Power Supply

ste_w

OSNN Senior Addict
Joined
13 May 2002
Messages
756
Hi all

I Was just on some power supply Calculator and it said for my system i should have atleast 429 Watts, but i have a 250 PSU i think, well im pretty sure actaully, n ive never had any probs so either that Calculator is way off or just by chance i havnt added anything new to it, n i have loads of usb things n that plugged in as well as A Beefy Geforce fx 5800 ultra which eats up alot.

Is it time for a PSU Upgrade? lol

How much is something beyond a 450 PSU in £

Thanx

Ste_W
 
I've got a Thermaltake 450W for around £55.
Usual price should be between £55-70 depending on which particular one you choose.
There are other reliable brands which may cost slightly cheaper.
 
£55? thats good, ill have a look round some computer fairs n stuff for some sort of deal or something, any idea how my computer is surviving then on 250? as aparantly i need 430 lol

Thanx
Ste_W
 
most of the time those calculators give numbers way over for the reason that even if you have a massive powersupply, chances are you didnt buy the most expensive one, and the cheap ones can still dip low on a particular voltage rail under heavy load, thus there is a buffer to make sure people dont come back saying "hey, I used your calculator, and it told me I needed a 350w power supply, yet every time I try to write to my hdd and listen to music and export 3D models and burn a cd and take over the entire internet, my computer snaps off"

...at least this is what I have come to expect :D last time I put a computer together, I picked up a high-mid-range 400w, with similar specs to those in your sig, and I haven't had any problems with it since
 
Probably most of the components are sitting idle inside your machine so they consume very little power. Also, your power supply will probably blow if you tried using all the drives and stuff at the same time.
 
First off the calculator sites make arithmetic errors. I checked their addition and it was wrong.

Second not all power supplies are created equal. I have 2 - 300W Antec's and one of them can deliver significantly more +3.3V, +5V, +12V than the other one can (based on the label ratings).

Third as stated above. Most of your equipment is running well below rated power. The calculators will book say 65W for the CPU, 35W for each HD, 35W for each CD and 50W for the vid card ~235W total. But you never run all that stuff full out at the same time.

Burning a cd the CPU will be more like 50W, 2 CDs or 1 CD and 1 HD will be active and the video card will be doing almost nothing, that's only ~150W.

When you're gaming the CPU and video will be going full out but the HDs and CDs are idle with only an occasional access, ~115W.

All that said I wouldn't be running that plush setup of yours with less than a 350W Antec or Enermax power supply. You are pushing your luck!
 
i have a 300 watt trupower antec ps's, no problems, and i have systems better than that. the highest i have ever needed, is a 480, and that is barely used now. go with name brand, you get what you pay for.
 
Emermax or Antec (in that order). My new system (currently under construction) has the Enermax 550W. I prefer Enermax due to the fact that is has more 4-pin Molex connectors than Antec provides and is a bit more efficient.
 
I had 300 watt Antec in a computer I just built (2.8 CPu, 1 gig 3200 ram ,Asus Mobo) and no problems, up until I added Wireless Lan Card. Then, the stupid machine crashed almost every 10 minutes. I upgraded to a 430 watt Power supply and all of a sudden runs quieter and no crashing.
 
Aparantly my Graphics card will run in Non 100% Compatiblilty mode cos of my 250 Power so i dont think My card is using as much power as it needs but it runs fine n never had a low frame rate just rather high Graphics card temps prob due to the fan not spinning as fast due to not enough power lol , n agree i prob am pushing it lol ill have to look round some computer fairs for a cool powersupply etc

Thanx

From Ste_w
 
falconguard said:
I had 300 watt Antec in a computer I just built (2.8 CPu, 1 gig 3200 ram ,Asus Mobo) and no problems, up until I added Wireless Lan Card. Then, the stupid machine crashed almost every 10 minutes. I upgraded to a 430 watt Power supply and all of a sudden runs quieter and no crashing.

I had an asus mobo as well, ran great with the 300 watt for a while. then started crashing every ten minutes as well, upgraded the ps, and all was good. then it started doing it again as i then replaced the mobo with a gigabyte board and never had a problem again.
 
Well im thinking of Getting Nvidias Latest Card when its out (NV40) n so want a powersupply that will run what ive got and the NV40 which has 2 power connectors on it i heard it needs a minimum of a 350 PSU
 

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