Is this a PSU problem ?

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My mate is having problems with his pc, see spec below. Random (?) crashs. Has tested with just one graphics card and it was stable.

AMD 4000 64, X-Fi fatality, BFG PhysX card, ATI X1900 Crossfire, ATI X1900XT, Raptor 74GB, WD 200GB, OCZ Powerstream 600w, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard.
The psu doesn’t have a fan underneath drawing air up and out, it’s a passthrough from front to back, 2x Arctic Cooling Accelero GPU coolers, Akasa Evo33 CPU cooler, 2x 120mm case fans. There is unobstructed airflow from intake to add in cards.
Heat is definitely an issue, but on some of the crashes, after a restart there is no vpu recover message, so this makes me think it is a psu problem, especially as I cannot restart until after I have switched off and on the psu at the back of the case. I have had a large room fan blowing directly into the case as well, still it crashes. I can leave the desktop on for days on end, it runs fine until I start to do something intensive.

Is the psu big enough, max output on the 12v rail is 13.2v, case is Akasa Eclipse does he need bigger for better airflow ?
 
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Soldato
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The OCZ 600W is good PSU, no doubt. But you may have just enough connected at peak load to reach the preset 20A/240VA limit on one of the two rails. If it runs fine with one GF card, then look for a quad rail PSU, 700W FSP Epsilpn is recommended.
 
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wow if theres that much hardware in that machine with a combined value of over 2 grand, I'd surely think he should invest in water-cooling to avoid heat issues!
 
Soldato
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lucifersam said:
even with all that kit in there a 600watt PSU should not be restricting.... having said that stranger things happen. What is the maximum output of the 12v rail on that PSU?
ATX 2.* PSU are limited to 240VA on any rail, dual rails have one rail for the CPU and one for the rest. The problem is that crossfire may use just enough wattage from the second rail to trip the overcurrent limit. Quad rail PSU's put graphics cards on different rails, so they don't reach the OCL. Look at the connections on this Silverstone (ST60F £90 ish 42A/504w@12v modular). Another very good crossfire option. Or look for a solid single rail PSU like the PCP&C 510 SLi.



This article gives more details.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1932947,00.asp
 
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