Will my generic 300W run an Intel E2000?

[BigWoop]

My PSU has 30A 5v, 20A 3.3v and 15A 12v.

If possible I would like to run an Intel E2160 (or similar, maybe E2180 or E2200), 2X1GB DDR2 800Mhz, DVD Writer, 1 IDE, 1 SATA drive, X1550 or HD2400-2600.

Is this insane or plausible?

 

[Hellboy]

My PSU has 30A 5v, 20A 3.3v and 15A 12v.

If possible I would like to run an Intel E2160 (or similar, maybe E2180 or E2200), 2X1GB DDR2 800Mhz, DVD Writer, 1 IDE, 1 SATA drive, X1550 or HD2400-2600.

Is this insane or plausible?

I really would go for something more comfortable, I would go for a 4-500 watt psu with the video card u have got...

a 300 watt would be overstretched, blow up and may cause system damage...

upgrade to something decent..

 

[BigWoop]

Don't have the video card yet

I would recommend higher than 300w to myself, but I'm really tight budget obviously, so I want to avoid a PSU if possible.

I realise that I may be pushing it with the 300, but I have been doing some playing with the http://extreme.outervision.com PSU calculator, and allowing for a reasonable number of addons plus taking into account 20% cap ageing, come out at 273W for my system, on lowest setup 198W.

That's with a 3450 though now

How reputable, is that PSU calculator?

I know I really should get a PSU, but can I seriously get damaged hardware? Surely if it's not going to work it (the system) would just be under-powered? I've never had a PSU blow on me personally.

 

[blackwidow_rsa]

No! No! My friend tried to run his similar system on a generic 350w and it started giving shi+. The graphcs card complained about not having enough power (nv 7600gs) and the 12v dropped to 11v, not during load

 

[pinaplex]

it might (and i stress MIGHT) work at first, but running a psu that small with all those components is like running your car at the redline ALL THE TIME. basically, it's just a matter of time before everything blows. I would recommend against it, buy a bigger psu.

 

[BigWoop]

Okay, good to get some other opinions.

So a 4-500w would be a reasonable assurance of stability? How likely the 400W (I'm so cheap)

 

[cjl]

400w is fine. Most people vastly overestimate the amount of power actually required for a system like this. The E2000 series are hardly power hogs, and the HD2400-2600 range aren't bad either (I'm running an E6600 and a HD3870 off a 405W on one comp right now, though admittedly that PSU is known for being somewhat underrated).

 

[Take_Out]

I just ordered two 485w Herochi made Orion power supplies from NxxExx.com last night and the total with shipping was $54. They were $19 apiece + shipping and tax. You can get good deals if you know good companies reps. Antec, PC Power and Cooling, Enermax, Herochi, are some I have had good luck with. Enermax had a bad shipment of Varisters and had some probs a coupla years ago, but that is over with.

I lost two $200 sticks of memory when we had power brown outs here in CA coupla years ago due to cheap underpowered power supply from off branded company, luckily Corsair backed the memory up and replaced them free of charge. Power is more important than case or motherboard in the workings of the system. I am an electrician so I know a bit about power.

 

[BigWoop]

Well, how about these, I can get them pretty cheap:

http://global.aopen.com/products_detail.aspx?ctgr=56&Auno=2519&mdstl=100

or,

http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Power/litepower/w0161_162/w0161_162.asp

 

[blackwidow_rsa]

Take Thermaltake, aopen not so good.

 

[cjl]

That thermaltake should definitely be sufficient - never heard of the other one.

 

[zenmaster]

Yes, your 300w PSU will more than handle that system.

Please look at this Chart.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

The Quad Core @ 3.2Ghz with an 8800GT only uses 200w under load.

Your CPU and PSU mentioned will use significantly less power than that.

While no-name PSUs are not something I would get, if you have one already it will work.

 

[cjl]

Zenmaster: note that the power test there is intentionally low load on everything but graphics. If it were a full system load, with the quad core, memory, etc running flat out, power draw would be quite a bit higher.

 

[zenmaster]

The Quad may not be running at full load, but the Exxxx Processors are considered "Low Power" and even under load it's likely to use less power than the Quad was using under load.

The Test system also had 4gb of RAM and he will likely have 2gb of RAM, so his system's memory will likely use less power.

His 2600 will likely draw under 40w for load.
The E2200 will draw under 65w for load.
Add 15w for max HDD Load.
Add in 5w for RAM
Add in 30w for Misc Fans.
Add in 30w for Mobo.

Rough Estimate of 180w under Full Load.
And that with most of the estimates on the high end of the scale.

 

[zenmaster]

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/antec-psu-roundup.html#sect0

"As you can see, a system with an advanced CPU, a top-end graphics card, and four fast HDDs has a peak power consumption of only 210W! Well, I was not surprised at the results at all as we had previously measured the consumption of individual CPUs, graphics cards and hard disk drives in our reviews, but the overall consumption numbers make it all even clearer."

(Note: This system had 4 Raptors, the E6850, and the 3870GPU which is significantly more power hungry than his proposed system.)

 

[zenmaster]

Now, all that being said - you can get a Good PSU for not a lot of money.
I actually got the ANTEC 380w with Case for $30 on sale for a recent build.
(My Previous PSU was a Seasonic 550w for a heavier duty system)

The Efficiency of a decent CPU will pay for itself vs a "Cheapo" PSU over time and can be had cheaply.

I'm just pointing out its not 100% necessary for the poster to get a new PSU. He clearly does not have much of a budget.

 

[cjl]

The Quad may not be running at full load, but the Exxxx Processors are considered "Low Power" and even under load it's likely to use less power than the Quad was using under load.

The Test system also had 4gb of RAM and he will likely have 2gb of RAM, so his system's memory will likely use less power.

His 2600 will likely draw under 40w for load.
The E2200 will draw under 65w for load.
Add 15w for max HDD Load.
Add in 5w for RAM
Add in 30w for Misc Fans.
Add in 30w for Mobo.

Rough Estimate of 180w under Full Load.
And that with most of the estimates on the high end of the scale.

Oh, 300W is definitely sufficient for his system, but I was just commenting that it wouldn't be sufficient for the QX CPU, high end video card, etc when running flat out.

 

[blackwidow_rsa]

It's a generic, probably old style AT, psu, the volt lines will have drop and while it will still work, the psu will start to degrade fast and cause instability - seen this countless times

 

[BigWoop]

I think my PSU is ATX 2.0 or 2.2.

It has 20+4pin, a 4pin cpu power connector, SATA power connector.

What's a good way to check on it's voltage stability?

 

[iluvgillgill]

to check PSU stability,

load prime CPU small FFTs and load windows version of memtest, load up RTHDRIBL push to max setting, set all fan to 100% and load a HDD test loop. its even better if you got some cold cathodes.

if you want make the optical drive pop in and out when doing the test by pressing the button on the bezzel!lol joking

 

[o1die]

I go for antec cause newegg and fry's sells them with rebates all the time. The antec 500w basiq ps is in fry's ad for today only at $29.99. You can sometimes find them at fry's.com on sale.