Help with recommendation of best PSU for PATA/IDE system? Help plz!

[ninjagaijin]

Hi, I have a host of problems with my PC but think this is the best place to start. I am running athlon xp 2600+, 2GB PC2700 RAM, Asus A7v400-MX, 3x internal IDE hdds (7200 rpm 80GBs) and an external ide hdd, nvidia 7600 GT, PCI sound card & pci expansion card for firewire & additional usb inputs. I also use a variety of usb devices occasionally which would draw different amounts of power off the PSU.

I've been looking around but everything seems to have SATA and SLI connections..what would be the best brand/model to cover my wattage requirements and also with connections I need? Very confused!

Also, I am running at IDLE at 80 degrees celcius, I am going to go through the following checks, anything else I should do?

1) clean with compressed air
2) replace thermal paste (been 4+ years since bought motherboard and no new paste applied)
3) buy new heatsink/cpu fan
4) additional air cooling

because i have been getting heinous shutdowns regularly from reaching 85 degree celcius shutdown point, now with a desk fan running into the open case, CPU still sits at 80 running, 76 idle.. argh

 

[rolli59]

Check if all your fans are running and clean all heatsinks before you do any upgrades.

 

[Shadow703793]

I also use a variety of usb devices occasionally which would draw different amounts of power off the PSU.

Correction, the USB draws power from the motherboard and NOT DIRECTLY from the PSU.

What's your budget for the PSU? Also why are you trying to replace the PSU?

 

[ninjagaijin]

Basically, I have 2x main problems - heat, causing general operating heat of 60-75 degrees celsius (NOW, after cleaning and changing thermal paste and addition of badong exhaust and fan tubing) - this was going up to very high amounts before I changed the thermal paste for first time in 5 years.

I used Silicone paste, perhaps I would have achieved better temperatures with arctic silver?

2nd problem, I had a cheap crap PSU (350 watts) around five years ago in a built PC, it was terrible and would crash the PC anytime you touched the case. I replaced it a year ago, while I was going to get a NICE PSU the dodgy computer shop guy said 'nah you could get by with one of these $30 ones' and that 'PSU's not so important'. I knew he was full of shiz but I still wanted to save all the money. So this PSU I've been using for a year now (400 or 450 watt crap) only randomly crashes , since the day I bought it , if I touch the thing. Not the whole case but just if I tap around the PSU lightly.

So I figured my problem was PSU. The mobo seems fine..

I have ordered a Zalman 600HP which should arrive in the next day or so.. I checked my power usage on a calculator online and it was around 450 watts required

 

[Shadow703793]

^It should be no where near 450W with those specs. It's probably about 300-350W MAX for that PC.

 

[ninjagaijin]

Now main problem is randomly three times now I have lost partition on my external drive. It has happened to two different drives that both run stable internally, but seems either I have a bodgy external hdd case or the pci usb/firewire card i'm using is giving me grief. Will try one last time with a hdd in external case plugged into mobo usb slots rather than expansion, take expansion out and see what happens.. Otherwise, what else could be randomly giving me mft corruption/RAW partitions?

Also as for power supply, there would be nothing wrong with having 600 watt zalman I imagine?? It said 450 watt in the online calculator since I put %50 age loading on, computer is 5 years old (apart from motherboard which is 2-3). What is wrong with having a nice 600 watt? At least I figure this will help with future PC builds

 

[ninjagaijin]

I got a Zalman HP 600 , great little unit

 

[mosox]

Apply the thermal paste again, don't put too much. A link to some shops you're planning to buy the PSU from would help, might be better options.