300 watts enough for a barton?

[Zerileous]

As i get ready to order, i have known that my PSU would be my first OC roadblock, but then i thought to myself, is 300 watts enough? Judging by the sticky above and my novice information i think its farily good. What i plan to run: Athlon XP 2500+ Barton Core, Abit NF7-s (onboard sound, maybe onboard lan), 512MB DDR, DVD-Rom Drive, 48x CD burner, WDJB1200 HDD, flopy, 5 80 mm case fans (hopefully at 7 volts, im tired of the noise but i dont know how that will do cooling wise)

Now whats contained on the side of the PSU:
+5v and +3.3v shall not excede 180w
Max output power: 300w

This is found on the bottom and i belive to be the most signifigant specifications.
At the top i find DC output ratings that say the voltage and have a thing like an equals sign but the bottom line is dashed then a slash then an amp measure, removing the odd symbol here are the specs:

DC Output:
+5v/30A +12v/9A
-5v/0.3A -12v/0.5A
+5VSB/2A +3.3v/18A

And then it lists that it can accept 110 volt and 220 volt AC input.

How will this PSU do? If this cannot cut i can add a second, 200 watt PSU to operate fans and some drives. This PSU works great with my current setup, all that will change will be the new mobo, ram, and PSU.

I hope you dont mind helping me out as i am unsure as to how much i can power.

My second question to pose is this: How well will this PSU overclock? How adiquate would a dual PSU be in an O/C environment. And lastly, should this PSU be replaced as my next upgrade along with a serious lug of copper also known as a HSF so i can push the barton.

Thanks,
Z.

 

[Stiffler69]

my friend i kno whas a barton 2500 he oced it to speeds of 3200. and i was asking him about the parts in it and he has a GENERIC 350W. and i was like woot man? and hes like yea dude its a generic psu i payed like 20-30$ for. so maybe that helps

 

[CCW]

The Processor and Motherboard alone will take over 100w. What would be best is at least a 400w PSU but not a cheap generic one. Along with a good thermal paste, the PSU is the most important part of the computer. You need a good quality make that puts out stable volts.

Craig

 

[Zerileous]

ok. how many watts would i expect from each drive? I know the fans are like 2 watts a piece. How much from vid? If i have to stretch it will the second PSU soltution be an adiquate temporary option?
Lastly, can you reccomend some good brands to look into for getting a decnet CPU? Is Fortron good, i know they sell cheep @ newegg and something in the back of my mind tells me i have heard that they are.

 

[CCW]

Drives are most probably 25 watts each, floppy about 10, fans up to 5, graphics cards depend but some need up to 60, some of the newer ones may need more

Lastly, can you reccomend some good brands to look into for getting a decnet CPU?

i presume you mean PSU, Fortron PSUs have stable rails but the best makes of PSU are Antec, TTGi and PC Power and Cooling.

Craig

 

[Zerileous]

Will i be OK with a Fortron if thats all i can reasonably afford? I know that antec is WAY over my budget, and im not sure about TTGi or PCPC but i suspect they are not cheep.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Will i be OK with a Fortron if thats all i can reasonably afford?

In short, yes

 

[Zerileous]

Hrm, i am having trouble finding a decent PSU for less than 60 bucks. Are there other brands out there i could turn to? I am worried about cutting too far into my ram budget! I know that the PSU is more important than ram when it comes to stability and all but i still want good ram! Can anyone advise me of a PSU, or PSU brand to go with?

 

[larva]

Go to newegg.com and purchase the Forton Source FSP350-60PN for $42 shipped. End of story.

 

[Zerileous]

ok, sweet, and 350 watts will cover me with my power hungry Radeon 9500 Pro?

Edit: is this 350 watt PSU better than other, cheeper, 350 watt fortrons? ie the first one on the page when you click fortron?

 

[CCW]

PSUs arent cheap and this is the signle most important part not to scrimp on for a performance PC. Fortron make some good PSUs but for another cheap make Q-Tec arent too bad and neither are ThermalTake.

Craig

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Recent Q-Tec experiences: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=257171

The Fortron 350 will do fine. Whether you go for the 120mm fan version or the 80mm fan is up to you, they're both outstanding performers.

 

[CCW]

Looks like your Q-Tec needs a volt mod however mine has been running happily for ages with some heavy overclocks on the system so it hasnt been doing anything light, its the PSU Im using in my benching system at the moment.

Craig

 

[Zerileous]

well i really like the 120mm fan version simply because the cooling appears to be much better designed. I also hope to shut my computer up a bit more soon (although its not a big deal because i always have music on anyhow and rarely hear the computer. (im not blasting it, just moderate, all my fans average 32 dB so the comp is probly putting out close to 40 dB to where i am sitting while speakers are not going much over 50 im sure. Hopefully my airflow will be good enoguh that i can turn down alot of the fans for normal use and heavy (long period) gaming i could crank up the side card blaster and up some other speeds if i feel/see the need. Plus i like the open back design of the PSU, it looks designed for really good airflow.

 

[lostshoe420]

I don't think you should be asking if 300 watts is enough for a barton...people put too much emphasis on how many "watts" a psu puts out, but really its all about the different rails. Lots of crappy psu's claim really high wattages, but they are still crap, because it isnt distributed among the rails right or they fluctuate.

Now, I am new to all this, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the above is my understand of power supplies.

 

[Gautam]

The crappy PSU's also claim extremely high rail values. If anything, the combined 5v+3.3v rating can be a guide to quality under a decent load on both rails. The most important factor in choosing a power supply is the brand. Any 300W or above from a reputable brand will power just about any decent system short of being extremely overclocked.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Looks like your Q-Tec needs a volt mod however mine has been running happily for ages with some heavy overclocks on the system so it hasnt been doing anything light, its the PSU Im using in my benching system at the moment.

Craig

Actually I run a Channel Well, not Q-Tec. I'm glad yours is working out for you, the research I've done on Q-Tec suggests a higher than average failure rate; and since I've been an electronics tech for quite some time I tend to not trust equipment that has proven troublesome for more than about 5% of their owners.

Granted, Q-Tec doesn't seem as bad as Deer (the worst I've seen) or even Powmax at this point in time, but based on my observations of their innards in the thread I linked to I would not buy one. The Q-Tec in the other thread popped at least two capacitors, and this is more than a volt mod would fix - it's often a symptom of continuous or semi-continuous overload, bad components (there's a chance the blown caps themselves had bad electrolyte), or bad design. Without having it in front of me to inspect I couldn't tell for sure. Still, this isn't the first time I've heard of issues with Q-Tec, so I will continue to not recommend them.

 

[CCW]

I've heard of people with bad-experiences with them, please dont think of me as a person that says, "it works for me so it will for you" I guess Im one of the lucky ones.

Although I am now thinking more and more of moving away from the Q-Tec.

Craig