How do i measure my system power draw?

talwar_

Distinguished
Jul 17, 2002
15
0
18,510
Hi All,

Im running an Athlon XP 2200+, 512MB ram, 2 hard drives, dvd rom, cd-rw. Recently got a 9800 Pro and im not sure if my 300w Power supply is cutting it. Have experienced the system suddenly rebooting for no reason once or twice. Since then i put the graphics card on its own power cable and it seems stable, though i havent done much heavy 3d gaming since then.

How can i measure or estimate the power requirements of my system? i do have a digital multimeter and have a decent knowledge of the basics of electronics (voltage current power relationships etc). Just need to know how to work out the power draw on my PSU.

Thanks in advance
 
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Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
The problem is, not all power supplies are rated equally. 300W sounds a little weak, but if it's a good quality supply, a generic 400W would do no better. I'd recommend at a minimum an FSP350 from Fortron Source, Sparkle Power, or Aopen (all sell the same model).

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