dirt that kills off a PSU.



greenbrucelee said:


> There are too many users who underpower their systems this also causes power supplies to die much quickly and with low quality makes of power supplies these can cause serious compnent damage.


That's two completely seperate issues, and you know it.

Low quality makes of power supply fail because they're low quality, and contain components with low MTBF and less quality control. That is pretty common regardless, and it's why it's so stupid to buy cheap unbranded PSUs (unless you're intending to make a booby-trap I suppose).

A good quality PSU should trip if overdriven too much anyway, before any damage is done. It's good practice to test the temp you're running a PSU at as that's a good indication of how hard you're driving it. It's good practice to test the current draw on 12V and 5V lines with a good quality clamp meter, but I'm sure very few people do.



greenbrucelee said:


> If you like just google problems with huntkey power supplies. They have a habit of exploding when pushed within 20% of their alledged capacity. I have personally seen this happen when we tested them.


Yes, because they were all a badly made pile of excrement. I couldn't remember the brand name, but I heard about it. I wouldn't trust one to power my Xmas lights, much less my PC. We were not debating whether it was sensible to buy a good quality PSU though. I have never claimed you should buy cheap badly made rubbish, it would be stupid to do so, and I'm a little bemused as to why you felt the need to bring it into the conversation to be honest.



greenbrucelee said:


> Top quality power supplies are basically anything that are made by seasonic


Yeah, I'd probably go along with that. You're obviously aware there are brands that are not Seasonic that are also pretty good though, and no way near the end of the scale of ****key.



greenbrucelee said:


> here are top quality and good makes:seasonic,corsair,xfx,cwt,thermaltake tough power series only, ocz extreme,be quiet,coolermaster pro, newer enermax.


Curious that, as I have two failed OCZ Extreme here that are less than 6 months old, so I wondered if they deserved their reputation. The PSUs were not even remotely over-stressed, they're 600 watt units from two different low end PCs (Pentium 4 HT 2GHz, on board GFX, single HD, 2Gb RAM) so were massively OTT for the machines. I've not had good experiences with OCZ supplies personally, so I tend to favour Corsair, XFX, and the Enermax make a good budget PSU as they've been 50% off to trade at the local retailer for a while, and if you need something to revive old components you don't intend to run for long (maybe as a stop-gap until you get something new later), they seem a sensible option.



greenbrucelee said:


> however I would only ever suggest corsair,seasonic or xfx as they are top of the line.


Yeah, again I'd agree with those brand choices... but we weren't really debating brand.


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

...holy **** that was a long post!

I'll bow out on grounds of sanity and disk space. LOL!


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

MattCharman said:


> Given we were talking about the power supply output power, and the appropriate power supply selection for a given set of components, throwing a red herring in there of "some companies" isn't really very helpful, is it.
> 
> Let's be specific. I'm sure that Dell, HP, Compaq, Fujitsu Seimens, IBM, and Packard Bell, are all pretty proficient at selecting appropriate components for their systems, and their choice of power supplies are usually matched nicely to the components in the case. They last for absolutely years if well looked after.


I diagree with that, dells and oem PCs are made in mind that you just do normal stuff on them they are not made in mind to do anything really intensive unless you buy the top of the range models. This where they put the cheap usually fsp made power supplies in but usually with dells its mobo that goes before the psu.



MattCharman said:


> The original argument against me that 300 Watts was crazy for a Core 2 Quad based system with an average GFX card is just pure nonsense, because that is exactly what all the afore mentioned companies do. I even gave you the model number of the main PCs we have that contain the power supplies I descried, but yet still people are in denial.
> 
> I find that laughable. This isn't about my belief, it's simply a fact that if you open up the cast majority of high quality PC systems made by well respected manufacturers, that's what you find in the boxes.


Usually the psu is the last component manufacturers think about for any decent pcie system these days with a mid range psu I would suggest a minimum of 550w. Now this may seem high but to take into account the power these system will use you have to take the total wattage needed and add atleast 30% or even slightly more. Now I saw a magazine the other day which claimed you should get a psu with 300w more than was needed that is very overkill.






MattCharman said:


> I've not seen many because I don't buy cheap rubbish, simple as that. I'm confident the manufactures I mentioned above don't buy cheap rubbish either.


Many people do buy cheap rubbish though as the psu seems to be the last on their list when buying components. I am glad your clued up enough to have the sense to buy good power supplies





MattCharman said:


> If you're the professional you claim to be, then you should know that the components don't degrade gracefully and die, they are more inclined to run perfectly well within spec then suddenly deteriorate quickly (not that there aren't exceptions, it's just not the norm).


Agreed but it can happen where components can fail one by one or slowly this is very much the case with winpower power supplies and you know when this is happening because the power supply emits a smell similar to vinegar and burnt paper.



