PSU specs confusing: Dont no what to get.

[d3v]

Hi all, I am confused at all the specs for PSU's... ATX 2.0, ATX 2.01, ATX 1.3, ect ect.... what do these mean?

Anyway, I think they mean if the PSU will fit into a case and so if im right, what ATX #.## is the Lian-Li PC V1000 Midi-Tower ???

[Electron Chaser]

Hi all, I am confused at all the specs for PSU's... ATX 2.0, ATX 2.01, ATX 1.3, ect ect.... what do these mean?

Anyway, I think they mean if the PSU will fit into a case and so if im right, what ATX #.## is the Lian-Li PC V1000 Midi-Tower ???

Welcome to the Forums :welcome:

The ATX designation is actually built around the Motherboard itself. A Power Supply to carry an ATX desingation must conform to the power, connector, and efficency requirements for the Motherboard it is intended to support. Most standard ATX PSUs will fit in any case. There are exceptions to this however. Like the mini-ATX PSUs and the new larger PSUs that have the same mounting foot print but are considerably longer and will not fit properly in cases that are less then 20" in depth. The new 850 Watt PC Power & Cooling is a good example of this. I could go into more detail on this but I would be going off on a tangent.

What I would ask you though is what do you intend to put into this case.

Motherboard Make and model.
CPU
Video Card
RAM
Number of Hard Drives
CD-ROMS
etc.

This will give us a much better idea of what you are intending to use and will help us identify how big a PSU you need and what form factor.

If you would like to read up a bit on the topic here are a few links

ATX Power Supply Design Guide Version 1.1 (http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5CATX_ATX12V_PS_1_1.pdf)

ATX Power Supply Design Guide Version 1.3 (http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5CATX12V_1_3dg.pdf)


ATX Power Supply Design Guide Version 2.01 (http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/ATX12V%20PSDG2.01.pdf)

ATX Version 2.03 (http://mindhack.cebuano.org/atx/atx2_03.pdf)

[d3v]

It will be a DEFI LANPARTY UT NF4 Ultra, 1GB PC3200 1-1-1-5, GF 6800 Vailla & 2 case fans, Arctic HSF & maybe a Zalman GPU fan and 2 SATA HDD's, 2 optical drives and 1 floppy.

I will be overcloking the CPU very little but the GPU will be overclocked as high as I can get and so do you think 480w would be sufficent?

Also, which brand to go for out of Tagan, Enermax, Antec, OCZ or Zalman?

Thanks.

[Electron Chaser]

How much do you want to spend on it?

[d3v]

Well not too much atall but I dont want something that wont be able to feed my system as much wattage as it needs either :S

The Enermax Noistaker 485w (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_This_Week_Only_25.html#aCA_2d007_ 2dEN) looks perfect but is it any good atall since it is considerbly cheaper than the other brands.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/EnermaxAX.jpg

[Electron Chaser]

You could do a hell of a lot worse then that. That should work for you just fine just make sure that you balance the load between the dual 12V rails. Since I live in the states I am not sure what is available to you in the UK.

[d3v]

oh god now what would "balancing the load between the duel 12v rails" mean???

Is their anything else I should know?

Thanks.

[firebat45]

well, it has two rails for the 12V line. That means there are two 12 v outputs, seperate from each other. Usually, this means that on string of molex connectors is one rail, and the other is the other rail. Not sure how many molex lines there are on your PSU, but you dont want to put all your stuff on 1 line, and leave the other one coiled up out of the way. If you have all your stuff plugged into one line of molexes, it will be like having a very low Amp rating on your 12V, because you are only using half of it.

[Ciffer]

your going to run into a problem if your trying to get a big power supply but don't want to spend much. you can expect that if you buy a cheap psu it is going to be just that, cheap. i would suggest antec, enermax, pc power and cooling. those are all solid psus, pc power and cooling would be my personal choice, they pack some serious power but you pay for it

[d3v]

Hey thanks for info all.

I found out the OCZ PSU's are supposed to be the best out there and I found a 420w version for £75 here - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/OCZ.html

Do you think 420w will power this...

AMD 64 3500+ Venice s939 + Thermalright XP-90 + Vantec Tornado 120mm fan (will o/c a little)

DFI LANPARTY UT NF4 ULTRA-D s939

Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2

6600GT + Zalman copper GPU fan - (will o/c this as far as i can)

2x WD SATA harddrives

Lite On CD/RW
Lite On DVD/RW

Floppy drive

Audigy 2 ZS

2x 120mm Delta fans

Fan controller

[shellshock]

yes, ocz is par with pc power and cooling in my opinion. Very good brand and you should have no toulble out ot that thing

[d3v]

So 420 WATT is okay for the PC is described?

[Electron Chaser]

Yes that should be adequate for your needs. As long as you don't plan on adding much more powered devices or drives.