Tips to lower power consumption

[sinkoman]

So, since my antec 400w psu crapped out on me, i've been using a shitter 250 that I zapped off of an old dell. Works fine for browsing, but the thing just bombs out on me when i'm playing games.

Setup is a 3500+ (939, yes I know, oooold), 1 gig of OCZ value ram, a 34g Raptor, an 80g Caviar (running jbod), and a 8800gts.

Can't get a new PSU just yet, so i'd like to be able to at least PLAY games without this one shitting out on me. I don't expect it to run Bioshock, but I can't play Splinter Cell Chaos Theory without the thing going out on me at random intervals.

So, what can I do to make my system work less, just so I can actually PLAY? I'm willing to try anything but dial down the resolution.

 

[Asus]

Take out the 8800...

The dell with the 250watt probably didn't have a good GPU. The power supply probably has lower power on the +12V line. You could try to underclock the GPU (core and memory) but I bet it would still not work well.

 

[sinkoman]

Take out the 8800...

The dell with the 250watt probably didn't have a good GPU. The power supply probably has lower power on the +12V line. You could try to underclock the GPU (core and memory) but I bet it would still not work well.

Dammit.

Might have to try to find another PSU to run in tandem with this one. Was doing that for a while till the second one crapped out.

 

[giant384]

maybe if you play low resolution in windowed mode it might do something. i still wouldn't risk playing a graphic intensive game with that low of power though. all 2d games should be fine.

 

[No Limit]

maybe if you play low resolution in windowed mode it might do something. i still wouldn't risk playing a graphic intensive game with that low of power though. all 2d games should be fine.

You aren't really risking anything but the PSU when you overload it so it shouldn't be that big of an issue.

Since you are running 2 hard drives in there take one of them out for now, hard drives consume a large amount of power. If you have any USB devices hooked up disconnect them. And as giant suggested windowed mode if possible would be good.

 

[giant384]

You aren't really risking anything but the PSU when you overload it so it shouldn't be that big of an issue.

Since you are running 2 hard drives in there take one of them out for now, hard drives consume a large amount of power. If you have any USB devices hooked up disconnect them. And as giant suggested windowed mode if possible would be good.

you risk frying the psu then that my result in frying your pc components.

also hard drives only take about 10-15w.....thats not alot of power at all.

 

[No Limit]

you risk frying the psu then that my result in frying your pc components.

also hard drives only take about 10-15w.....thats not alot of power at all.

Switching power supplies simply shut down when they reach their end of life, it will not fry the rest of your pc.

 

[Asus]

Power supplies do have safety shut-offs in place that should protect the PC from PSU failures but some failures still fry PCs.