MattCharman said:


> When capacitors on a PSU die out, they tend to make the power supply unstable, and it will just go. Sometimes it will fail quietly, with dignity... sometimes if you're unlucky or bought cheap rubbish it will go out with a mighty bang and a lot of horrible smell.
> 
> Yes high quality JapCaps have a longer life span... they're better manufactured generally so far less likely to leak etc. too. I didn't say capacitors didn't die out, I was saying that it was irrelevant to the output power of a PSU, which is absolutely true. PSU's don't slowly lose the amount of output power over time, they lose stability eventually which is completely unrelated to their output power or how hard they are driven, unless of course it's a side effect of too little cooling or airflow. In reality, it's far more often heat and dirt that kills off a PSU.


Agreed






MattCharman said:


> Low quality makes of power supply fail because they're low quality, and contain components with low MTBF and less quality control. That is pretty common regardless, and it's why it's so stupid to buy cheap unbranded PSUs (unless you're intending to make a booby-trap I suppose).
> 
> A good quality PSU should trip if overdriven too much anyway, before any damage is done. It's good practice to test the temp you're running a PSU at as that's a good indication of how hard you're driving it. It's good practice to test the current draw on 12V and 5V lines with a good quality clamp meter, but I'm sure very few people do.


Agreed but the problem is as I said above people discount the need for a good psu as they dont actually know what it does and what its for.







MattCharman said:


> Curious that, as I have two failed OCZ Extreme here that are less than 6 months old, so I wondered if they deserved their reputation. The PSUs were not even remotely over-stressed, they're 600 watt units from two different low end PCs (Pentium 4 HT 2GHz, on board GFX, single HD, 2Gb RAM) so were massively OTT for the machines. I've not had good experiences with OCZ supplies personally, so I tend to favour Corsair, XFX, and the Enermax make a good budget PSU as they've been 50% off to trade at the local retailer for a while, and if you need something to revive old components you don't intend to run for long (maybe as a stop-gap until you get something new later), they seem a sensible option.


Again I agree you must have been unlucky with the OCz but even good makes come of the production line bad. Enermax had a blip for a while where they were peddling out **** but this was because they did what antec did and still are doing which is moving component suppliers often to save money unfortuantely this had an impact on sales but enermax have seen the light as is the case with their 1.2kw psu its 85% efficient as its got gold capacitors.

most corsair units I have tested in the passed where over 85% they (seasonic) are now alledgedly working on a 1.5kw unit that is over 90% efficient.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

The OP has not responded in 6 days and this thread has ceased to be productive.
I strongly recommend a cease in posting in this thread until ColonelSeitan responds.


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

I've been following along, enjoying the entertainment of these guys going back and forth, haha.



greenbrucelee said:


> Usually the psu is the last component manufacturers think about for any decent pcie system these days with a mid range psu I would suggest a minimum of 550w. Now this may seem high but to take into account the power these system will use you have to take the total wattage needed and add atleast 30% or even slightly more. Now I saw a magazine the other day which claimed you should get a psu with 300w more than was needed that is very overkill.


So I did one of those "calculate your PSU needs" things online the other day, and they recommended I have a 431w supply. Would I then add 30% onto this? Or should I just go for a good quality power supply by one of the companies referred to above?

I guess I was just under the impression that Antec made quality components. When I started building computers about a decade ago, word on the street was they made solid stuff. I'll know for next time though. I'll probably start shopping for a new one, sucks though since I got this one less than a year ago.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Antec changes PSU suppliers too frequently to make them a reliable recommend product. We only recommend top quality PSU's to insure you have sufficient clean power for the hardware now and continue to have that power during the life of the hardware.
Tech Team members (most of whom repair/build PC's for a living) have given you a wealth of good advice concerning your power requirements. Hopefully, you will choose to heed that advice.


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

greenbrucelee said:


> ...dells and oem PCs are made in mind that you just do normal stuff on them they are not made in mind to do anything really intensive unless you buy the top of the range models. This where they put the cheap usually fsp made power supplies in but usually with dells its mobo that goes before the psu.


Usually with Dell is the hard drive before anything else ... but then all the Dell systems we have DO get a hammering all day every day.

I know when Dell select components they're usually looking for longevity at a given performance and price point. So yeah, true enough that they don't think you're going to be running BF3 on the budget computer, but by the same account they offer up to 5 year on site part replacement (obviously at extra cost). If they used dodgy components that would keep failing and take other parts with them, it wouldn't be long before that service stopped being cost effective.




greenbrucelee said:


> ...take the total wattage needed and add atleast 30% or even slightly more. Now I saw a magazine the other day which claimed you should get a psu with 300w more than was needed that is very overkill.


300 watt more? I could run the damn HiFi system off that much, and probably the 32" TV too! Perhaps they meant to type 30% and missed... ;-)

Go back to the Dell system I mentioned before... under full load, it's around 207 watts demand (measured), so that would need a 260W PSU by your maths. Seems like they're allowing more like 15%, which is actually what my "SMPS Design Guide" recommends. 30% is sensible without going mad IMHO.


