Power Supply Size? For the following specs

Eric Draven · 10 Oct 2006 at 12:46

I wanted to post for some advice on power supply wattage for a new system im putting together as im not sure my old power supply will be sufficient.

I have a 350 watt power supply which im not sure can power the following:

Athlon AM2 +3800 dual core
ATI X1600Pro PCI-Express
4 hard drives
1 gig of DDR2 RAM
DVD Writer
Audigy 2 ZS
All mated to an ABIT Fatality AN9 32X motherboard

Therefore I was wondering if I should also buy an Antec 500 watt power supply as well? Also, are there any potential compatibility problems with any of the above? I would be very grateful for any advice.

Murzo · 10 Oct 2006 at 12:49

You'll probably need more power than that as you have 4 hardrives, i would recommend at least 400w. Something from Seasonic, Enermax, FSP, or tagan would be a good choice.

burtie · 10 Oct 2006 at 12:53

Maybe not go for at least 400+ mate.

Eric Draven · 10 Oct 2006 at 13:00

Thanks for the help, will definitely do so

Thanks for the quick replies, will definitely go about ordering a more powerful power supply.

burtie · 10 Oct 2006 at 13:20

Go for something like this Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £51.69 Including VAT

slap ed · 10 Oct 2006 at 14:04

this should help
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

Eric Draven · 10 Oct 2006 at 15:08

Many Thanks

Thanks again for the recommendations they are very helpful and will definitely help me avoid many problems!

Tetras · 10 Oct 2006 at 15:27

Please remember that wattage is *not* everything, what really matters is the rating on the +12v rails, you can have a PSU that is 600 Watt that can't cope with heavy loads (poor quality) or has all the power on the wrong rails (poor distribution/old) and it won't be any use.

If the PSU you have now is a quality make with plenty of +12v power then it'll handle that system no problem, if it isn't then you'll need a new one, but just buying a 400 Watt PSU doesn't guarantee you'll have more power than you do now. It must be a recognised make and be strong +12v wise.

In that respect the wattage calculators (even the decent one linked above) are flawed in that they may recommend a 500 Watt PSU for a system and someone will go out buying a £10 500 Watt PSU, thinking it'll be just the business and the £80 500 Watt is a rip off cos they have the same power, wrong!

I know that one linked above also has a note on the top now in reference to this which is great but wattage is still held up as everything by way too many

Eric Draven · 10 Oct 2006 at 16:11

Good Points

Those are good points which I will remember. I'm not sure exactly what the make of the power supply is but I was thinking of replacing it with a high quality one, maybe antec or some of the other brands mentioned by other posters. I have heard good things about Antec from reading previous posts.

Also I wouldn't mind a more powerful one just in case I do decide to add more components, go for SLI, simply for more upgradability.

Tetras · 10 Oct 2006 at 16:12

If you ask these guys about Antec:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/

You won't find many positive opinions. A lot of their PSUs have been popping for awhile now, they usually don't take anything with them which is good but still

Eric Draven · 10 Oct 2006 at 16:32

An eye opener

That is quite an eye opener, which leads me to another question. I noticed that one of the motherboards that was listed there was by Abit although others were also mentioned. Can people recommend the Abit Fatality board as it seems quite good on performance and features?

comp builder · 10 Oct 2006 at 17:34

if you dont have a case then i think this is great value for money (im getting one tomorrow)

7th one down

its a sontana II and it comes with a 450w smartpower power supply. You could even have the psu out of it and sell the case if you dont want it.
definitly worth considering i think