How much power supply do I need with...

[pkaral]

I am getting a computer with the specs below, and the vendor is suggesting a cabinet with 300W power supply. I worry whether it will suffice.

Abit KR7A-133 RAID
AMD Athlon XP1800+
2x TwinMOS PC2100 DDR-DIMM 512MB
Asus V8420 GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB DDR
2x Western Digital Caviar 80GB IDE 7200RPM
Hercules Gamesurround Muse 5.1 DVD
DVD-ROM
Floppy drive
NIC

Do you people think 300W will be enough? I am grateful for all advice.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by pkaral on 07/30/02 04:17 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cakecake]

Your vendor is flat out wrong. With that much stuff you'll need a bare minimum 350W unless you are fond of kernel32 errors and warm reboots. Even with 350W you'll get some random crashes. For no random crashes, errors, and constant need to reboot your computer, go with a 380W minimum.

As for specific specifications, look for a power supply that delivers more than 12 amps on the 12V line and at has at least a combined 200W possible on the 3.3V and 5V lines. A good PSU will also have PFC (power factor correction), allowing it to deliver stable flow.

I would suggest you get the Antec 430W or Enermax 431W from Newegg.com. If you want your computer to be quiet get a 400W QuietPC PSU (not the 460W, its more than you need) from <A HREF="http://www.quietpcusa.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=8&Product_ID=29&CATID=2" target="_new">www.quietpcusa.com</A>.

As for the guy who recommended you get a 300W PSU, just smile and nod next time he suggests it to you but don't listen to him or your computer will crash a lot.

1° of separation between my monopoly and yours. That's business with .NET

 

[pkaral]

Thank you for good advice!

 

[camieabz]

Anyone care to offer comments on the spec of the quietpc 400W model?

Would like to know how the ampage measures up. The price doesn't, well not the UK price at least.

<b><font color=blue>~ BIOS SETTINGS: Fast, Hot, Unstable...That ought to work. ~</font color=blue></b>

 

[cakecake]

Amperage looks very good, only slightly less than the Enermax/Antec units. It should be able to run anything you throw at it, but you won't be able to use peltiers, OC your FSB to 200Mhz, or daisy chain 5 USB devices to it like you can with other PSU's.

If you just have 1 or 2 hard drives, a few case fans, a fast CPU, and a bunch of add in cards you should have no problem.

1° of separation between my monopoly and yours. That's business with .NET