Power Supply

[Silverstain]

How much wattage is enough? I'm looking to buy a case w/ a 400 watt power supply. Will this run 5+ fans and top of the line cpu and video card. (I'm looking at a GeForce 3, and Athlon XP 1800)

[pogue1000]

my case has a 300watt antec PSU and i have around 6 fans so far and it runs just fine.

my 5 volt is running at 5.08

[Yodums]

Actually if you want it to last get a Sparkle 400watt or 450, it's a good one with no 5v problems etc.

[Über~PhLuBB]

400 is enough to run all the latest hardware, and a few (3-4) fans comfortably. 450 would be perfect. 500 would be slightly excessive. Anything more really isn't needed, just like they say you don't NEED any more than 256MB of RAM, but with computers, more is ALWAYS better (with the exception of heat).

However, beware of cheap PSU's. If you get a 500W PSU for $40, but it's 5v average is 4.90v, then it's not worth it. Stick with the name brands, they're tried and true. Enermax, Antec, Enlight, and IWin come to mind. Stay away from bargain PSU's, they're probably more trouble than they're worth. Enermax is your best bet, if you have the money. They make solid, well made, high output, stable PSU's, and aren't terribly expensive like a redundant server-grade PSU.

[Yodums]

Enermax seems to have lots of problems, Epox board problems and they have 5v rail issues, and they're really over priced. Sparkle I like because they don't seem to have any problems they aren't breaking your wallet.

Yodums