do I have enough Power?

[mike82y]

Hi,

I am running an old system with following spec. and recently I just bought a XFX 7900AGP 256MB card. (This will be the last upgrade)

Enermax 350Watt
Asus A7N8X deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton
2 x Corsair 512MB CL2
Sparkle 6600GT 128MB AGP
250 GB IBM/Hitachi SATA HD
250 GB Seagate IDE HD
Plextor PX-116A DVD
Plextor PX-708A DVDR
Floppy
6 x Fans

it says that the min. power should be 400Watt. Do you think that I can just go for a try? what will happened if my computer is short powered?


Mike

 

[silent-circuit]

I wouldn't suggest it -- chances are you'll be running near to rated capacity. That means your current PSU may not last long, and may take something else with it when and if it dies. Considering you can get a reasonably good 450 or 500 watt Enhance or Xclio unit for around $50 that'll power that system without issue, the risk doesn't seem worthwhile to me.

 

[mike82y]

hey Silent,

Thanks for the quick reply! unfortunately there are no decent power supply at that price range here in Germany..

I have been using Enermax for 2 on my computers for serveral years now and they have never given me any problems..

I now have 2 units in mind, maybe you can help me out!

Enermax Liberty 500W ATX 2.2 - for 84euro
Corsair HX 520W ATX 2.2 - for 86euro


mike

 

[silent-circuit]

Thinking on it a bit more, the system in my sig draws a little less than 400 watts at the wall under load, so internal load is around 20% lower. That Athlon XP should pull /roughly the same as it's an older, less efficient design, but the (edit) 7900 will pull considerably less than an 8800 GTX. You really /should/ be fine with a 350 watt, and the Enermax is a quality unit.

Just 'watch' it after you swap in the new graphics card. If the PSU starts running hot, replace it. Otherwise it really should be fine.

Between the two you listed the Corsair is definitely the better choice.

 

[Rambo]

mikey, i really don't think you'll have a problem since you have a quality psu. I have a 7800gs and a Pentium 4 2.8Ghz which is more power hungry than your processor in my work machine and i have a 350 antec smartpower which probably isnt the greatest. I mean, the 7800gs does say it only requires a 350w psu but ive got it oc'd so i dunno. It would probably be safer to just upgrade but that's up to you, but i dont think its necessary.

 

[mike82y]

Thank you Silent/ Rambo!!

I think will just go for a try as my PSU from the current setting is very cool!

Is there anything else other then Temp. that I should be aware of ??



Mike

 

[silent-circuit]

Is there anything else other then Temp. that I should be aware of ?

Ideally you'd be monitoring the various outputs on the different rails, but given how far off software reading can be, and the impracticality of jabbing multimeter probes in to your 24 pin motherboard connector from time to time, nope, temps are probably the best indicator. If you notice instability that's a potential give-away too.

 

[mike82y]

ok i went for a try yesterday!

everything works fine when I boot the computer the first time. The PSU was staying cool the whole time while I was playing C&C 3 with highest setting.

But when I tried to boot up the computer this morning, my screen turns off (sleep mode)just right before Windows log on. I then swapped the video card back and everything runs normal again.

I guess it was some sort of sign showing its short in power! thank god nothing got damaged!



Mike

 

[silent-circuit]

Yep, time to buy a higher rated unit. Go buy that Corsair 520HX and I think you'll be happy with it.

 

[mike82y]

hey Silent,

one more question. will a SATAII HD work on my SATA motherboard?

Mike

 

[silent-circuit]

one more question. will a SATAII HD work on my SATA motherboard?

It should without issue. Some have a jumper you have to set to put them in SATA 1.5GB/s mode, some do it without a jumper all by themselves, and occasionally you will run in to a drive that refuses to run in SATA 1.5GB/s mode, but this is very rare.