Antec SP500 Power Supply

[seeker]

I recently purchased this PS and it appears to work fine, but I do not understand it's specs. It has 2 +12V rails, one for 17A and the other for 19A. Is the capacity of the PS the total of the two rails at once, or is there something that switches from one to the other when needed?

The other question is that when I bought this, I took my PS tester to the store and plugged it in. Unlike my old Antec SL400, it did not light up the -5.0 LED, the store clerk claimed that was normal for today's PSs, being skeptical, we did the same with a second unit with the same results, so I went ahead and bought it. However, in another thread, a poster asked the OP for the voltage specs for all of the rails, including the ones for - values. I'm having a problem with a Geforce 6200 in playing games, could this be a factor?

[nV`andrew]

Well, all i know is my SP400 runs my 7800GT fine, so this shouldn't be the factor unless your PSU is somehow faulty...

[seeker]

The point was, unlike my old SL400, the SP500 had 2 +12 rails, instead of just 1, like the former. The former also had a -5.0 output, unlike the latter. I do not know how this compares to a TP400 though.

Your post caused me to drag out the old PS and I realized that I had misstated it's model, it's a
SL rather than a TP.

[nV`andrew]

Does it say TruePower or SmartPower.. on the box mine says Antec SmartPower 400WSL as well...

[seeker]

Smart Power. It's the one that came in my case.

[Medion]

First off: Dual 12V rails are better for todays systems, and yours has more than enough juice to last you for awhile, even past the rumored power consumption of next gen cards.

Secondly, the -5V rail was phased out with the ATX 2.0 standard, and was only included in aTX1.3 PSUs for legacy compatibility. You'd need a mobo with ISA slots to take advantage of it.

[seeker]

First off: Dual 12V rails are better for todays systems, and yours has more than enough juice to last you for awhile, even past the rumored power consumption of next gen cards.

Secondly, the -5V rail was phased out with the ATX 2.0 standard, and was only included in aTX1.3 PSUs for legacy compatibility. You'd need a mobo with ISA slots to take advantage of it.
I gather from what you said, that the PS could have nothing to do with my current video problems playing games...good, by process of elimination, I think that something is wrong with the video carfd.