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How much power?

N

nonzerosum

n00b
Joined
Apr 15, 2003
Messages
8
Hi:

Search function is not working; sorry if this is old news -

What size power supply should I get? I am going to build a P4-3.0 G system with the Abit MAX3 board, Raid array of 2 drives and likely a Radeion 9800 with Audigy 2 (eventually). Probably using OCZ pc4000 RAM.

I'm liley going to overclock a bit, but nothing extreme, b/c I need a stable work rig as well as a play machine.

Before you suggest "the biggest power supply possible" - I am also interested in a quiet machine. I was thinking Zalman 400W, but is that too small? What are other quiet power supplies?

(I am tired of my refrigerator sounding T-Bird 1G, even with a TT silent boost K7).

Thanks,
nonzerosum
 
newegg sells the antec true 430 or 420 or some odd 400+ psu, it has a 5 star rating. get that.

of course if you are rolling in the dough get a pc power and cooling psu.
 
you can never have too much power. I would get as much as you can afford because you never know how much you are going to expand your computer, add things, etc.

Antec's True Power PSUs are by far the best PSU's.
 
the vantec stealth PSUs have a quiet mode u can switch to and i think they get up pretty high in wattage. and yea the antec truepowers are l337.
but the question you should really be asking is "why the crap am i buying pc-4000 OCZ ram?" what are the timings on that, 12-14-14-26? if it was me, i would buy pc-3500 of a quality ram like corsair xms, mushkin level 2, kingston hyperX.
 
I thought the timings on OCZ were ok (according to them).

Part of the issue is availability (here in Canada) and mailorder to the states is always a bit of a pain.

I am a RAM and OC newbie. Where is a good place to get educated on the ins/outs of RAM?

thanks,
nonzerosum
 
Originally posted by nonzerosum
I thought the timings on OCZ were ok (according to them).

Part of the issue is availability (here in Canada) and mailorder to the states is always a bit of a pain.

I am a RAM and OC newbie. Where is a good place to get educated on the ins/outs of RAM?

thanks,
nonzerosum
Click to expand...

According to OCZ they have always been the greatest RAM manufacters of all time. And they let you know that by paying off LOTS of big name hardware sites to give them good reviews. Their a little better now but in reviews where the reviewer actually knows how to do anything they tell you how badly it performs with errors at just its rated speeds. You definately dont need PC4000 anyways. Buy some PC3500 from ither Mushkin or Corsair. Mushkin is the best money can buy.

There is a sticky on RAM at the top of this forum for more info.

As far as your PSU goes 300w would run your system but i would get a good 400w PSU from Antec, Fortron, or Enermax.
 
Nothing less than 350W. More into 400W range would be best.
 
Takaman's power supply estimator is better.

Don't trust the BIOS for voltage readings because they're usually off by 2%, and the worst BIOS voltage error I measured was 6%, while MBM5 recently told me that my 12.11V rail was at 10.6xV. Get a digital voltage meter.

Since a 550W Antec is really strong, I wouldn't rule out a loose connector or worn electrolytic capacitors (in the PSU or the mobo).
 
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