What power supply is enough or too much?

[ilcemani]

I have a pentium 4 2ghz with 2 hard drives at 7200 rpms and a geforce 4 ti graphics card. Also there is 512 mb rdram and 2 cd drives. I was wondering what is the best power supply to get for this.
Thanks
Mike

 

[flamethrower205]

350-400W, Antec or Enermax.

What if you had admin rights to life?

 

[mattburklund]

I just got two antec truepower 430watters. I love them. A month or two ago I posted a thread entitled "power crazy?" where I questioned needing so much power, but I finally gave in, and I am glad I did.

 

[upec]

I would recommond Enermax EG465P.

 

[Vince604]

Is the EG465AX a better version of the EG465P?

 

[akrycek]

I'm also thinking about getting a new power supply as I have a cheap L&M one that came with my case. My main concern is cooling. Which 430 PS would do the best job between the Enermax and Antec? Also, where would you recommend ordering it from? Thanks.

Krycek

 

[Vince604]

Well in terms of cooling it's really your preference.... The better the cooling the louder the fan usually gets. But both companies Antec and Enermax have a thermal feature which controls how fast the fan should go under high loads and will slow down when it's not necessary so it's up to you. I just might wait a little while longer and hope for Vantec to come out with their Stealth Power Supply which looks pretty promising.

Well where you want to order it depends on where you live...

 

[Crashman]

You can't have too much power.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[upec]

I agree.

 

[The_Bear]

Vince604, I would say yes.. The AX supplies are "Active PCF" supplies which means:

Power factor is the ratio of true power (watts) divided by apparent power (volts x amps or VA). A standard power supply has a power factor of 0.70-0.75, while a power supply with active power factor correction (PFC) has a power factor of 0.95-0.99. A power supply with power factor correction is better able to convert the current into power. This results in lower peak current and lower harmonic current, putting less stress on wiring, circuit breakers, and transformers.



<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by The_Bear on 09/14/02 12:58 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Vince604]

Ah alright thanks. So basically the Active PCF series would give a more power efficient performance vs. regular PSUs?.. I'm really tring to decide to either go for the Enermax EG465AX-VE FMA 433W or the Vantec Stealth 520W PSU?
which one would you guys go for?

 

[EvilHammie]

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK*
i dont think it would really matter with such a high powered psu... unless u added some peltiers LOL

u can allways do what i did when i couldnt decide... i just purchaced the most powerful one i could get my hands on... 550W enermax baby!
runs super quiet and very cool.

<b>Small.Cute.Fluffy.Evil. And Creator Of Perminant Hearing Loss If Ever Used As A Qtip!</b>

 

[The_Bear]

More efficient was one of the reasons, but the fact that it was less prone to spiking, keeping the feed to the system more consistent (less stress on components) was the key for me. You could always go with the biggest, but the 465ax-ve fma ( I went with the FCA which has the motherboard control over fan activity) is a very nice PSU (BTW this is a black PSU which went well with my case(and no that was no the reason).

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by The_Bear on 09/18/02 10:55 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Vince604]

Well would you ever really need 550W of power? Is it worthwhile to spend the extra bucks? Or a 430-450W PSU is more than enough already?..

 

[The_Bear]

Well the 430 seems enough for things you could cram in a mid-tower case. I mean I have 2 hard drives, 2 optical (DVD drives), a 3.5 floppy, a smart media card reader (internal)and the 6 case fans. It seems more than strong enough, but I don't know of a tool that will tell me how much power I'm using.

 

[Vince604]

okay that seems enough for my cpu then... So what is the point of all these high powered PSU if not being used in a server enviroment?

 

[The_Bear]

Well that was my feeling...unless you are setting up a full tower with 8 IDE devices or more, use all your card slots, I just can't see the reason for that large of a supply.

 

[upec]

For most system 430-450W will be enough.

 

[Vince604]

Boy I don't think I can ever do that.
How about the fan noise though?

Doesn't a PSU that can handle a lot more will have a lot less stress on the parts inside the power supply? Meaning it will run cooler and require less airflow?.....