Hi, I have a PC Power & Cooling, Inc. psu model #510 ATX-PFC which someone gave to me, it is used. I hooked it up to my tester and the +5 and the -5 do not light up. I know that the new psus and mobos no longer require the -5 but I need to know if the +5 needs to also be working.

I am still trying to understand the different volts and amps on a psu, do understand how important the amp is with regards to gsu...

Could someone let me know about the +5? I would really appreciated it.

Thanks!

Yes you need the +5v. But, depending on your particular tester, there is a +5vSB and +5v. The SB one is the standby that keeps just enough juice flowing so the system responds to the power on signal, that one should go out when the unit powers up during testing. But the regular +5v should then come on.

Most testers that I have seen have the +5vSB, but not all.

If you are not getting +5v it's likely the +5v rail is bad.

Ty for replying jlreich :p

Ok, with this psu, it is a 20 pin. I used a 24 pin adapter when I tested it.

It was the +5Vsb and the -5V that did not light up.

I then took the adapter off and tested it as a 20 pin and the only one that did not light up is the +5Vsb.:confused:

So does that mean that this psu should be ok to use?

It's continuous power is 510w and its peak power is 650w.

Also, with regards to amps, which amp rate am I looking for?
Is it the amp to the +5V (which is 40A) or the amp to the +12V (which is 34A)

The +5vSB not lighting is good. The Unit should be fine then.

The +12v is the most important rating.

With a 20pin connector and having 34A on the +12v rail it is an older unit but it should do fine for everyday systems. I wouldn't try to make it run a modern high performance gaming system, but being a PC P&C unit I would trust it more than many new units today. :)

but being a PC P&C unit I would trust it more than many new units today.

It seems to be a nicely built psu, nice weight to it. So would it be alright you think to use it on a core 2 duo (2.4Ghz) system with a 8800gts card using the 24 pin adapter? I believe the amp need is 28.

A power guzzling 8800GTS? 510W is running kind of slim for that really. It should run it assuming you are not running several HD's and such, but with no headroom.

34Ax12v=408W. That would be peak wattage. Also considering it is an older PSU and they lose efficiency as they age, lets say you are looking at maybe 200-250W continuous on the +12v rail.

Your card uses up to 106w at full load, guessing your CPU is a 65W rated chip, throw in hard drives, motherboard, CD/DVD drives you should still be in decent shape. I think you will be fine.

What will you be replacing with this?

I am not replacing anything, this would be a new build. How about a 8600 GTS? Do you think the psu would handle that with sli?

Also, what do you think about the XP Pro 64 bit vs the 32 bit? What are the major adv. for gaming using the 64 bit?

The 8600GTS is 47w each, so a little less than the 8800GTS. I would stick with the 8800GTS myself. Do you have the 320MB or 640MB version?

If you are going to stick with XP use 32bit. If you want 64bit go vista HP64. It's a big crap shoot if you will be able to find drivers for all your stuff and if programs will work with XP 64. Vista 64 has much better compatibility, though it is worth a look to make sure any particular programs that you must have running will work.

The biggest advantage of 64bit is support for more than 4GB ram. This is actually more important now than it ever has been. Not just because we are getting to where we need more ram, but because of the whole "memory mapping" problem with modern video cards that have larger and larger amounts of ram on them. With 32bit systems the more the video card has on it the less main ram the system can address. 64bit does not have this problem.

Here (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=67355) is an explanation of memory mapping I gave a while ago. Not quite as clear as I had hoped now that I go back and read it. I think the last post is probably a better explanation in a nutshell.

Wow, ty for the info. It is incredible to me how far we have come as far as gaming and it doesn't look like it will stop. I will look into the Vista 64. I don't know how you keep up with all this stuff, just when I think I have it, there is new stuff :eek:
Oh well, it is a challenge to me and I appreciate the Geek Gods like yourself to help me along the way. :D

You are awesome Jlreich! Thanks so much!!!! :p

PC P&C units are rated for continuous power output, not peak power output like all other units. 510W from PC P&C is plenty for a single-GPU gaming system.