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Will 450W cut it?

D

Dennis Gordon

Gawd
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Messages
590
Hi everyone...

I've built about 20 Intel boxes over the years; always using inexpensive Enlight cases with built-in PSU (300-400W). Never had many power problems.

Now I'm looking to do my first AMD build with a 4400X2 and Epox EP-9NPA (I don't need SLI, this is for work).

There will be 3 SCSI drives and perhaps 1 SATA drive for storage. 1 DVD burner, floppy, etc. 1 gig of memory, PCIe video, etc....

I'm not used to spending more than $75 for case/CPU together, but after reading some of the posts here from those of you spending hundreds on the PSU alone, I'm concerned that the cool looking case with the 450W PSU I'm considering is gonna give me problems.

I went to the watt-o-meter site and plugged in some general numbers, and it seems like 450W would be enough. Am I dreamin'?

Any recommendations for a case/PSU for uner $100? One that still has a cool factor?

Thanks for any suggestions...
 
I don't think that you would want to have a no name 450 watt PSU running your new rig, buy an Enermax or Antec power supply rated for 450 or more, you will be happier when your Enermax/Antec dies and doesn't kill the rest of your computer like the no name probably would. Not that its likely that the Enermax/Antec will die.

edit: and I assume that you will be running your SCSIs RAID5? The controller uses a lot of processing power when the RAID arrray is set up that way, and all 3 hard drives will be accessing at the same time all the time, so that will probably put a lot of stress on the generic PSU. And don't forget stability. When you have a 4400+ processor with a PCI-e graphics card like the ones your chose, its gonna take a lot of juice when playing games. IMO, that 450 is worthless for your computer, don't even plug your stuff into it. A friend of mine built a new computer (this was a while back) and used the generic psu that came with the case he bought. Lets just say he never got his computer to post, ever. A complete waste of 2k, now you dont want that to happen to you because you didnt want to spend $80 on a higher quality power supply now do you?
 
Thanks for the tips.

A couple of clarifications:
No games for this machine. It's a graphic production machine. Modest 64 meg DVI card (either a Matrox p650 PCIe or an OEM Nvidia NVS280, also 64 megs)

No RAID. The drives are all 15K U160 or U320 drives that I took from another machine or bought off of Ebay. They are plenty fast simply hooked to the LSI U160 controller, and since they're all of a different size, RAID would be impractical.

Nonetheless, I agree with your assessment that I shouldn't skimp on the PSU. This isn't a Celeron I'm building here. I just don't want to spend $150 if I can get something decent for $75.
 
From my experience I have learned that it not always best to take short cuts. I used to buy the cheapest case I could find. My thought process was as long as the PSU works whats the big deal? Looking back, I now realize it is a big deal. I always had stability problems or having to replace parts prematurely but never linked it to a crappy PSU. I purchased an Antec case several years ago and discovered that the majority of my problems disappeared. I will not build any computer and use a crappy PSU, it's just not worth it. There is a buyer's guide in the power supply sections that will help you find a good PSU in your price range.

PS. Check out SeaSonic, they make a killer Power Supply, a bit on the pricey side ($100.00) for a 430w Power Supply, but definitely worth it.
 
Dennis,

If you've used Enlight cases with Enlight power supplies for years without any problems, why change now?

An Enlight power supply, even if it's "only" a 350W, is still way better than some other brand's included "500W" or whatever.

I can only think of two brand cases that give you a decent power supply out of the box: Enlight and AOpen.

You can get an EN-7250 w/ 350W or an AOpen QF50 w/ 350W for under $70.

If this is only going to be a workstation and you plan to have a 6600 or below nVidia video card, or an ATI video card, then those 350Ws will be more than enough and still more reliable than that no-name 450W.
 
First of all, I'm glad I found this forum. Lot's of useful advice around here... and quick too...;-)

I'm trying to get away from Enlight cases, because after years of beige and blue plastic I thought I'd try something a little different. My last P4 build used a sweet black Rosewill case that looks great. Since this new machine will be mine (until I pass it on after the next build) I'd like to try something a bit more modern. I'll go back and check out the Enlights again, though...

The Enermax and Antec both look fine.

You're right... forget the "no name"

Again, thanks for the useful info...
 
Dennis Gordon said:
I'm trying to get away from Enlight cases, because after years of beige and blue plastic
Click to expand...

Enlights come in black. ;)

If you want to get away from "the norm" then all I can tell you is "ALWAYS" throw the PSU out when they come with a "bling" case and always expect to pay as much, if not more, than the price of a case for a PSU that's worth using. ;)
 
Well I rolled the Ebay dice and just bought a new ENERMAX EG651P-V(E) ATX 550W from an online dealer for $70 delivered. Seems reputable; guaranteed, and about $60 less than Newegg. I've had generally good results buying components on Ebay, but I'll have to wait to fire it up before I consider it a good deal.

Thanks again for all of the help and opinions...
 
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