Enough powersupply?

[wetech]

The newegg special on the PII940 + basically free motherboard is tempting me to upgrade my very aging Athlon64 system.

Link

the new system would be
PII940
BIOSTAR 790GX Motherboard
4GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066
HD4850 for the video
existing SATA HD
existing DVD drive

my question is, will my current 485w power supply be enough to handle the above hardware.

 

[mmntech]

I have a similar setup with a 450w power supply. Never had any issues even with both the CPU and GPU overclocked. Your PSU should be plenty unless you want to go Crossfire.

 

[yh125d]

Depends. What brand is the PSU? Is it 4 years old like the other parts? What are the ratings on the 12v rail/s?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: yh125d
Depends. What brand is the PSU? Is it 4 years old like the other parts? What are the ratings on the 12v rail/s?

this

 

[wetech]

ENERMAX Noisetaker EG495P-VE SFMA 485W
Link

18A on the 12v rails.


+3.3V@32A, +5V@32A, +12V1@18A, +12V2@18A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A

 

[vj8usa]

It's got dual 12V rails, each giving 18A. Spec wise, that's more than enough for the new hardware you listed.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: vj8usa
It's got dual 12V rails, each giving 18A. Spec wise, that's more than enough for the new hardware you listed.

Rails aren't additive. The +12V total is key -- sometimes the label has it in amps, sometimes in watts. Here it's 32A (384W).

Should work, but given its age, not sure how much margin you have...

 

[Spikesoldier]

i used that same psu for my athlon64 build ages ago as well.

it crapped out on me when i moved on to the core2 platform, it had a e2160 @ 3.0ghz in it. overall, it held up for over 3 years running an OC'ed a64 system then for about a few months after i switched to the OC'ed e2160.

i wouldnt trust this one to a quad core, go get yourself a new psu.

i got a rosewill 550w, i was strapped for cash when the original psu went out but it hasn't let me down yet.

 

[zerocool84]

Brand new system deserves a good quality power supply. 4 years is too old for my tastes. You could spend $50 and get a great quality psu.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: s44
Rails aren't additive.

they aren't???

 

[Schmide]

Watts approximation.

70w PII940
40w BIOSTAR 790GX Motherboard
8w 4GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066
110w HD4850 for the video
15w existing SATA HD
15w existing DVD drive
25w fans/misc

Total 283w

Approx 220w on the 12v or 18a - 56% of maximum amps on the 12v

You'll be more than fine.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo

Originally posted by: s44
Rails aren't additive.

they aren't???

Are you joking?

Well, if you're not, rails are just lines with (nominally) separate max power limits. Split +12V outputs were and are done for both historical (ATX spec evolution) and safety reasons, though modern single-rail designs are plenty safe anyway. But just because each rail is itself capped at (often) 18A doesn't mean the PSU is designed to be able to max out all the rails at once. In fact, it's usually not. You always have to look at the full spec chart to see what the full +12V rating is.