Necessity of a 350W PSU with an XP1800+

[Oracle]

Guys, I want your take on this before I start a panic at home.
Is it really problematic if I run the following config with an Antec 300W PSU or should I go for the 350W or more. I'm currently using the 300W on this:

XP 1800+, A7N266-C, 512 Crucial CL2
Fireball 10Go, Barracuda IV 40Go
Pioneer DVD 16x, Yamaha 3200E
GF2MX
Panasonic floppy
PCIs: SBLive!Value, Adaptec DuoConnect, NIC
W2KSP2
No overclocking.


<font color=red>Floppy disk?!? What the heck's a floppy disk?!?</font color=red>

 

[pr497]

id say...300w is the recommended minimum...if you're not experiencing any anomolies or weird lock ups...then you dont need to buy a better PSU...however...if you ever have the need to overclock...then that 300w PSU may not be able to hold up (thats when you get a 350w+ PSU)...since you're not overclocking....then the 300w should do fine...

<b>L <font color=red>A</font color=red> e <font color=red>T</font color=red> a <font color=red>I</font color=red> K</b>

 

[Cruiser]

Shouldn´t be any problems, only if you´re adding more drives or maybe more powerful graphics. The Antec is good quality, so I believe you´re fine with the 300W.

 

[hartski]

Here's my specs using Future Power brand 300W PSU:

AXP 1800+ on ABIT KR7A KT266A
1.5 GB PC2100 DDR RAM
60 GB ATA133 Maxtor 7200 RPM HDD
80 GB ATA100 IBM 120GXP 7200 RPM HDD
6 GB ATA33 Quantum HDD RPM=?
Philips 8x4x32x CDRW
ATI Radeon 8500
NIC, SBLIVE!, Floppy
3 80mm fans

Everything works fine and I don't suspect any power issues. I do heavy gaming at least 4 straight hours and also graphics with Photoshop. Not to mention the PSU brand is "Future Power". Couldn't afford Enermax 350W at the time of purchase coz made an impulse mistake to buy an LCD monitor...hehe

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by hartski on 07/23/02 01:37 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Oracle]

What were you thinking???
;-)

<font color=red>Floppy disk?!? What the heck's a floppy disk?!?</font color=red>

 

[hartski]

what do you mean?

 

[zigzag]

What would you call an "anomoly"? I currently have a HEC PSU 350, and whenever I put any load on the system I can hear the whine of the fans change pitch. I recently downloaded MBM and am going to track the different voltages to look for spikes, but wanted to know if you thought the fan thing was a problem. Thanks.

-zigzag

 

[pr497]

What would you call an "anomoly"? I currently have a HEC PSU 350, and whenever I put any load on the system I can hear the whine of the fans change pitch. I recently downloaded MBM and am going to track the different voltages to look for spikes, but wanted to know if you thought the fan thing was a problem

for anomoly...anything out of the ordinary i guess...
as for your fans...my guess would be that you have a thermal sensor on your PSU...which adjusts the fans speed according to the temps. of your comp...so...that whine you hear from your fan when your system is under load...the could just be you fan spinning faster to accomadate the higher temps...but thats just my guess....
i wouldnt worry about the PSU as long as the fan is still spinning....

<b>L <font color=red>A</font color=red> e <font color=red>T</font color=red> a <font color=red>I</font color=red> K</b>

 

[zigzag]

Nope, no fan speed control...all my case fans are run direct from the PSU and none have that built in.

-zigzag

 

[Oracle]

"Couldn't afford Enermax 350W at the time of purchase coz made an impulse mistake to buy an LCD monitor..."

That's what I meant ;-)


<font color=red>Floppy disk?!? What the heck's a floppy disk?!?</font color=red>

 

[pr497]

oh...i thought you were referring to the fan in the PSU...
i didnt know you were talking about your case fans....
anyways...on that subject....do you notice your fans getting "quieter" or your fans spinning slower while your system is under load?...if so...the your PSU may not giving your system enough juice...but if it's not rebooting on its own....i dont think you need to worry about it that much...but if you have about $55 to burn...i know a website that sells a good enermax 350w PSU...

