Need a new PSU

leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
edited February 2004 in Hardware
i need a new power supply
will power a 1700+ tb overclocked to 2.4gh
epox 8rda+
radeon 9800pro flashed to XT
3 hdd
2 optical drives
couple fans
think that's about it.
price range about 100 dollars.
any options?
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Comments

  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Enermax or Antec. I would say 400W minimum.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    id say nothing less than 500, 3 harddrives and one optical...thats a load of power consumption, im sure kwito is right about the 400, but i woudlnt risk it...i would also go with antec instead of enermax
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Speaking of PSUs, is 300W enough for an Athlon T-Bird 1000, 2x40GB HDs and 1x10GB HD with 256MB PC133 RAM and 2x80mm case fans?
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    3hhds and 2 optical drives plus a 9800pro flashed to xt, and about 5 80mm fans.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2004
    Mr. Kwitko: if it's a good PS, yes.

    Leishi: An Antec or Enermax 350w+ unit would be fine. You could probably run 300w, but I wouldn't push it.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited January 2004
    Just to be safe and upgrade conscious. Either go antec or enermax high 400 watts or low 500 watts
  • edited January 2004
    leishi85, if you can go a little higher than $100, I highly recommend the Antec TrueControl 550. You can adjust the rails precisely to spec and it's been very stable for me and you can throw all you want on that psu and not kill it. I got mine at eXcaliberPC.com because they are cheaper than Newegg; they have it for $116 shipped.
  • MancabusMancabus Charlottesville, VA
    edited January 2004
    I have one of these and it has been great. and now only 64 bucks
    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-153-007&catalog=58&depa=1
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited January 2004
    Wait for it.

    Article going up tonight (Jan 21st) that you may find interesting. It may be more than you asked for...as in a simple answer...but it will be an answer.

    Contrary to popular belief...I am no longer the big Enermax fan that I always was. It's in the article. :)
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    i won't even take any 400watt psu,
    my old system(everything was the about the same, but take away 1 hdd, and swap the 9800pro with a ti4600, and it was struggling on a antec400watt)
    so i wan to go with at least 500 watt, i will wait for your article mediaman, thanks.
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited January 2004
    leishi85 wrote:
    i won't even take any 400watt psu,
    my old system(everything was the about the same, but take away 1 hdd, and swap the 9800pro with a ti4600, and it was struggling on a antec400watt)
    so i wan to go with at least 500 watt, i will wait for your article mediaman, thanks.


    How do you mean "struggling"? Was the PSU shutting down the PC? Were you getting BSOD's?

    The average PC...even the uber powerful ones draw maybe 75-90 watts during idle and perhaps 80-100 during heavy stress. As far as wattage is concerned a 250 watt PSU has sufficient...be it barely enough...wattage.

    It's da amps ya wanna look at. An AMD 3200+ can draw a peak 46.5 amps which...when you work out all that fancy math...can overload specific lines.

    Get's more complicated from there.

    Sounds like you need a PC with sufficient amperage and wattage on the +3.3/+5.5 lines.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited January 2004
    Mr. Kwitko wrote:
    Speaking of PSUs, is 300W enough for an Athlon T-Bird 1000, 2x40GB HDs and 1x10GB HD with 256MB PC133 RAM and 2x80mm case fans?

    2500+
    Nf7s with Soundstorm
    512 corsair xms 3200
    2 Maxtor drives (15 and 40gig)
    2 opticals (creative dvd and hp9100 burner)
    ATI 8500LE
    5 case fans and CPU fan

    all on a antec 300w

    Gobbles
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    NF7-S
    1800+@2.3
    512 PC3500
    2 optimcal
    2 HDD (40+80 WDs)
    R8500LE
    3*80mm fans, 2*92mm fans one of which takes 1Amp in itself

