Really quick mATX question

[TheDominator666]

I recently placed a mATX board in a ATX sized case. I am running it with a cheap-o 300W power supply (free is free ya know... :/ )

Do mATX boards consume less power? I know they will run on 200W Power Supplies,

[TheLostSwede]

I actually just did the same. 300 watts psu that i wouldn't even give to my worst enemy runs a NF2 board with a Geforce original, a IBM deathstar, 2 sticks of PC2700 on a XP2100 Tbred B at stock.
No casefans at all and nothing in the PCI slots. With ZERO load in bios, the voltage drops to 11.5 on the twelver, 4.84 on the fiver and 3.2 on the 3.3V. Go figure. I'd say rip it out before it burns the rest of the stuff.

And yes, those boards are designed to draw less on the lines but the boards isn't designed for 100% load 24/7 either. An occasional Scrabble or maybe even Tetris might work though.

[Black Hawk]

IMHO if the thing is stable then don't worry. I'm currently running on a 250W AOpen, 2x 80GB HDD's, 2x CDRW's, 9700 NP, 2x 80mm fans, a SB Live and a ECS K7S5A (which is very picky about PSU's) and it's ran great for over 6 months.

[TheDominator666]

Black Hawk had this to say
IMHO if the thing is stable then don't worry. I'm currently running on a 250W AOpen, 2x 80GB HDD's, 2x CDRW's, 9700 NP, 2x 80mm fans, a SB Live and a ECS K7S5A (which is very picky about PSU's) and it's ran great for over 6 months.

It is actually this exact power supply (http://www.codegengroup.com/proddetail2.asp?id=27) from a company Codegen (CG Group)

I'm building a spare machine and did not want to shell out a ton of money on parts when the thing will basically be an AOL box for my dad & sister.

Based on the abuse you're giving to a 250W, I feel a little better. The only things running in this box are;

NFORCE2 mATX board
40GB hard drive
Athlon XP 1800+

Not one PCI card is installed; everything is running of the motherboard (video, LAN, Audio). I can't imagine I'm putting much load on this...

[Black Hawk]

Codegen are pretty good for a generic psu.

[MediaMan]

I've run Chaintech's Summit mATX board and Gigabyte's 7VM400MF boards on 200 Watt mATX PSUs. Both have been stable but I've run them without video cards and other PCI based add-ons. (These two boards have built in video)

The more that is loaded on; the more power that will be needed but for a normal combination of processor, ram, optical device, floppy, hdd and motherboard with built on everything...200 watts will do.

Start bolting on multiple drives and a gaming video card and there lies the potential for insufficient power.

[Geeky1]

Honestly, I'd say just cough up the $$ decent PS. They're not that expensive.

Here:
Enlight 300w- http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D602&searchdepa=1

Sparkle 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=0&sumit=Go&description=N82E16817103428&searchdepa=0

Fortron (FSP) 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D104%2D995&searchdepa=1

Sparkle (OEM'd Fortron) 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D481&searchdepa=1

Enermax 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D423&searchdepa=1

Antec 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D917&searchdepa=1

Enlight 360w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D605&searchdepa=1

The 3 PSes I'd most highly recommend are the three I'll list below. What makes them stand out is that they all have a single, 120mm fan, instead of a single 80mm or dual fan setup; the 120mm fan will cool both the power supply and the computer itself better than either of the other setups, and it will also be much quieter. Additionally, it has the advantage of being more reliable than other designs. The reason for this is simple- larger fans rotate slower to produce similar airflow. The fans in these power supplies are probably not going to exceed 1500rpm at any time. Because of this, they should last a very, very, VERY long time compared to standard 80 and 92mm fans.

Fortron 300w (120mm fan)-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-104-979&depa=1

Sparkle 300w (120mm fan, OEM'd Fortron)-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D485&searchdepa=1

Fortron 350w (120mm fan)-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D104%2D966&searchdepa=1

[TheDominator666]

Geeky1 had this to say
Honestly, I'd say just cough up the $$ decent PS. They're not that expensive.

Here:
Enlight 300w- http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D602&searchdepa=1

Sparkle 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=0&sumit=Go&description=N82E16817103428&searchdepa=0

Fortron (FSP) 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D104%2D995&searchdepa=1

Sparkle (OEM'd Fortron) 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D481&searchdepa=1

Enermax 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D423&searchdepa=1

Antec 300w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D917&searchdepa=1

Enlight 360w-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D605&searchdepa=1

The 3 PSes I'd most highly recommend are the three I'll list below. What makes them stand out is that they all have a single, 120mm fan, instead of a single 80mm or dual fan setup; the 120mm fan will cool both the power supply and the computer itself better than either of the other setups, and it will also be much quieter. Additionally, it has the advantage of being more reliable than other designs. The reason for this is simple- larger fans rotate slower to produce similar airflow. The fans in these power supplies are probably not going to exceed 1500rpm at any time. Because of this, they should last a very, very, VERY long time compared to standard 80 and 92mm fans.

Fortron 300w (120mm fan)-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-104-979&depa=1

Sparkle 300w (120mm fan, OEM'd Fortron)-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D103%2D485&searchdepa=1

Fortron 350w (120mm fan)-
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=17%2D104%2D966&searchdepa=1

Cool, thanks for linking all the info. I did not know they made standard ATX power Supplies with 120 mm fans. Those are pretty badass.

So any of the 300W PS you mentioned above are better than Codegen 300W? Like Black Hawk said, they are somewhat decent (I have heard this elsewhere). They are light as hell though, it almost feels like nothing is inside. Anyone have any hands on expierence with this brand?

I think I'll run with the Codegen for now and maybe on my next newegg order, I'll pick up a new one.

[Al_Capown]

Yea, I'm gonna have to say you'll probably be fine.

I ran

P4 1.8
Radeon 9700 NP
60GB Maxtor
100GB WD JB
DVD-ROM
CDRW
3 PCI Cards
1x 92mm case fan
1 Zip100MB Drive

All in a nice little generic 250w. No stability issues and it ran all the time (no oc though). It was used for autocad, counter-strike, folding, and a bit of video editing. Like you said, the Codegen should suffice for what your using that PC for.