It's one thing to be wrong, it's another thing entirely to try correcting someone else when you're wrong.
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Originally Posted by Shadowex3
No, your PSU isn't capable of picking favorites. It's first come first served. If it's incapable of supplying everything then your computer's going to just plain shut down because CPUs are incredibly touchy about losing power.
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This is patently false. We're not talking about digital signal processing; this is analog power and it subject to peaks and valleys, even with a power conditioner. As long as the CPU and mainboard have adequate power, the computer will not just 'shut off'. I've doing computer repair on the side for about 10 years and I've seen faulty PSUs cause all sorts of intermittent peripheral failures, including intermittent black screens and blue screens.
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I tried to run a pentium 4 and an 8800gt off of a cheap power supply while I was using about a dozen fans to keep the p4 from setting anything else in the case on fire (yep, it was a prescott). My mouse didn't shut me down, but trying to do anything that took more GPU power than basic windows use sure did. My enormous power-sucking trinitron monitor(s) running at a combined resolution of 3520x1200 stayed on the whole time though.
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I think you're essentially proving my point here. Any spike in draw can cause a PSU to be unable to provide appropriate power to all of the devices. I'm not sure why your monitors staying on is important at all, seeing as how they're self-powered. If you mean to use it to say that the CPU is more likely to fail and cause a hard shut off than the GPU, then your anecdotal experience is great, but *ANY* part can fail depending on the immediate voltage conditions to them all. I've suggested the mouse because it is linked to the actual failure, and a ground condition on the USB jack could easily cause a momentary power draw. It just as easily be ANY of the peripherals, but the solution would be in replacing the power supply, not the peripheral.
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Like I just pointed out the fans in his computer would take more power together than the mouse probably would.
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That's great when you're talking about sustained, but this appears to be a spike. Even temperature-ramped fans draw a stable current and aren't subject to spikes like DRAM, CPU and GPU are.
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Again: No. Ever see those dvi->dsub adapters that you just screw onto the end of the monitor cord? Your videocard does not know or care the difference when you use those..
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You mean the adapter on the *outside* of the video card? Of course it doesn't 'care' at the termination point, because it's already done with signal processing.
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the only time it notices a difference is when using a DVI-D connection and says "Yo, I'm all-digital, stop running the signal through the DAC and save yourself some work" and then it's DVI that's easier since it doesn't need to convert it to an analog signal.
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You just made my point, so I'm not sure what the rambling bit above was about.
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There is no such thing as amperage,..
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I could have left this alone, but really? You do realize that W = VA, where Watts = Voltage * Amperage? It's the fundamental measure of current. If you're trying to 'correct' me to 'ampere', you'd do well to recognize that amperage is the measure of current, measured *IN* amperes.
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Yes, yes it can. It's called "interference" if it's coming from outside and "bad cables" if it's the cables or plugs. As an example of the former (these things don't exist in a vacuum) ask yourself why do you think there are rules built into the standards about wiring? Why do cables have insulation? It's not to keep them from catching a cold, it's to deal with interference.
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I'm quite familiar with what insulation is for, thank you. And as you so dutifully noted above, the actual current carried on the line is not enough to create any meaningful EM field to nearby cables, even with damaged shielding.
I'd wager Real Money that the OP's problem will go away if you test with a higher rated PSU, but feel free to blame.. what was it you think is the failure, again?