Can I get by with an older 250W PSU?

[bupkus]

Bestec 250W PSU W/
+12V...14A
+5V...25A
+3.3V...18A


Build is as follows:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 65W
Mainboard: MSI 785GT-E63 785G HDMI ATX
Optical Drive: ASUS 24X DVD+R
Hdd: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache
Memory: 4x1GB DDR2

No video card added, only ATI HD 4200 IGP

Thanks.

 

[Stefan Payne]

What 250W PSU is it?
Manufacturer and model please.

The rest seems to be pretty good.

 

[bupkus]

What 250W PSU is it?
Manufacturer and model please.

The rest seems to be pretty good.

Actually, I have 2, both by Bestec and both scavenged from HP builds.
The model described in the OP is a
MODEL: ATX-250-12Z REV.: D1 or
HP P/N5187-1098

The other is a
MODEL NO.:ATX-250-12E REV.: P6 with
+5V... 25A
3.3V... 20A
+12V...13A

 

[TemjinGold]

If you are only using an IGP, that should be fine. That PSU won't work for a discrete card though as there's only 14a on the +12 and that's brand new. I'm guessing yours has seen some use...

 

[fffblackmage]

Should be enough, though those look like crappy old PSUs. I mean, the 12V rails just look so sad...

 

[SparkyJJO]

Bestec? Crap.

Maybe in a pinch, for a SHORT while, but replace it with something half decent asap.

 

[bupkus]

Now here's the rest of the story.

The build in the OP was requested by a friend of my gf. She asked me to use the case of her old system. Her case was from an HP with a Celeron and certainly wouldn't accommodate the MSI board I chose for her. There's this left over 450W PSU I had so I just gave it to her with a full sized ATX case as well. Now, I'm convinced by your posts that those old 250W parts best be retired.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Just out of curiosity, how much did that build cost? And why'd she want you to use her old case instead of just buying a new cheap tower?

 

[Lyfer]

I've been this route before with trying to reuse an older PSU. It might work but you'll likely end up with an unstable system that randomly restarts or shutsdown.


I would invest in a new PSU to avoid the headaches imo.

Even something as cheap as this should be able to power that system fine:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817339019

 

[Murloc]

I think you should retire it.

 

[bupkus]

Just out of curiosity, how much did that build cost? And why'd she want you to use her old case instead of just buying a new cheap tower?

CPU: $65 about
Mobo: $80
Hdd: $75
Mem: $105
=$325

I gave her the case and PSU. I used to build and maintain systems for folks so I have a few cases and PSUs left over, some used some new.
I have a Cooler Master Centurion 534 and an Antec 900 still in their boxes. I usually only do this work for friends and family.

She didn't know her old case was not an option. Besides, her old motherboard was shorted out by her ex when he tried to fix a bad power button.

I've often re-used my cases if I really liked them. I told her if she didn't like the aluminum case I gave her she could buy one more to her liking. This case was discounted and purchased by me years ago. It has some very odd metal rails for the optical drives. Unfortunately, I could only find the rails for one DVD drive and I had to improvise on attaching the hdd. I think I used some plastic Antec pieces for that. Also, the aluminum case uses an 80mm fan attached sideways like a slot fan. With her CPU it'll do just fine with that fan. I've only purchased cases with 120mm back panel fans for a while now. I used to case mod back before even 92mm fans became popular, which really was for a short time. Designers seemed to skip 92 and jump right to 120mm.
Finally. Modding is too much work.