430W requirement, so at 15% overhead that's a 500W supply, or at 30% overhead it's a 560W supply ... 550W would do it happily, at a whisker under the 30% overhead you're recommending.



greenbrucelee said:


> most corsair units I have tested in the passed where over 85% they (seasonic) are now alledgedly working on a 1.5kw unit that is over 90% efficient.


Efficiency is an argument for a different day. I've been looking at a system today that's over 100% efficient, and that really confused me until I understood how they do the calculations.




Tyree said:


> Antec changes PSU suppliers too frequently to make them a reliable recommend product. We only recommend top quality PSU's to insure you have sufficient clean power for the hardware now and continue to have that power during the life of the hardware.


The only point I'd disagree with there is that they're not really to be avoided. I've not seen anything from Antec that would leave me cold. I think with Antec it would be fair to say you get a reasonable power supply, that isn't top quality, but certainly isn't junk, and every now and then if you're lucky you get one that is well above their normal standard.


The XFX 550 Watt Core Edition (£56) is currently cheaper than Antec's 550W supply (£65) from the local supplier anyway, so check prices where you are - seems an ideal time to nab one. 
(NB Those prices are retail, not trade)


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Ok thanks guys. I think I'm good now, I appreciate the help. 

I'll let you know if I still have issues after replacing with a good psu. Looking at some seasonics right now.


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Well damn, I installed a new Corsair TX650 power supply this morning, and the heartbeat thumping delay before post is still present. I'm wondering if it may just be a combo of the cheap mobo and the big draw the video card requires. Hmm....


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

ColonelSeitan said:


> Well damn, I installed a new Corsair TX650 power supply this morning, and the heartbeat thumping delay before post is still present. I'm wondering if it may just be a combo of the cheap mobo and the big draw the video card requires. Hmm....


I had a horrible feeling that may happen.

Does your mobo have on board sound? Have you tried removing the Sound Blaster from the equation, and just using the on board sound instead - do you still get the thumping then?


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Yes it does indeed have onboard sound. When I've used the onboard the speakers are particularly poppy/crackly during audio playback(I even swapped the mobo out after first getting because of this and 2nd one was the same way), so I use the Sound Blaster since it's not as poppy. 

I can try removing the Sound Blaster though, will let you know what I find out.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Did you disable the onboard sound in the BIOS before installing the sound blaster card?


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Now that we have had our diversion how about we go back to the beginning and I am still stuck on all this starting after adding new video card. Have you tried old video card because I would bet the problem is either the new card or perhaps you failed to install the hd audio driver on the video card cd when you installed the new card.


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

Amd_Man said:


> Did you disable the onboard sound in the BIOS before installing the sound blaster card?


No I didn't. I still needed to use the front panel onboard audio ports (for my headphones and mic, since the x-fi didn't come with a front panel), so didn't think of disabling it

Ok just tried a few different things:

-Disabled Azalia audio codec in BIOS, and rebooted, same thumping delay before post

-Removed Sound Blaster X-fi card and plugged speakers into on-board ports. No thumping per se, but still a delay of about 13 seconds before initial post beep

-Unplugged power from video card, post beep came I believe a bit under 5 seconds

In regards to installing the HD audio drivers, I typically just hop online after installing the hardware and search for the latest drivers, so I installed the catalyst driver suite, not sure if that would have the HD audio drivers. Would drivers even affect initial boot though before the O/S has loaded?

Also, if it's any relevance, the previous card I had (I believe it was an HD 5850) only required one 6-pin power cable, while the new one requires two.


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## MattCharman (Oct 28, 2011)

ColonelSeitan said:


> -Unplugged power from video card, post beep came I believe a bit under 5 seconds


That's because trying to run a card without the power connected is a bad idea, and in some cases, could damage the card.

Testing the system without the card installed is a good idea, but you need to physically remove the card, not just disconnect the power to it.

I'm curious to see why you're being asked to install HD Audio drivers for the sound card, since they wouldn't be used until you're in the OS, and the issue you're describing is pre-boot.

What happens if you unplug everything from the board (cards, drives, USB internal devices, anything else) except the CPU, RAM and new Video card? Does it still take a long time to boot? I'm suspecting it will still have a long delay.

Again maybe missing the obvious, have you checked to see if you have the latest BIOS update for the board?


The system is clearly resetting itself a few times before boot - that is why your X-Fi is thumping - it's being powered off and on. I think we're veering into the area of hardware incompatibility, or possibly timing issues on the board.


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## ColonelSeitan (Oct 25, 2011)

MattCharman said:


> That's because trying to run a card without the power connected is a bad idea, and in some cases, could damage the card.
> 
> Testing the system without the card installed is a good idea, but you need to physically remove the card, not just disconnect the power to it.
> 
> ...


Thanks for letting me know, I had this thought in the back of my head that leaving it plugged in might be dumb (but did it anyway of course, lol).

Anyway, I had taken it completely out and just plugged in the onboard video a couple weeks ago and it booted quicker/without the thumps. I also tried unplugging everything but the video card and same thing.

Just doublechecked and I have the latest BIOS version for the mobo.


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