Power Supply Issue

[renjithc]

Looks like I'm going into a PSU issue - whenever I cold power on - it has difficulty coming up until i pull out some of my hdd's. Its fine on restarts though - as long as I dont fully power it off.
My 1000W PSU is 2yrs on and was pulled out from my gaming system to set up this 21HDD setup with the 6 new Nidec fans. I'm attching the spec of the PSU - which i think may not be delivering the right way on its rails. not enough power going to mobo & hdd's over the rails even with the 1000W.

My Hardware consists of the foll:
- SuperMicro X89SiL-F with Xeon X3430
- 8GB DDR3 ECC RDIMM
- 16 x SATA3 HDD (WD Red\Puple); 5 x SATA2 HDD's - total of 21 HDD's
- 2 x M1015 SAS Cards
- Norco RPC 4224 Case
- Thermaltake 1000W PSU
- 6 x Nidec V80E 11K 1.95Amp Fans (running @5K RPM)

Do suggest whats required for my above rig - considering I dont need extra power on PCIE.

[b0ssman]

your problem is prob easy to fix.

your psu has 4 12V rails. (a psu with only one raild is much better)

you will need to split up the hard drives between the rails.
the config will be 1 12v rail for the mainboard and 3 rails for the other drives.

try connecting the each backplane to a separate string of connectors coming from your psu.

[renjithc]

Reading it up again I found out whats the issue ... the multi rail arrangement is kinda useless on this Thermaltake PSU. The 1000W multirail delivers almost 500W to the PCIE \ Graphics Card connectors. All the Mobo \ Peripheral connectors run on a single rail of max 500W. Stupid of me not to read in detail. The HDD connecotors are modular but they cant be connected to the PCIE Rails. Different connectors. So much for that.

Looks like I'll need to buy a new one. I prefer fully modular for the sake of keeping it clean. Not sure if multirail is the way to go at this rate.

Any recommendations on what to look for - server grade (ATx) delivering the power to mobo & hdd's? My current calculated wattage use is 785W.

[b0ssman]

the best quality psu at are made by seasonic.

this is one of the best sites for psu reviews.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/

if you have a bit experience, you can use the 12v rail from the pcie connectors.
get a pin remover (you can use a 2 staples for this or something like this http://www.moddiy.com/products/Sunbeam- ... t%29-.html)
remove all wires from the pcie connector, remmeber where the 12v lines are.
remove the 12v connector from the perepherial connector and plug it into the empty pcie connector where the 12v line is.

[renjithc]

Thanks for the pin remover tip b0ssman. But I dont want to fiddle around on something that might go way out of hand.

Swapped my older NAS which had the Antec 700W single rail with this one. Works like a charm. The funny thing is the Thermaltake 1000W had included 10 Molex & 10 Sata connectors with my 1000PSU - and suprisingly it cant handle even 16 HDD's at power up. Thats a lot of my time wasted refitting this & a waste of money on the 1000W.

[alexey123]

WoW
21 disks, per each more then 2A on startup and 6 FANs with ~5A on start
If I had such hardware, I do next
1. Start system without fans, for 5-10 minutes, just test how hard disks start and bios see all pull.
If success, I have built switch for fans with time delay and current limitation
2. If not success, I have inspect signal PWR_OK from PSU (gray wire) and make for it delay for ~1 sec.

If power supply was previously used more then 2 years, I have inspect and replace all electrolytic capacitor ( minimum replace capacitors - 2 pcs into PWR OK circuit )

[renjithc]

Like I mentioned above - its the multi-rail issue on the 1000W PSU.. the Motherboard\Fans\HDD's can be run only on the 500W rail of this PSU. The other 500W is solely for PCIE VGA card - bad design I'd say. The 500W rail cannot handle 21 Disks + 6 fans + Mobo + Xeon CPU.

Luckily had another 700W PSU on single rail - solved the problem temporarily while I look for another PSU.

Take a bit more care buying multi-rail PSU for NAS - need to be sure how power is distributed and if both rails can be used for peripherals\HDD's.