Q: In the PC I have
CDrom
CdRW
Geforce 4 video
Vantec Aeroflow
umm drive.
http disk: / / www.ncix.com/canada/productdetail.php?tab=2u0026sku=9159 (motherboard)
I now have no plans to overclock, but in the future I will but if I do I will a few new things like fans / case / power supply to buy.
Will my 250W power supply enough to support all this? Even if not at maximum efficiency, the baking or something?
Best Answer: It's enough, actually. AMD recommends 500 watts on the website:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/g…
500 is the absolute minimum you should be running with a Radeon 5870, Dell has a reputation of building computers with power supplies that are only just capable of running the system.
A 5870 consumes 40 amps off the 12v rails at full load, so as long as your power supply is able to give off 40 amps continuously with low ripple and noise, it would be fine.
It's not just about wattage either, it's also about the quality of the power supply. Dell PSU's are generally made by Delta so I assume they should be of a decent quality.
Though of course if you run a power supply close to it's peak limit, gradually it will wear out and fail. You can replace the 525 watt power supply with a third party PSU if you want later on.
Re:Here are the typical power requirements of common PC components:
Athlon T-Bred CPU (40-90w)
P4 3GHz (80-90w)
Motherboard (20-30w)
128MB DDR RAM (30w)
512MB DDR333 RAM (40w)
GeForce 4Ti (30w)
Radeon 9700 (40-50w)
GeForce FX (40-50w)
Hard drive (5-15w)
Floppy drive (5w)
Optical drive, eg CD or DVD (15-20w)
Zip drive (10w)
SCSI hard drive (20-35w)
PCI card (5-7w)
System Fan (3w)
CPU Fan (3w)
USB Device (5w)
IEEE 1394 Firewire (8w)
Mouse (1w)
Keyboard (1w)
Above wattages are based on figures reported here:
THG (http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/powersupplies-02.html), ezboard (http://pub241.ezboard.com/ffanhomefrm12.showMessage?topicID=160.topic), PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/howto/graphics/109379-2104p152-2b.jpg)
Re:My rule of thumb is to stay away from anything called generic. If it does not have a name, stay away, run far far away.
Im using Allied 300 Watt PSU. This is with 2 HDDs, 2 ROM drives, Athlon 1800 oc to 1.65 Ghz, Geforce 4, case fan, and a floppy. Its running steady at 3.312/ 4.95 . To tell you the truth, I really do not know 4.95 is a good thing lol. But Im sure the PSU doesnt allow it to reach above 4.999 which sometimes it runs at, most of the time. My CPU voltage and DIMM volatge hold dead steady.
Now if my Allied PSU, a brand of which I never heard of before, can do all this at a steady voltage. I do not see any problems with a 250 watt for a p3.
Re:I don't really know what the chances are. Here on the Forums, we mostly hear about bad things happening, not about bad things not happening
If you underclock your AthlonXP to 100MHz FSB, that will reduce its power draw, and if you only use the drives you need, that will help too. But the best solution is to wait until you have a better power supply, of course. I can tell you're not going to wait, though, so good luck with your new system, and I hope it works out ok for you 
Re:Ok,
Thanks, btw, what are the chances of it doing that?
How should I prevent against it?
Re:If it were a choice between a generic 350W and an AOpen 250W, I would probably use the AOpen. But I think the best plan is to wait a month and save up for a quality-brand 300W or 350W unit if possible. It would be very sad if your power supply failed and fried your motherboard or hard drive
Re:I can call the store up right now and ask them to replace my Vantec Aeroflow with
http://www.ncix.com/canada/productdetail.php?sku=9403 (generic 350 watt atx power supply)
Is this more advisable?
Need a quick response they close in 2 hours
Then, I would be using the 1800xp+ stock fan. I heard its really crappy. But, I can replace that at any time right?
Thanks for your input.
Re:I have a p3 550 right now.
I just ordered this stuff, and since I am in debt to friends to pay for it in the first place, I won't be able to buy a new PS soon.
Of course, if I am 100% going to damage my equipment I am not going to try to use the 250, but I'm just wondering if it is the case where I will surely damage everything (even if I unhooked CDRW/ floppy / sound / anything on USB).
BTW, p3 550 runs fine on it with all my stuff installed.
Re:AOpen isn't too bad. But really, this seems like buying a new engine for your car and using three litres of oil when it calls for five. :confused: What CPU do you have?
Re:Its brand Aopen, is that high end?
If I disconnected some stuff (CDRW, floppy, ) would it be ok then?
Re:Worst-case scenario, if the PSU overloads, it could take out some/all of your hardware when it goes. If it's a top-quality 250W then it might be ok, but you know what they say: an ounce of prevention… yep.
Re:Hehe, just bought this stuff so I have no cash left over to buy a power supply.
I'm just wondering if anything really :bad: will happen if I hook it up to a 250
I'm hoping to get a good case / power supply soon.
Re:directron.com (http://www.directron.com)
look in their psu section…they have decent prices on awesome psu's…..
antec or enermax = good
antecs are cheaper there, so get those…IMO, i think the antec's are better..the quality of construction (inside) and reliablity (my freakin fan inside my enermax died within a month..wtf) is much better…
EDIT: oh and if ur worried about resellerratings for directron, they're pretty decent, and i've bought my enermax from them….also bought couple other items….i never had a problem w/ them..and they ship out pretty quickly
Re:A quality-brand 300W+ unit would be a safer bet. The original K7S5A developed a reputation for wanting a fairly good 300W+ PSU with 180W+ on just the combined 3.3V + 5V output. If you can find a 340W-420W Enlight, that might not cost too much. Antec, Enermax and Sparkle Power are three other brands with respectable reputations.
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