is this enough juice??

[ne0-reloaded]

im building a new system and would like to know how many watts id need. im thinkin bout gettin a 350w enermax, heres the specs (roughly)

2500+ barton
abit nf7-s
audigy LS
40GB 7200rpm
200gb 7200rpm WD
1gb pc3200
asus 9200se
4 80mm fans (1 of em a led)
dvd-rw and dvd-rom

not sure if 350w is cuttin close, but the 9200se isnt a power hungry card so i might make it. any advice appreciated

thanks

[Dark Assassin]

I personally wouldn't trust 350 Watts for 2 optical drives, 2 disk drives, and a video card. I wouldn't want to risk rail voltage instability, so I would suggest spending a little more cash on a higher wattage PSU. My personal suggestion would be an Antec TruBlue 480 Watt.

Dark Assassin

[tdg]

If it's a decent 350 watt unit it's fine. My XP 3200+, Radeon 9800 Pro, 2x 512MB RAM, 2x 7200 RPM HD, 3x optical drive machine pulls only 240 watts AC, which is about 175 watts DC from the power supply. Theres no reason to upgrade unless your voltages are low, or you just want a better quality unit.

[rsnellma]

Dark Assasin
You recommended Antec TrueBlue. I was just wondering have you ever tried Fortron PSU?

Bob2001

[Vertigo Acid]

See my sig

[ne0-reloaded]

If it's a decent 350 watt unit it's fine. My XP 3200+, Radeon 9800 Pro, 2x 512MB RAM, 2x 7200 RPM HD, 3x optical drive machine pulls only 240 watts AC, which is about 175 watts DC from the power supply. Theres no reason to upgrade unless your voltages are low, or you just want a better quality unit.

thanks tdg, thats the kinda answer i was looking for. u provided facts rather than opinion. im gonna do some more research and see how much watts the componenents use so i can make sure its enough

thanks for the help

[Ice Czar]

Choosing the right Power Supply (http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/) &
takaman's Power Supply Calculator rev0.61x (http://takaman.jp/psu_calc.html?english)
to determine the amps you need per rail

also review
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=763701&highlight=Choosing

[ne0-reloaded]

thanks ice czar ill take a look at it

[Vertigo Acid]

thanks tdg, thats the kinda answer i was looking for. u provided facts rather than opinion. im gonna do some more research and see how much watts the componenents use so i can make sure its enough

thanks for the help

Actually, he provided numbers presumably determined by a kill-o-watt or similar device, which is much different than adding the theoretical maximum of each device, as rated on the label. Although it's not much help in determining how much power you need, it's a good demo of why you don't need a 400w PSU. The wattage calculator Ice Czar linked is great for adding theoreticals, because you've got a lot of choice and the ability to change numbers depending on your components more freely than most crappy calculators.

[Ice Czar]

and as I point out in the rant :p in that thread link
the amp distribution has changed considerably recently
many older supplies being short on the +12V
(especially if your running alot of components like fans and drives which need 4 to 5 times the amp draw at spinup as when running, and can impact the voltage stability as Dark Assassin mentioned at startup (the transient response to a dynamic load)

its no longer a simple X amount of watts will get you through
there is now a considerable number of variables, and while yesteryears PSUs typically did fine,
modern boards (depending on their components and bus speed) can be damaged if combined with poor power supplys, so PSU A does fine on Mobo B but not on Mobo C with X number of other components