<b>L <font color=red>A</font color=red> e <font color=red>T</font color=red> a <font color=red>I</font color=red> K</b>

 

[hartski]

ic...I also kinda regret buying a 15" LCD...acted on impulse, want to impress my family coz I bought and build my own PC with my own money...hehe...shoulda gotten a 17 or 19 incher flat screen...

 

[Oracle]

You got that right!
Also since LCDs are not that great for gaming.
You could have impressed them more by buying a huge 21 or 22 incher, which could be had for just a bit more than the price of a 15" LCD in this part of the world (Canada).

<font color=red>Floppy disk?!? What the heck's a floppy disk?!?</font color=red>

 

[hartski]

I got an HP Digital 15" LCD monitor and so far the games I played on it looked nice, bright, crisp and clear...and by reviews this HP LCD monitor got high marks...and my desk has an overhead storage so even a 19" wouldn't fit...hehe...even a 15" LCD monitor looks better than any 21 or 22" CRT..hehe...all the space around the LCD monitor makes it bigger! hehe..oh well when we get a house I'd change the desk and for sure get a 21 or 22 incher coz I am starting to learn 3D modeling and LCD is not a good choice for high end graphics work

 

[lhgpoobaa]

fan speed changes audible? mmm not that good.

that means your PSU is working on the upper limit of what it can do, and the cpu is drawing too much juice from other components.
eventually the PSU will burn out. i strongly suggest you get a better one, not necessarily higher power, but better quality.


<b>Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped! </b>

 

[Matisaro]

A good 300w psu is all you really need for any cpu out now, although we are getting close to needing a 350, with the faster p4s and axps but still today 300w is good.

The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark

 

[papasmurf]

as long as it is brand name, 300 watt should do you fine, I myself have a 500watt with my 1800 but its overclocked to 1.76...

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[Oracle]

500W?!?!?! What, do you power your house with that? ;-)


<font color=red>A platform is not an oil rig.</font color=red>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hehehe
i went for a 550W enermax too!
definate overkill, but excellent voltages and the unit hardly pumps out ANY heat.
plus it could handle any of my overclocks with ease.

<b>Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped! </b>

 

[papasmurf]

lol i guess that I could but it provides soooo much more stability when overclocking, it can pump out the juice much more effectively than my old 300 watt ps and as a result I am getting around a 100mhz more of an overclock. 1.76ghz from 1.53 and it will even post at 1.86 and will boot almost stable at 1.8 but I can only surf the internet and do weak stuf at that speed. I reccomend that you all buy big power supplies because they affect your system more than you know.

Introducing Tapeworms! The new big thing for weight loss!

 

[2002_NT7]

If you´re overclocking, I would recommend getting a powerful PSU (450-550W of good quality). But if you´re not overclocking a 300W should be fine for most systems.

 

[Oracle]

"[...]and will boot almost stable at 1.8 but I can only surf the internet and do weak stuf at that speed."

What good comes out of OCing for you if you can't sneeze?
I never understood the big fuss around OCing nor its necessity. I acknowledge that it may represent a challenge for some and increases speed, but also reduces stability. Maybe because it's fun to manipulate hardware and tell AMD or Intel, "Hey, look what I can do with your pity 1.6Ghz CPU". Or maybe I just don't get it!

<font color=red>A platform is not an oil rig.</font color=red>

 

[papasmurf]

you just dont get it.
non overclockers arent much better than mac users. shudder.



I'll tell you what war's good for: killing bad guys. thats what!

 

[Oracle]

"non overclockers arent much better than mac users."

I'm waiting for an explanation because, like you said, I just don't get it.


<font color=red>A platform is not an oil rig.</font color=red>

 

[tbirdXPplus]

hey, what`s wrong with a mac user?

Be nice.