160w. Power Supply - Adequate?

[wallsfd949]

I recently purchased a Gateway 500x system which I am very pleased with, however, I have added many things since purchasing and the power supply has become a concern. I have no indications of eminent disaster...yet. The power supply that came with the system was a 160w power supply according to the support website. Here is what I have.

P4 2.533Ghz
512 MB 333MHz DDR SDRAM
1-120GB 2MB HD
1-120GB 8MB HD
16x DVD
48x CD/RW
Nvidia GeForce 4 MX440
Floppy
Onboard NIC
Onboard Sound
Modem card
USB (printer, mouse, UPS connected)
Firewire Card
1-external 120GB 8MB WD HD (powered)

I do a lot of Digital video and plan to add an External DVD +/- RW
I soon plan to add 512MB of Ram and a Case fan in the back.

Is 160watts enough, or should I switch it out? If so, what should I switch it out with. (Brand/Wattage)

Thanks,
-eric

 

[tallman45]

160 watts for a P4 is thin. There are a number or wattage calculators on the web that can help you decide, here is one of them.

http://www.distortionwave.com/power.html

 

[Corporate Thug]

dont risk all that nice stuff with a 160W PSU, get yourself a 350W PSU. if you dont want to invest in an enermax or antec, get a fortron at newegg

 

[mosco]

IT can't really be a 160W can it? that seems amazingly low. how easy it to take transfer the PSU out, i thought dell used power supplies with custom voltages that needed dell power supplies, would gateway do the same? It would suck if somethig bad happened to your system.

 

[wallsfd949]

Originally posted by: mosco
IT can't really be a 160W can it? that seems amazingly low. how easy it to take transfer the PSU out, i thought dell used power supplies with custom voltages that needed dell power supplies, would gateway do the same? It would suck if somethig bad happened to your system.

It does seem low. What can/could happen should I leave it this low (I'm not going to, I've already priced new power supplies)?

 

[amdskip]

You sure it isn't a tad higher than that?

 

[wallsfd949]

Originally posted by: amdskip
You sure it isn't a tad higher than that?

Just to clear things up.... I got off the phone with a Gateway tech (then a sales man). He informed me that it was indeed a 160w. power supply. I told him of all the components I added since purchase. After informing me that this could void my waranty and I should have purchased Gateway parts to keep my waranty (at 2-3x's retail price), he told me that my power supply was adequate for what I had. His comment was "if it ever goes out, then would be the time to replace it with a higher wattage supply".

I have my doubts.

-as a side note, they want $280 for 512MB PC2700 333MHz DDR SDRAM!! Because "it's high density ram" "performance Ram" and Kingston Ram made specifically for my system (according to Kingston's website) is "not going to work or not going to work well"

Ha!

 

[BG4533]

Originally posted by: wallsfd949

Originally posted by: mosco
IT can't really be a 160W can it? that seems amazingly low. how easy it to take transfer the PSU out, i thought dell used power supplies with custom voltages that needed dell power supplies, would gateway do the same? It would suck if somethig bad happened to your system.

It does seem low. What can/could happen should I leave it this low (I'm not going to, I've already priced new power supplies)?

Good PSUs tend to go out gracefully and only stop running. Bad ones on the other hand, well...take out the whole system. I would try downloading a program like Motherboard Monitor 5 to see if you can monitor the voltages of your PSU. If the voltages are off by more than 5% under load from what they should be I would consider a new PSU. Either way, it would still be overloaded. If you have the money, consider a new one. I would get an Antec Truepower 330.

Also, Gateway Techs suck. My experience with them has been horrible. The NIC on my laptop died and stopped responding to anything. I tested this in many ways. No matter what I told the tech support lady, she insisted it was a software problem and I needed to pay for software support. I asked to speak to her supervisor and she hung up on me. After about 10 emails to tech support I finally got a new card that fixed the problem. I could go into many more problems, but I wont make you suffer through that. Basically, dont trust them much, they are only reciting what you could find out yourself from their webpage.

Brian

 

[amdskip]

Might as well replace it now

 

[NYHoustonman]

Might as well replace it now

Exactly. Not worth the risk, and even the Truepower 330's (I have one and it's great) aren't that expensive.

 

[tazdevl]

I also would reommend never listening to the opinion of a support rep @ an OEM manufacturer. Most of the times, the reps know absolutely nil and all they do is follow a script or query a knowledge base. Same goes for folks that work @ most retail stores.

As others have said, if you want a stable, reliable system, get a new PSU. The Antec TruePowers are quiet with solid voltages.