Question regarding power load

A

alderweis

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 22, 2002
Messages
126
Hey guys, I have a 400w Antec power supply (a year+ old). I have just boughten an Epox SLi board for my A64 3000+ Venice. I will also have 2Gb of Patriot DDR400, an EVGA 6800GS, a CD/DVD burner, 2 HDDs (80GB WD, 200GB WD), 2 case fans, 1 CPU fan.

Do I absolutely NEED to buy a new PSU, or will I be able to run on my current setup?

If I do have to buy new, what are some suggestions (low price+quality = teh win)

Thanks guys
 
Well, before we can answer, can you at least list the specs of the psu you got, especially the +12V rail amperage ?
 
The only way to really tell is to try it. To tell you the truth, I have a few PSU's that are 350-420 watts with lower amps on the 12V that run a pretty decent system very well, even better than some newer PSU's with higher amperage ratings on the 12V rail. Here are examples of what I ran/run with:

Previously ran using 420 watt 20-pin 3Y Power Technology with 15A on the 12V rail:

DFI UltraD, Venice 3000+, 4*512 Mushkin Blue CH-5 UTT, 7800GTX, DVD burner, HDD, ~ 7 case fans, Audigy2 ZS

It ran flawlessly with the most stable rails I have seen, even with everything overclocked and under full cpu and gpu load. I did end up adding a second GTX and went with a Seasonic S12 500 watt, but would not be suprised if the 3Y would handle it.

Still running the following system with a 350 watt PCP&C with 10A :eek: on the 12V rail:

DFI NF3 250Gb, 2 GB RAM, 6800GT, 2800+, Audigy2 ZS, 2 HDD in raid 0, DVD ROM drive, CD Writer, CPU, GPU overclocked

It is my HTPC and can run BF2/CS:S/FEAR all night without a hitch

Still running the 420 watt 3Y with:

ASRock Dual SATAII, 3700+, x800, 3*HDDs, DVD burner

Still running the following system with a 350 watt PCP&C with 10A :eek: on the 12V rail:

Epox 8KDA3J, 3000+, 9800 flashed to Pro, 1GB RAM, HDD, DVD burner, CD burner, CCL

This was sold to my uncle and it is still running.
 
I tried to run my current setup with a Enermax 350W with 12A on the +12V rail and it choked up (garbled video) so it's not always representative ;)
 
Xilikon said:
I tried to run my current setup with a Enermax 350W with 12A on the +12V rail and it choked up (garbled video) so it's not always representative ;)
Click to expand...

Of course it is not representative, but you had to try it out to find out. I don't think you need to worry about higher quality supplies blowing up if they can't handle the load, at least they shouldn't :D .
 
My suggestion for low cost and quality supply that will run your rig if you current one doesn't pan out:


http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-FS400PA

Powered Rig #2 for a while with no issues, even under load for hours playing COD2.

It is solid and has dual 18A 12V rails (348W = 29A combined max) if that interests you.
 
I'll check the rails tonight when i get home from work an let you know...


only thing im really worried is the possability of something bad happening to my components...
 
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