which power supply should i buy?

NewGuyNewGuy
edited February 2006 in Hardware
im am building a computer with the following specs:

Asus A8N-E motherboard
eVGA e-GeForce 6800GS PCI-E Video Card w/256Mb
Kingston 1Gb ValueRAM DDR400
Western Digital Caviar SE SATAII 200Gb Hard Drive - does it really make a difference if you have 8mb cache or 16mb cache?
AMD Athlon64 3200+ Processor
One of these cases for less than $100

My question is will a 400W or 450W be ok for this system? or should i go with 500W?

And, it doesn't have to be a brand name right? i can buy any cheap power supply as long as it has the proper wattage that i want...?

thanks!

Comments

  • bikerboybikerboy PA
    edited February 2006
    not sure what power you want but i do know that not just any power supply will work. you should go with a recommended brand name. that is one thing you dont want to skimp on. im sure osme of the other guys on here will give you the names of some good brands.

    bikerboy
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited February 2006
    Check out almost anything from antec. They make very nice, stable, and reliable psu's. They can cost a bit more, but they are nice.
  • NewGuyNewGuy
    edited February 2006
    ok i might choose this psu:

    Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-480 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 480w Support PCI-Express, SATA $94

    or

    Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-430 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 430w Support PCI-Express, SATA $84

    depending on how much watts i might need. what do u guys think?

    also i wanted to ask: is there is much of a difference between 8mb or 16mb cache for hardrives?
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    Either one of these will fil the bill perfectly. My preferance is more power as always.

    Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-480

    Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited February 2006
    For a change, I'm going to recommend against Antec psu's for a while myself. I've been reading of too many problems people have been having with Antec's newer line of psu's and modern motherboards. Among the problems are instabilities and also failures. I would recommend a psu from someone like OCZ, Fortron Source, SuperFlower, TTGI, Silverstone or PC Power and Cooling (they are mucho expensive though, but are the best out there).
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited February 2006
    NewGuy wrote:
    ok i might choose this psu:

    Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-480 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 480w Support PCI-Express, SATA $94

    or

    Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-430 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 430w Support PCI-Express, SATA $84

    depending on how much watts i might need. what do u guys think?

    also i wanted to ask: is there is much of a difference between 8mb or 16mb cache for hardrives?
    The 16MB drives are slightly faster with better mechanicals and higher density platters.

    Dont skimp on your PSU. As has been said grab a 500w or 600w model from OCZ, Fortron Source, SuperFlower, TTGI, Silverstone or PC Power and Cooling. And I would add the Seasonic 500w or 600w models.
  • V-PV-P State College, PA Member
    edited February 2006
    you don't need a 500, believe me. I have a 430 and all my specs are almost the same as yours, except i have a 3500 and 250 GB cav and X850 Radeon with 1 gig ram. Ill post my psu later tonite when i have time to find it.
  • NewGuyNewGuy
    edited February 2006
    Hi guys... i jus came back from the store, and i got all the parts :celebrate

    i didn't get a chance to read the posts after mtgoat....so i ended up buying the
    Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 :hair:

    oh well...lets see how it runs!!

    thx for all the help!
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited February 2006
    :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
    :celebrate :celebrate
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2006
    Omega65 wrote:
    :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
    :celebrate :celebrate
    I agree with muddocktor but still think the one you just got is still a good PSU. If it doesn't work you have the option of trying another or something else from the list. ;)
  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2006
    The Antec problems are with the NeoHE line, the TP2 line and the ASUS A8N-SLI boards running in SLI. Since the OP doesn't have an A8N-SLI board he's not going to run into the same problems.

    I am not willing to condemn Antec simply due to issues with a line of motherboards by one maker. They're working fine with SLI boards by DFI, Abit, MSI and basically everyone else.

    They're even fine with ASUS' SLI Intel boards. I really don't like the idea of people turning this one issue into another "Extra-Strength Tylenol" scare.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited February 2006
    Matt, I've also read reports of Antecs dying with more frequency too. That doesn't mean they have bad power supplies per se, just that they might be having a quality control issue right now. As far as for them honoring their warrantee, I have no hesitations. I've had to RMA a psu with them before that was 2 1/2 years old when it failed and I had no problems whatsoever. If you notice in my post, I said "for now", not forever. I'm sure that the TPII 550 that NewGuy got will most likely serve him well though. Like you said, it seems to be only with certain motherboards that the compatibility problem shows itself. I've also read that Antec is working with these mobo companies to try to find out what is happening to cause these instabilities too. I have Antec psu's in 4 machines myself and they are fine, stable power supplies. All of them are the older psu's though; none are the new models. I have 2 TrueControl 550's and a Smartpower 450 and a Smartpower 400. Until last week, the 400 was powering a dually AMD machine with no problems (it's the replacement they sent me for the failed PP412).
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