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Will 350 Watts be enough for this setup?

A

asmielia

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2003
Messages
337
Hi,
I've had an Enermax 365 (I believe it's 350W) for a while now, and it's been great so far, but I'm about to add 2 new 36 GB Raptors to my system and I'm wondering how much power this thing has left in it.

Here's what my system will have:
Abit IS7 w/onboard LAN, northbridge fan
P4 2.4 @ 3.5 (Sandra is reporting a heat output of 101W)
DVD-ROM
CD-RW
Floppy
2 10000 RPM Raptors
2 7200 RPM HDs
5 case fans
1 cold cathode
Radeon 9700 Pro
SB Audigy
TV Tuner

So yeah, anyway, how can I tell how much power my system is currently drawing?

And what are the symptoms of an inadequate PSU? Would certain things just not boot up? (I'm guessing amps are a problem in that case) Or would certain things in Windows just fail all of a sudden?

Thanks a lot,
Adrian
 
With that setup, you may need a bit more juice. Signs of not having enough power is random reboots, instability, and sometimes no boot. Put the drives in, see what happens, but i would say it may be time to upgrade PSU.
 
Holy sh*t!

468 Watts according to that site!!!

If I just have 2 HDs, it says 403 Watts, which is a lot more than I have now and my system runs just fine.

Well, thanks for the site. Looks like this upgrade might push me over the top. Hopefully not though, don't really have the cash for another upgrade.

Adrian
 
Yeah, I'm not sure about 468W, but 350 will not be enough imo. That's a LOT of stuff you've got there
 
Originally posted by Ugly_Jim
Yeah, I'm not sure about 468W, but 350 will not be enough imo. That's a LOT of stuff you've got there
Click to expand...

350w will MORE then run that setup and alot more. Wattage rating is a big joke. If you have a good name brand PSU that puts out quality 300-350 watts then thats more then enough for a mid range to high end machine. I run 400w PSU's in my machines so as not to overly stress out the PSU. I doubt there very few if any people here on HardOCP that have a normal uniprocessor system that needs more then a 400w PSU. More than that is just overkill and less efficicent.

Buying a PSU way larger then what you need is not better because power supplies run most efficient under load so if you have a huge PSU and only drawing 300w max then its not as efficient as a 400w PSU would be. Less efficency just means your paying more money on the electric bill.
 
Originally posted by bobsaget
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
Click to expand...

I'd suggest you stop posting that. It's hilariously overestimating everything. If they sell powersupplys, they sure must be good at talking people in to buying twice what they need.

In any rate, to the person who posted this thread, you may need more power, you may not. I would only recommend going to 430 or 480 watts anyway just to be safe if you have the cash and already had a crappy powersupply. I wouldn't want to hook all that up and have it all come crashing to a sudden and unpleasant halt. I know it's not supposed to damage anything, but I've had friends overload power supplys with not-so-pleasant results.

Listen to what other people are saying though, some may have setups much like yours and they can tell you if you'll need more power.

edit: you've got an enermax, so its probably fine.

If I said my power supply were 80% efficient when my system was under load, once I subtract what my LCD and CRT use from the max of about 380 watts I've seen on my UPS when gaming, my power supply is only producing mid 200 watt output most likely.
 
Yeah definantly get a powersupplu closer to 480 or so, I have a very meager system with no serious audio or peripherials so I can live happy off of a 350 watt powersupply.
 
Those power supply calculators are a load of dog shit and cat hair. They calculate the worst case scenario which users hardly ever encounter. I think you'll be fine with your current power supply.
 
Guys lol, he doesn't need a 480w PSU. Look up the ACTUAL wattage draws for each hardware component on the manufacturers site and then test your system with an external device such a multimeter. 400w is MORE then enough. You just have to make sure you dont overtax one line. Some people are silly and stick half of the devices that will be drawing the most wattage all on one line and daisy chain them togethor.

Stick with the 350w Enermax PSU you have now. I know it will be enough. If its not you'll know right away.
 
Here we go:

My CRT monitor uses 90 watts, my LCD uses 27. So the two together use 117 watts.

IDLE:
total wattage off UPS: 265 watts-275 watts
total wattage used by power supply: 148 - 158 watts

LOAD (BF:V):
total wattage on UPS: 346 watts
total used by power supply: 229ish

The highest load power consumption I ever saw on the power supply was during Call of Duty, running at 1600x1200 wiht everything on used up to around 400 watts, which still means my power supply is still only drawing around 283 watts.

