[Sussex] Hardware Help

[Colin Tuckley]

Steve Dobson wrote:

> I know that there are some of you out there that really understand
> this hardware thing.  To me hardware is just lego that I know how
> to plug together.

Easy bits first,

> For those of you that know my car, you know
> that space is a issue with it :-)

Get a bigger car! <g>

> The problem is that the PSU only has three disk power connectors
> and I need four. So...

A "Y" connector would be best, however if you are really that short of space
then you could replace the FD connector, however you will need to source the
connector bits and a crimp tool to do so, or maybe bodge something with a
soldering iron.

>   3). I also need to make a custom (for length) motherboard power
>       extension cable.  The one that came with the case isn't long
>       enough.  Is there any length limit for the cable from the PSU
>       to the motherboard.

The sort of lengths you are talking about are not a problem, if you were
talking several meteres it might be. Again, connectors might be a problem,
both sourcing them and assembling them.

> My problem is power.

Right you have a PSU that consumes 180W from the mains and can deliver 160W
(the rest is lost or used to drive the Fan).

On average it looks like each of your disk drives consumes 9 or 10 Watts, so
the disks account for 40 Watts.

The processor seems to be about 20 Watts

The motherboard is probably the same (I couldn't find any figures for it on
the web).

That comes to about 80 Watts, however the PVR 350 is a power hungry monster
I suspect, I couldn't find any power figures for it but it's got to be at
least twice the processor I would think.

Which brings us to 120 watts. That's a bit too close to 160W considering the
guesswork above. If you can find the missing info and it all totals 120W
then you are OK, otherwise I think you have a problem.

Colin

-- 
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Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it is pronounced?