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I have a 500W power supply, and quite a few HDD's.
Is there some software/web based utility that can tell me wether the PSU just isn't up to the drain I'm putting on it?
There is no software based utility that can test the present generation of motherboards using the built in sensors presently available. You need to measure both the voltage and current under varying load conditions and also transient response, electrical noise, and thermal dissipation.
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500 watts capacity will handle any recent mboard and system, providing the PS is not an el-cheapo and the capacity rating is not a lie. What brand and model is it?
Hard drives draw very little power. You can see that for yourself by looking at the milliamperage specs for 5v and 12v on the label on the drive, or by looking up those ratings on the manufacturer's web site(s) for your models. CD/DVD drives draw very little as well, most of that only while they're actually being used. USB connected drives or other USB devices draw a max of 500ma at 5v per port = 2.5 watts.
What draw the majority of the power are your cpu, ram, mboard, and if you have a PCI-e video card, the video card can draw a lot.
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A quick and dirty check: check DC voltages; they should be within, let's say, .2V of nominal. Then switch to AC; should be very low ripple.
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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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Amperage is what's important. The amperage has to be distributed properly across the various rails. You could have a 500w PSU with 36A on the +12v rail or one that only has 15A on the +12v...the difference would then be made up in the other rails. Beware PSUs with high amperage on the +5v. Some manufacturers stash the amperage there to drive up the overall wattage ratings of their units. For example, 50A on the +5v can account for as much as 250W.
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Power Supplies are one of those items you wanna go a bit more expensive on.
Several online sources available.....
The better ones tend to have larger fans and be noticeably heavier than the entry level CompUSA house-brand types.
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A power supply is not an ideal voltage source in the way it's thought of in EE computations. When the load is pulling too many amps, the voltage drops. Most of the amps are on the +5 and +12 volt rails. I'm not sure how good those on-board voltage sensors are but I suppose any software that can read those figures would give some idea if the PSU is handling the amperage requirements. I'm not sure how much of a voltage drop would be acceptable.
You could also check those voltages with a voltmeter on an unused molex drive connector. See if there's any voltage difference between a light and heavy load.
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