275W vs. 300W PS. Is 275W enough?

[FluxCapacitor]

I'm about to upgrade my current system (700MHz Athlon classic) to a 1.2GHz Thunderbird, with a new mobo of course, but I'm wondering about the power supply.

Currently, I use a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 275W PS in my system. I also have a 300W Addtronics PS from my 6890A that I'm not using, but it works fine.

My question is, do you think the 275W Silencer would be enough to run the 1.2GHz chip, with 256MB RAM, 2 CD-ROMS, 2 HDs, and a GeForce card? I'm thinking it would be, as this PS has basically the same components as their 300W Perfomance model, the Silencer I have just comes with a lower RPM fan. I'm also pretty sure that the Addtronics 300W PS I have is not nearly as high quality as the PCP&C PS.

So, what do you think? Will I cause a meltdown if I use the 275W PS? What about the 300W. Anyone have any experience using a 250-275W PS on a 1 GHz+ rig?

 

[Sir Fredrick]

I think it'll work just fine, but even if 275W isn't enough for that computer (and if that's the case you'd want to add more than just another 25W), it wouldn't fry anything, the computer just wouldn't POST until you gave it enough juice. Or if it's enough juice to get it started but not enough to keep it going, you'll have errors and crashes, but you certainly won't have any kind of global meltdown disaster. In other words, try it out and see. You won't hurt anything.

 

[The Sauce]

I don't know man...I bought a case with a 250W "AMD Approved" PS for my new system and it is totally inadequate. I have esentially the same setup as you but only one HDD and when I overclock that badboy with the Delta fan on it and am playing games I can hear the fans dimming and start getting random errors...its pretty bad. I had to get a new PS. Granted the one I have here is not a PCP&P but still... My philosophy now is: more is better.

 

[DARRIN]

I waaas using a 240Watt for a while until it EXPLODED! Only 300 Watts + for me anymore.

 

[littleprince]

It might be enought, but why spend so much money, and skimp on the power supply?
maybe your comp will run, but often crash or be unstable or whatever.
its like why would you buy a mercedes, and stick on the tires from a golf cart?
sure it might run, but...

 

[gtd2000]

The rating on the power supply is often meaningless
Even although one PSU says "300W" and another PSU says "235W" the actual output is often not related - this is straight from my local PC shop owner and has been verified here also.

 

[DARRIN]

It depends on what the current on the +5 volt and +3.3 volt outputs are.

 

[FluxCapacitor]

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. I agree I may be pushing it, but I'm not so certain. I think this PCP&C PS can handle more than 275W. Really doesn't matter to me either way.

littleprince: I'm not exactly skimping if all I'm upgrading is the mobo/cpu and keeping all the other parts the same (including the Addtronics 6890A case). If I go out and buy a 350-400W PS and don't really need it, then I'll have 3 power supplies, 2 of which would be gathering dust. Seems like a waste.

Ok, here's another question: If you say the 275W isn't enough, what about my 300W PS? Granted, 25W isn't a whole lot of difference, and I feel the PCP&C PS is equivalent to most 300 watters you see out there (for the price I'd hope so)

 

[FluxCapacitor]

DARRIN,

+5V @ 30A
+3.3V @ 14A

What does that rate?

BTW, 1.2GHz Athlon approved PS shows the 300W PCP&C model as approved for up to 1.3GHz Thunderbirds. Only difference between this PS and mine is it's got 12amps on the +12V and my has 10amps, that's the only difference.

I'm not trying to convince myself, just throwing out ideas and what I've found...

 

[CigarSmokedByClinton]

Let me add my two cents....

I currently have an Enlight 250W 7237 PS. And I am running...

Duron 600 @1050
2 CD Rom
1 HD
1 TNT2 Vid Card
DVD decoder
Modem
NIC card
384 Meg Ram

I realize that Geforces take up lots of power, but judging from my system, the extra 25W upgrade from a 250W to a 275W PS should be able to handle the Geforce and the extra HD. And like the guy above me said, if it doesn't work, you won't break anything.

Cheers

 

[Sir Fredrick]

A quality PSU can handle it at 275W no problem.

Heres my system which until about a month ago was running on a 250W PSU (got a free upgrade to a 300W PSU even though I didn't need it):

Dual PIII 450s
3 - heatsink fans (2 on one, 1 on the other)
1 - 10k RPM HD (SCSI)
2 - 7200RPM HD (SCSI)
1 - integrated SCSI controller
1 - CDROM
1 - Burner
1 - TNT1 video card
1 - ISA soundcard
1 - ISA winmodem
2 - PCI NICS
4 - 80mm case fans

Since it's been converted to 300W:

1 - Matrox G450 DualHead (instead of TNT1)
1 - DVD player (in addition to the other two CDROM devices
1 - PCI SCSI card

haven't had a single problem.