    All on a Antec TruePower 330W
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    what i meant was when i had my old system spec, i tried swapping my ti4600 with my friend's 9700pro, and with that antec 400watt, after swapping and booting, my usb devices wouldn't work at all, no mouse.
    and my +5v rail was dropping down to like low 4.7ish.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2004
    I think the USB issues were caused by something else. My Antec 400w has run my dual 2500 system without a problem.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    i really couldn't think of anything else, because as soon as i swapp in teh 9700pro the usb quits working, and as soon as i swap the ti4600 back in, it works again.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited January 2004
    Strange. But, like I said... my 400w Antec has powered my dual CPU system:
    2x 2500+ @ 1.89GHz
    1GB DDR333/400 (1x 512mb PC2700, 1x 512mb PC3200)
    ATi Radeon 8500
    HighPoint RocketRaid 1540
    SB Audigy2 platinum
    MSI USB2 PCI card
    4 160GB HDDs
    2 optical drives
    Floppy
    Zip
    9 fans (6 case, 2 CPU, 1 video)

    so it's possible your antec was just flaky or something, or maybe mine is better than most.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    well, finally i have decide to either get the Vantec Stealth Aluminum 520W Power Supply Retail or the antec, which one is bettere???
    or is there another one that's better than thses 2 at about 100 dollars??
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited February 2004
    I'd dont know how much it is in US but I've just bought a 480w thermaltake butterfly purepower and I think its excellent. All the cables are sleeved, not just the 12v one so cable management is very neat & tidy and the extras are very useful.

    http://www.thermaltake.com/purepower/W001920.htm
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2004
    Which antec? The True550? Probably the Antec would be better, but either one should be fine.

    But there's no way you need a power supply that big. Like I said, my Dual Athlon system will run just fine on a 400w PS, so you'd be more than fine on a 450w. Thought about getting an Antec SL-450?
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    leishi85 wrote:
    well, finally i have decide to either get the Vantec Stealth Aluminum 520W Power Supply Retail or the antec, which one is bettere???
    or is there another one that's better than thses 2 at about 100 dollars??
    Leishi, take my word for it, get yourself a Fortron Source from Newegg.

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-968&catalog=58&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=0

    At $68 it's a steal.

    I have ordered that myself after some brilliant reviews.
    This thing have 5 adjustable pots, 3 for the rails and 2 for the fans.
  • edited February 2004
    They also sell those PSU's labled Sparkle and I had a 300w version without the 12v cable for p4 support and it was an extremely powerful 300w PSU.
    Great price, too bad you've got to void the warranty to access those pots.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    madmat wrote:
    They also sell those PSU's labled Sparkle and I had a 300w version without the 12v cable for p4 support and it was an extremely powerful 300w PSU.
    Great price, too bad you've got to void the warranty to access those pots.

    That 300W kept a freinds Vapo up and running (uses LOTS of 12V) and the line never moved. He tested a Enermax 460W or something and that one dropped to 10.4V. Go figure.

    The psu's covers isn't sealed or anything so no one will notice that you have opened it up. Besides, who haven't voided the warranty on their rig? Installing anything else than a stock cooler on a retail cpu also voids the warranty.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    looks good mac, i think i will go with your suggestion.
    about adjusting the voltage rails, how would i do that?
  • edited February 2004
    My Sparkle PSU had a seal on it :( but yeah I know what you mean about warranty voiding...to OC is to basically void just about every warranty on the board and everything attached to it except certain hi-end memories and such.
    Thank goodness for agp/pci locks :)
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    alright, just placed the order, hoping for the best.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    The Fortron Source?

    EDIT// I saw that now.

    I don't think you need to adjust anything if you don't plan to use a heavy overclock and with vdimm or vcore mods.

    EDIT// again, stupid answer from me, sorry.

    To increse voltage (DECREASE resistance), you need to use a philips and screw counter-clockwise but on some of them, you need to screw clockwise.
    Be careful though as the pots aren't the multiturned ones so you need to be very careful not to turn too much at the time. There are overvoltage protections on all lines though, so nothing should happens but it's never wrong to be careful anyway. Let us know when you recieve it, you will be happy with that one.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    yes, the fortron source
    /EDIT
    not sure what u mean by heavy overclock.
    /EDIT AGAIN, /me liking the edit button, hehe

    adjust the rails while the PSU is taken out of the case and power off, ahh so much stuff to do.
    i will post back about how this psu is, will be getting my nf7-s back from my sister back to replace my 8rda+, we will see how it goes, reformat time for me.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I just mean that as long as you don't run a big pelt or something powerful like that, you won't need to adjust them. Another good thing with the Fortron is that it has a SATA power connector (or 2) as well.
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