i got a CM stacker case with the ASUS P5PE-VM board, a promise SATA controller and a promise PATA controller and 2 of these power supplies.  what i am wondering is what should go on each power supply assuming that i have 12 drives.  each power supply has enough leads to power 8 drives.  should i put 4 drives on the power supply that is powering the mother board and 8 on the other power supply?

 

or is there some other better way to do it?

anyone??

For the MD-1200 we put the motherboard + 6 drives + case fans on "top" power supply; last 6 drives on "bottom" supply.  You could also go with m/b + 4 drives + case fans on "top", other 8 drives on "bottom".

Is it a bad idea to go with 12 drives and a single 430 Seasonic power supply?

Not if it works 

I read a post with a user that reportedly is running 12 hard disks on the same power supply I am using, so I should hope he was not lying....

IIWY, I'd figure out what current 12 drives plus cpu/motherboard and fans add up to and see if the PSU is supposedly able to supply it.  Secondly, try and find a review where someone has actually tested the claims as many PSUs often fall short of the claimed abilities.

 

I wouldn't personally be very tempted, as it will probably be marginal and could easily cause randomly any of the components in the system damage.  Also, you could end up having really "strange" random problems which would be hard to pin down to the PSU struggling, especially when it gets hot!

 

IMHO, HTH!

 

Matt

Here is the post from ohlwiler

 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6474148&post6474148

 

This guy is using my same power supply and has the following initial setup

 

Intel D865GLCLK

Intel 2.26GHz Celeron D

(2) 256k ram

(2) Promise Ultra 100 TX2

(6) Maxtor drives

(3) Seagate drives

(3) Western Digital drives

Thermaltake Purepower 420

Antec True 430

(3) Cooler Master 4-3 drive cages

Note that no other fans are used

 

He went from using two power supplies (the ones above) to the Seasonic S12-430

 

The following are some power consumption measurements he recorded (Kill A Watt meter):

 

Before (two power supplies)

System on, all disks spun down: 101 watts

System on, all disks spinning: 202 watts

 

After (single Seasonic power supply)

System on, all disks spun down: 68 watts

System on, all disks spinning: 180 watts

 

At the moment I am running with one additional large fan at the back of my coolermaster. I have another large fan at the back and one at the top of the case, which I don't use at the moment (too much noise for nothing...).

I don't think total consumption is the main issue though, I think what's taking what from what rail when is the key issue and whether or not the unit can supply the correct amount on the key rails at the peak times.  The tests seem to concentrate on this more than the total, but often, the total quoted can't actually be supplied also.

 

I'm certainly no expert though, so I'd look for some articles and reveiws written hopefully by people who are!

 

HTH!

 

Matt

Hey gnollo,

 

I'm still running fine on my Seasonic 430.  My setup has changed.  I am running eight Seagate drives and four Maxtor drives.  Since Seagate drives draw the maximum startup current, my current configuration draws a higher peak current.  No problems.

 

ohlwiler