What or how much power do I need?

Z

Zartose

n00b
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Oct 22, 2006
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Well I was trying to read up and better understand all the jargan behind the power supplies but it prolly goes a little deeper than I'm ready to go into, so I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to point me in the right direction.

My system (copied from orders)
ASUS A8V DELUXE Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard
GIGABYTE GV-N76G256D-RH GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum Desktop Memory Model OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K
2 CD-RW/DVD-RW
1 Floppy drive ( Don't know why haven't used it in ages)
1 LSI LOGIC MegaRAID SATA 150-4 64-bit PCI SATA Controller Card
4 Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JD 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive (Raid 5)
1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JD 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive (OS Drive)
Thermaltake Xaser 3 case (6 fans with controler, has a light not used, hate this case actually but its what I have atm)

So there you have it, my current power supply is over loaded I know, its a er COOLMAX "EZ Wire" CU-400T ATX 400W Power Supply, I know a lot about PCs but I'm at fault for always over looking the powersupply as others are.

The system above didn't start out that way and at one point i'm sure the power supply was ok but as my system has grown to fit some of the work I do, at least storage wise, I haven't thought to upgrade the powersupply anyway.

So what supplies should I consider? Oh yeah, I'd take a suggestion on a better case too :p In any case I'm looking for something that functions well more so than try's to look pretty.

thanks in advanced!
 
What is your budget?

I recommend the Masscool Nextherm 460w. A solid 460w seventeam built unit which will handle your rig without a hickup.

Dave recommends the Xclio 450w. A great unit.

I think DBtelos would recommend the Enhance ENS5140. 400w, 28a, quiet, and rather inexpensive.

How close am I?
 
Budget wise I'm willing to spend around 150 or so give or take.

My main goal here is to make sure my system isn't limited due to pulling too much on the power supply.

One other consideration is I'm looking to get into a new case with less noise 6 fans humming along bug the crap out of me these days. So a more silent Power supply would be a bonus as well, not a must by any means but a extra if I can go that route.

Thanks again for your help!

Edit: Don't see the Enhance on Newegg do you have another vendor to suggest that sells them? I'm in the U.S. ;)
 
Well the XCilo GoodPower 500W for $49 will do the job just fine.

If you want super quality & lots of room to grow the Corsair 520W is perfect from about $105 on Froogle.

Good Luck,
Dave ;)
 
This isnt a bad PSU power calculator
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

edit:
I plugged in your parts, CPU's TDP was put to 100% for safety, the other settings were filled as recommended at the bottom of the page.

You are using 487W of power when the PC is running at 100%.
This assumes the PSU is less than 1 year old, an 89W Dual Core CPU, not more than 6 case fans and only a mouse on USB.
 
That's not a good thing. It spits out 487w, when in reality it would do fine with a 400. A 350 might cut it, but it's pushing it. It says my rig takes 492w. It sure as hell doesn't take anywhere near that. I'd say maybe 300w pull, with a 20% overhead = 360w draw.

You need a calculator that calculates amperage on the seperate rails. Anyone can go out and buy a $20 600w psu. There's more than wattage.

That calculator is not recommended.
 
It accounts for more than basic use and makes sure your system will get through power on, post and boot up safely.
Theres is a lot more to it but if it doesnt suit you, please ignore it.

I used my system as a test to see that it did get somewhere near and I have to say I'm impressed.

My system has an Enermax 430W PSU, the PSU calc thinks I need a tiny bit more and it is correct.
I quite often have to reboot 3 times to get past initial posting problems.
Its perfect in Windows and everything runs clocked to the hilt, rock stable for days on end. Just power on is the problem which is expected.
If I clock my CPU down (to reduce power drain), I get no problems with power on.

I do agree that it cant show what you need on separate rails so it should only be used as a general guide.
 
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