The amount of power the power supply consumes != what it outputs. If I assumed 80% efficiencty, the output would be for idle: 118.4 - 126.4, load in BF:V was 183.2 watts, and the output under load in CoD would be around 226.4 watts.

That's not a lot, in fact I hardly ever used half the output of my power supply according to those. And I doubt they're too far from being right.

edit: for added humor, that website posted above told me I needed over 500 watts.
 
The amount of power the power supply consumes != what it outputs. If I assumed 80% efficiencty, the output would be for idle: 118.4 - 126.4, load in BF:V was 183.2 watts, and the output under load in CoD would be around 226.4 watts.
Click to expand...

Most PSU's even the really good ones like Antec and Enermax only have around a 70% efficiency rating. But yes i agree with you totally.

If Call of Duty was drawing 283w output then the actual input that it was drawing from the wall socket would be 481.1w.
 
Originally posted by burningrave101
Most PSU's even the really good ones like Antec and Enermax only have around a 70% efficiency rating. But yes i agree with you totally.

If Call of Duty was drawing 283w output then the actual input that it was drawing from the wall socket would be 481.1w.
Click to expand...

I think I'm using poor wording/terminology (I'm typing this during my study breaks, 2 exams tomorrow, argh), but the idea gets across.

If the total consumption out the back of my UPS is around 400 watts during CoD, after I subtract the monitors it's 283 watts. If my [Antec] power supply is using 283 watts, and assuming 70% efficiency like you said (I forgot if it was 70 or 80), the components in my computer are only drawing something like 198.1 watts. The efficiency of the UPS doesn't really matter because it's just telling me how much juice it's sending out through the battery backup outlets.

The question to me is whether a power supply's power rating is consumption or output of the power supply. If I remember correctly it's output.
 
A power supplies wattage rating is its theoretical output. Input is what its actually drawing from the wall. I think i screwed up on my math a second ago because i did it backwards. Your suppost to take the output rating which is say maybe 400w if its a 400w PSU and then divide that by .70 for 70% efficiency rating.

400/.70 = 571.43w
 
Originally posted by burningrave101
A power supplies wattage rating is its theoretical output. Input is what its actually drawing from the wall. I think i screwed up on my math a second ago because i did it backwards. Your suppost to take the output rating which is say maybe 400w if its a 400w PSU and then divide that by .70 for 70% efficiency rating.

400/.70 = 571.43w
Click to expand...

Yeah, that seems better.

So if the power supply is only drawing 283 watts, its producing a usable 198.1 watts for the components in your computer (such is the case when I play CoD).
 
Originally posted by emorphien
Yeah, that seems better.

So if the power supply is only drawing 283 watts, its producing a usable 198.1 watts for the components in your computer (such is the case when I play CoD).
Click to expand...

That sure doesn't seem like very much for a high end system but i suppose your correct. People that think you need a 550w PSU for a non dually must be completely out of their mind lol.
 
Originally posted by burningrave101
That sure doesn't seem like very much for a high end system but i suppose your correct. People that think you need a 550w PSU for a non dually must be completely out of their mind lol.
Click to expand...

Well, that's what all my power readings say, and based on the calculations, which are hard to screw up, you're right. You really don't need much power to run a system like the second one in my sig.

I think we've come to the same conclusion, pimping these high output power supplies is just nonsense.
 
Yea and they dont realize that larger PSU is not always better. Most think well hey i'll have plenty of room to upgrade. Well most likely there will be a new form factor by the time you need to upgrade to a 550w PSU lol. BTX is coming soon.

A 550w PSU is less efficient, runs hotter, and is louder then a 400w PSU of the same make and style.
 
Okay, well thanks for all the info guys. Pretty interesting stuff.

Anyway, there's no way I'm upgrading my PSU unless I absolutely have to, and by the sound of it, I don't think I'll need to.

I've had no issues whatsoever with inadequacy of my PSU in my current setup, so I don't think adding two new hard drives will make a huge difference. One website I looked at said that a certain HD drew about 1.5 Watts at Idle and 11 Watts at load, that's not much at all.

If worst comes to worst, I'll probably just get rid of my 30 GB HD, and possibly my TV tuner and floppy, that should be enough to compensate. Either way, based on what you guys said, I'm pretty confident this PSU will be able to handle everything at once.

Thanks again,
Adrian
 
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