Re: ANOTHER PSU question...

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It depends on the specifics of your system configuration and intended usage.
Upgrading the video card has typically been the biggest consideration in PSU
power requirements. At one point in the recent past video card power
requirements jumped from the <20watt range up to potentially over 60watts
for some high end models. Video cards without a secondary power connector
can't draw more than the bus limitation, something around 40watts IIRC.

My P4 Media Center (Radeon x600 PCIe video) came with a 350watt PSU.
Internally it is still the stock configuration (1Gig Ram, 300Gig SATA, DVD
burner and DVDrom yada yada) With a USB wireless adapter added and external
USB harddrive running the idle load on the UPS is less than 170Watts.
Without the external drive or monitor running, the idle load from just the
computer, wireless KB-Mouse, IR controller and USB WiFi is only between 112
and 125 watts. Turning on the webcam bumps that up another 20 watts or so.
Even with a second external drive connected I haven't had the system do
anything that ever drove the average power load above 250 watts for more
than a few moments.



"RJK" <notatospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:utPrrBmxHHA.4736@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks Anna,

No problems atm, ..am planning on cobbling together new, (out of "older
generation / cheaper" parts - already ordered cpu & mobo - might try and
make use of Dads' previous midi/ATX PC case - no 12v 4pin on its' psu
though), PC at my leisure, then eeeeeeveeeeeeeentually move over to it.
...My old faithful under the bench is a 6+ years, and more, old Lian-Li
case with a cheap Q-TEC 550watt <lol> / Socket A PCchips M848A(lr?)/XP2600
Barton/768mb pc2700 166mhz/DDR333/ 2x80gb 6Y080L0 Maxtors / Liteon
LH-20A1P-10C 20x dvd-rewriter (treated it yesterday) / oldish LG 16x10x40
cd r/w ...and it's a HONEY / solid as a rock. Daren't upset it ! ...so
for lots of obvous reasons, I'll spsend the extra money and eventually
build a whole new one, get it installed, and iron out any problems, and
after several months hoping to duplicate my XP Home and apps. platform, I
could then move to it :-) ...Tweaking up XP is the hard / long winded
part !

Have been reading newegg and Tomshardware PSU reviews (Fortron/Seasonic
:-), and lots of others.
After lots of reading wildly differing opinions, I was beginning to
suspect that something around 400 quality watts would do, then there's the
consideration that even quite high quality psu's perform more stably at
their "middle" loading range.
I've been eyeing up the Seasonics at my favourite hardware vendor :-)

....thanks again,

regards, Richard


"Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uwJfQNixHHA.2432@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Richard:
Don't get too caught up in this wattage business. You've got a relatively
modest system (even if & when you'll need "extra capacity") so I would
think a 400W+ PSU from one of the usually reliable sources, e.g., Antec,
Enermax, Fortron, Seasonic, etc., should serve you well. Your cost should
be well under $100. Why don't you simply access Newegg's site and see
their offerings together with user comments? And there are a slew of
websites that devote themselves entirely or partly to reporting & testing
power supplies.

BTW, you don't mention your current PSU. Is there some problem with your
current unit or you have some suspicion that it's not functioning
properly?
Anna


"RJK" <notatospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:efVR7ZfxHHA.4352@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PSU wattage ???
Have trawled through site after site, tried several different "wattage
calculators" that give wildly different figures, seemingly because they
want you to click on a "buy a psu here" link !!

Anyhooo! ...can someone give me a more accurate idea for watts, for
ordinary desktop midi-tower innards as follows. (I know that if one goes
too "cheap" one could end up with a 250watt psu badged as a 500watt
etc. so I'll probably buy and ANTEC.),
...and I most likely will want to add an IDE pci card and another IDE
hd, at a later date.

ATX Conroe865PE motherboard with Realtek LAN and sound on it.
Pentium D925 (2x3ghz - 2x2mb L2 cache)
3 sticks of DDR400
Nvidia 6200 AGP card
pci - Creative SB Audigy 2
pci - Intel K56 flex. data/fax/voice modem, (I think that's still in
there!)
2 x 7200 IDE hd's
1 x floppy drive
4 x 80mm fans
1 x dvd r/w drive
1 x cd r/w drive
Occasionally, I plug in my old Canoscan N650OU scanner (UBS powered),

...and of course, some extra capacity but, not too much !!!

TIA, regards,

Richard


"RJK" <notatospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23cx53IZxHHA.4736@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi, I'm really out of date with hardware !

I'm about to cobble together an 865PE motherboard with a Pentium D925
on it,
...motherboard has a AGP slot so that I can use my old graphics card,
....Antec PSU I've been ogling has a 6 pin pci-e supply, does that
just dangle unused (alright then "gets tied up":-)
http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=04644
In other words, will PSU be okay if that 6 pin power supply is unused,
just like one can tie-up the 4 pin cpu power supply if not used on
older boards/cpu's that don't need it 4pin power.

regards, Richard






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