PSU

[Anthony]

Hey there- I'm thinking of upgrading from my P3-700@903 to an Athlon 1.3@whatever. I've never had much concern about my PS before. I think it's 250W. Will this be able to run the Athlon+Gefork2+dvdrom, cdr, 3 hds, sbilive5.1, ethernet, Miro video editing card, dvd decoder, floppy, and a couple fans + CPU fan?

[Tachyon]

I recommend a 350W or better PSU....Enermax or Sparkle would be a good choice.

[fireball****aka fireball_87]

Anthony (May 01, 2001 05:16 p.m.):
Hey there- I'm thinking of upgrading from my P3-700@903 to an Athlon 1.3@whatever. I've never had much concern about my PS before. I think it's 250W. Will this be able to run the Athlon+Gefork2+dvdrom, cdr, 3 hds, sbilive5.1, ethernet, Miro video editing card, dvd decoder, floppy, and a couple fans + CPU fan?

350 MIN for that system! even if your runnin a pIII! 3hdd's, a cdr, and a dvd on a 250! are you KIDDING?!

[Megahurtz]

You should opt for a high quality PSU regardless of maximum output. If you buy a high quality PSU such as an Enermax(330W min.), or an Antec PP403X, you should experience good results. Reading the following article in its entirety is a worthy task. A PSU is not a PSU.

What follows is a good PSU primer on PSUs at Anandtech, and shows that a 400Watt rated PSU is sometimes less able than a 250Watt unit.

It is interesting to note that the power supplies with the highest overall rating (400W) couldn't even boot our second test system while some of the 250W units came forward with 95% ratings. This is living, breathing evidence that a power supply's overall rating doesn't directly determine how good of a unit it is. Keep that in mind when you're building your Athlon system.

The whole article can be found here: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1128&p=1

It's worth the extra money to buy a quality unit. You can avoid a lot of nagging problems by choosing the right PSU for your needs.

T

[Anthony]

Wow, didn't know I was on the cliff edge. :] It's rock stable at 903(7x129), but 133 isn't stable in Win2k(is in 98 though). I guess that's another $100 on the upgrade then. I'd bet my mid tower's too small and too badly ventelated too! ^_^ But that's OK. I figure $125 for the MB(Iwill looks good), $175 for a 1.3 Athlon(100), and $100 for the PS(and $30 or so for the HSF). That sound about right?

[dolemitecomputer]

I would highly recommend the Enermax power supplies. I have a 430 watt one that uses dual fans and I like it a lot.

[Tachyon]

Anthony (May 01, 2001 07:45 p.m.):
Wow, didn't know I was on the cliff edge. :] It's rock stable at 903(7x129), but 133 isn't stable in Win2k(is in 98 though). I guess that's another $100 on the upgrade then. I'd bet my mid tower's too small and too badly ventelated too! ^_^ But that's OK. I figure $125 for the MB(Iwill looks good), $175 for a 1.3 Athlon(100), and $100 for the PS(and $30 or so for the HSF). That sound about right?

That sounds about right

[Da Whip]

Someone please explain what PSU question is doing in the AMD CPU section. This is a general hardware post.
I have read about 15 of the posts in this section alone from today, at least 30-35% of them belong in other sections. People it is not that hard to figure out.

[Anthony]

Gee, sorry I ruined your day! Other guys: Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.