200watt enough?

[Sniper82]

I need a PSU to use in my HTPC still the replacement gets here(about a week). All I got is this Bestec 200watt mATX powersupply with 12a on the 12v. It would only be powering nForce 2 mobo,512mb,FX5200,PVR-150,200gb Seagate,2000+ XP,1 case fan and I will probably leave 1 or both of the optical drives unhooked.

Do you all think it's a bad idea as I would hate for it to crap out and take things with it. It came out of a P4 1.5Ghz HP system.

Should I just wait it out?

 

[ForumMaster]

yep. that psu will never hold.
scenerio number 1: pc will run bad and /or simply won't work
scenerio number 2: u could damage ur mb and graphic card.
all nForce 2 mobo's require atleast 300W to run right. a 200w psu just won't work. its hard i know, but wait.

 

[Sniper82]

didn't know nforce 2 required 300w. Had I know that I wouldn't have bother posting . Am guessing it would be a bad idea to use a antec 430w true with this happening? Runs fine though.

http://img157.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture0042cn.jpg

 

[Aquila76]

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Pop your stuff in there, but that is really weak on the 12V. You are maxing out that PSU wattage wise as well; so I doubt if the system would run for long before shutting down (best case) or starting a fire (most likely scenario w/a no-name PSU).

 

[Susquehannock]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
>>>>>>
all nForce 2 mobo's require atleast 300W to run right. a 200w psu just won't work. its hard i know, but wait.

Wait a minute. That's not true.
A 300w PSU is not necessarily required for NF2. That all depends on how much your
system components need. It also depends on what rail the Motherboard uses to run the CPU.
Most NF2 use the +12v but not all. The ASUS a7n8x powers the CPU from the +5v rail
for instance.

Check your motherboard to see if it has the 4pin "P4" connector in addition to the 20pin ATX.
If it has the 4pin good chance it powers the CPU from the +12v rail. Therefore a PSU with
big +12v rating would be preferable to one with a big +5v rating.

Also, some 200w PSU are capable of putting out much more. Similarly, some 500w PSU
can't supply 300w under heavy load at operating temps. (40-50c)
Brand/build quality is much more important than the specs on the label since there are
so many ways for PSU manufactuers to inflate the numbers.

With the above said, I have run NF2 systems with older Fortron 200w PSU without a
problem. What you need to do is figure out how much power your system requires.
That is where the "PSU calculators" come in.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Not 100% accurate, but gives you a rough idea how much power your system requires.
Hope that wasn't too much info all at once.

 

[Pariah]

I've never heard of Bestec, but so long as it isn't a complete piece of junk, it will be plenty for that system. ForumMaster is way off base. Depending on the quality of the PSU, you can run significantly more than what you have off of 200W's.

Alienware ships a HTPC with a 250W PSU, that can be configured with a 3.6GHz P4, 2GB of RAM, DVD writer and 400GB HD, among other accessories.

 

[modedepe]

If it were me I would buy a new one, but that should be enough. It's not true that nForce 2 mobos require a 300w psu (look at just about any SFF computer using nF2).

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Pariah
I've never heard of Bestec, but so long as it isn't a complete piece of junk, it will be plenty for that system. ForumMaster is way off base. Depending on the quality of the PSU, you can run significantly more than what you have off of 200W's.

Alienware ships a HTPC with a 250W PSU, that can be configured with a 3.6GHz P4, 2GB of RAM, DVD writer and 400GB HD, among other accessories.

Agreed.

Believe it or not a quality 300 watt PSU would probably power 75% of the users machines here.

 

[markkleb]

I have been building micro comps for about a year now.

On Epia.com they have a program for figuring power requirements.

For a Pent 4 3.0(uses more than amd)
2 full size cd's
2 3.5" hard drives
1 video card
4 40 mm fans
4 usb devices

You need 160 watts at 13.3 amps.

My new X800gto dosent have the extra power cable and works with my 200 watt mini power supply(smaller than a half a pack of cigaretts)

My reg comp uses a 450 watt power supply that is about 15 times bigger and adds much more heat.

 

[furballi]

It should be adequate but you may want to fork over $19 for a larger PSU.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA22243