Power Supplies.. help

How much power would I need for this system?

AOPEN CD-952 52x CDROM
CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY
SONY 1.44MB 3.5 INCH INTERNAL FDD DRIVE
SUNON 80x80x25mm Case Fan (x2)
IBM HARD DRIVE 40GB 7200RPM
MSI PRO-DT GF3 TI200 64MB DDR with DVI+VGA CABLE+TV-OUT
ALPHA PAL8045U. Heat Sink + Fan
CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM
Microsoft Intelli-Mouse Optical - PS2/USB - OEM
Microsoft 114 keys Internet Keyboard PS/2 - OEM
795FT+ 17IN 16VIS .24MM 16X12 FLATRON USB TCO99
Thermaltake CRYSTAL ORB for VGA CARD COOLING
MSI K7N420 PRO nForce MCP 200/266MHz FSB DDR
Creative Labs Inspire 4.1 4400 Speaker
D-Link 10/100 Mb PCI Ethernet NIC Adapter w/Wake on LANAthlon XP 1700+ RETAIL

If you can help me out that would be great.

Black Hawk

Get a 350 watt PSU from Antec and you won't go wrong....it'll be more than you need. A 300 watt would work fine but 350 won't cost much more and it'll give you expandability.

Also, the monitor and speakers won't matter when it comes to loading the computer's PSU.

Looks like you shouldn't need a huge amnount of power. You should be safe enough with a good Enermax 300w power supply. If you intend on adding a dvd + CDRW + hard drives + zip + more fans....You get the point...a ton of addtional stuff. Then you may want to go larger so you have the room for future expansion. An Antec or Enermax 350w is all you'll need. Look at my sig to see all the stuff I run. I'm probably defying the laws of electricity with mine...but Shhhh my computer hasn't noticed yet.

U think thats defying the laws of electricity, u should check this out!

evrything in my signal +:5 case fans 4x80mm 1x 92mm all @12v
2 cold cathodes 1 blue! 1 uv @12v
Samsung 12x8x32 cd rewriter
Creative 52x cd rom
3.5 floppy
Realtec NIC


All this running stable on the generic 250w!! power supply that came with the case!!

I gets the feeling a new psu is needed! lol

Geepers man. LOL That power supply must have some "spunk" It's a fiesty little devil. LOL

MDA said:

U think thats defying the laws of electricity, u should check this out!

evrything in my signal +:5 case fans 4x80mm 1x 92mm all @12v
2 cold cathodes 1 blue! 1 uv @12v
Samsung 12x8x32 cd rewriter
Creative 52x cd rom
3.5 floppy
Realtec NIC


All this running stable on the generic 250w!! power supply that came with the case!!

I gets the feeling a new psu is needed! lol

Click to expand...

Jeez man, what are your voltages?

My voltages according to via hardware monitor are:

3.3v - 3.52

5v - 4.81

12v - 12.31


is that good? or Bad?

MDA said:

My voltages according to via hardware monitor are:

3.3v - 3.52

5v - 4.81

12v - 12.31


is that good? or Bad?

Click to expand...

The +5v should be a little higher....generally anything from 4.90 to 5.10vdc is good but other people will probably have different numbers. The +12v is alright in itself, but the 12 volt line is unregulated and to me a high +12v line like yours shows that the +5 line is getting loaded a bit too much. When you draw more and more from the +5v line of a switching ATX PSU with an unregulated +12v line for some reason the +12v goes higher and higher....and vice versa with overloading of the +12v line.

I'd get a good ATX PSU from Antec or Enermax with a 300+ watt rating. AMD says themselves that at least 300 watts is required. Come to think of it I have an Antec 300 watt PSU that I'm not using....PM me if you're interested...$20 and it's yours.

As i thought, my 5v line is indeed in need of some attention, come to think of it, could it be my lack of power which stops me from achieving a higher overclock of 1638Hz? Do those people who have a better or more powerful supply find that they are able to achieve higher overclocks?

As for your offer of a 300w Antec, i fear the shipping costs would outprice the cost of the unit itself.(but thanks)

I can get my hands on a 430w for $80n or £65, but as im havib=ng no problems @ the moment is it worth the extra expence?

MDA said:

As i thought, my 5v line is indeed in need of some attention, come to think of it, could it be my lack of power which stops me from achieving a higher overclock of 1638Hz? Do those people who have a better or more powerful supply find that they are able to achieve higher overclocks?

As for your offer of a 300w Antec, i fear the shipping costs would outprice the cost of the unit itself.(but thanks)

I can get my hands on a 430w for $80n or £65, but as im havib=ng no problems @ the moment is it worth the extra expence?

Click to expand...

LOL I didn't even see that you were across the pond there! Good thing you said something. Is the price of the 430 a lot more than something around 300-350 watts? 300 will get you everything you need and 350 will give you tons of room to spare. 400 or more isn't really necessary unless you've got a load of case fans and drives. I have a 550w on my 1800+ for running the peltier module but the others have 300s and 350s and do fine with them.

To answer your question, I don't think power is limiting your OC, but I'd still upgrade soon just for the sake of stability and expandability.