Question Connecting two PSUs to one PC

[princeboy411]

Hi there,

I have this rig:-

Intel Core i5-4440 3.1
Gskill ripjaws x 24gb ddr3 ram
Gigabyte B85-HD3 rev 2.0
Cooler Master K380
Seasonic 520W 80+ Bronze
Gigabytes R9 380 Windforce 2GB (SOLD)

AND, I wanted to buy new graphics card. Right now i'm on a tight budget. So I decided to buy an old r9 390x. It says it require 275W. Will my psu be capable of handling it well, and probably with some ocing? If not, is there a way to properly connect two PSUs to one pc? Of course, one to the graphics card and the other which i'm going to buy to the PC. Please advise..?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Your current PSU wattage comes in at the minimum recommended by a PSU calculator. However, since your PSU is older it will have lost some of its power generation to capacitor aging. The loss can be upwards of 20% so that makes your PSU more like a 420W which is less than needed. AFAIK there isn't a way to do what you are asking with the dual PSUs. Better option would be to purchase a new 650W/750W PSU. What is your budget for a PSU?

 

[Phaaze88]

No, you do not need 2 psus.

Although, how are you getting 24GBs of ram on that motherboard?

 

[princeboy411]

No, you do not need 2 psus.

Although, how are you getting 24GBs of ram on that motherboard?

8gb×3 ram dimms

 

[Phaaze88]

Take one out, and position the remaining 2 as designated by your motherboard.

2 sticks(dual channel) is the optimal config for your motherboard. 3 sticks puts it in single channel(memory bandwith cut in half) = reduced performance
If you want more ram, you need to buy a proper kit of 2x 16GB sticks.

 

[princeboy411]

Your current PSU wattage comes in at the minimum recommended by a PSU calculator. However, since your PSU is older it will have lost some of its power generation to capacitor aging. The loss can be upwards of 20% so that makes your PSU more like a 420W which is less than needed. AFAIK there isn't a way to do what you are asking with the dual PSUs. Better option would be to purchase a new 650W/750W PSU. What is your budget for a PSU?

Well, I tested my psu, recently at a mall about one month ago, with a psu volt tester and he told me the psu is like new. it is used for less than 2 year of working time in 4 years since i bought it. is a new psu needed? there is a few solutions on running dual PSUs on google, youtube and amazon. the best thing was a dual PSU converter. but i am not sure if it works great or not.

 

[princeboy411]

Take one out, and position the remaining 2 as designated by your motherboard.

2 sticks(dual channel) is the optimal config for your motherboard. 3 sticks puts it in single channel(memory bandwith cut in half) = reduced performance
If you want more ram, you need to buy a proper kit of 2x 16GB sticks.

i didn't know that my mobo supports it. however, i have one ram brand for gskill. the other two each has different brand. what if the sticks themselves doesn't support dual channel?

 

[Phaaze88]

The motherboard will run in dual channel as long as you have 2 sticks in the appropriate slots refer to your motherboard manual for which slots.

Mixing sticks is a gamble. Sometimes you win. But when you don't... BSODs, and other crashes are bound to happen.
They are only guaranteed to run in the form sold.
Since all 3 sticks are different, do any 2 sticks have the same speed and timings? IF you don't know, check the sticker on the sticks themselves. You should see speed(in mhz), followed by timings(x-x-x-x), and then voltage(1.xxV).
The same speed and timings should theoretically have the highest compatibility, but, once again, no guarantees unless they were sold together.

 

[princeboy411]

i have no idea how to know this, so..

g.skill
F3-1600C9S-8GXM
DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 1.5v
PC3-12800 8Gx1 INTEL XMP READY

SK hynix KOREA
8GB 2Rx8 PC3 - 12800U - 11 - 13 - B1
HMT41GU6BFR8C - PB NO AA 1447

AXIOM
102464Z8D3N16813
8GB DDR3-1600 NON-ECC
1024MX64 1600MHz 240PIN CL11

 

[Phaaze88]

Yikes.
They're all different speeds and timings - although, I could not find the full specs for the Axiom module. All I turned up was the latency you already posted, the CL 11

The pair with the highest chance for compatibility - IN THEORY - would be the Sk Hynix and Axiom sticks. Go into bios, enable XMP, and set it to 1600mhz. If it crashes, then set it to 1066.
If that still crashes, then stay with a single stick until you can get a new kit.

 

[princeboy411]

does that mean the g.skill has the lowest speed and timing or the other two rams have the closest? cuz i was planning to sell the third unused..

 

[jeremyj_83]

does that mean the g.skill has the lowest speed and timing or the other two rams have the closest? cuz i was planning to sell the third unused..

The GSkill has the best timings of the RAM, however, the other two have timings similar to each other which works with compatibility.

 

[princeboy411]

is it a noticable difference?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Well, I tested my psu, recently at a mall about one month ago, with a psu volt tester and he told me the psu is like new. it is used for less than 2 year of working time in 4 years since i bought it. is a new psu needed? there is a few solutions on running dual PSUs on google, youtube and amazon. the best thing was a dual PSU converter. but i am not sure if it works great or not.

Your PSU will still have capacitor aging that will max at about 20% (you will lose about 20% of the stated wattage), happens no matter how expensive or cheap the PSU it. Since yours isn't extremely heavily used, your aging might be only 10% which would put it at 470W. Problem is that is dangerously close to the max of what your system might draw while under load. That means you won't have much room, if any, to overclock.

 

[jonnyguru]

Well, I tested my psu, recently at a mall about one month ago, with a psu volt tester and he told me the psu is like new.

No shop in a mall is going to be able to tell you this. Did they actually plug it into a Chroma 6000 or Chroma 8000 or at least a SunMoon and run it for at least half an hour while the PSU sat in a thermal chamber? If so, I'm impressed. Tell me where this is and I'm buying airline tickets and flying over there right now to check it out.

At any rate.. your parts are all older, like your PSU. So I wouldn't be concerned. Just do it and if it blows up, buy all new parts.

 

[jeremyj_83]

is it a noticable difference?

The difference will come in stability of the system. When you mix modules of different timings you will get instability. RAM is so much faster now than it was 20 years ago when you could mix and match sticks and be OK.

 

[princeboy411]

guess everything is understood

 

[princeboy411]

so, knowing the mobo dual channel architecture,
how to know if the dual channel is working?

 

[TJ Hooker]

2 sticks(dual channel) is the optimal config for your motherboard. 3 sticks puts it in single channel(memory bandwith cut in half) = reduced performance

Having different capacities in each channel doesn't necessarily mean you're running in single channel mode. It can run in dual channel for the first two DIMMs, and single channel for the 3rd DIMM. Referred to as "flex mode".

 

[princeboy411]

well, here's what happened. I downloaded cpu-z, which was referred to detect single or dual channel. I tried it with both rams in one channel, according to its architecture. and it referred it single. I placed each ram into the other's place and the result is the same. I used the other dual channel and there is no difference. the referred ram sticks above were used. third away.. :\

 

[princeboy411]

I also tried the third with both rams. single. I have no idea what could the problem be??

 

[princeboy411]

ok, ^^", so I haven't read the architecture THAT well. it appears dual channel sockets are marked with same color. one ram in each channel.