Help with power supply

[Chord21]

Hello all,
In the process of upgrading a XP 1800/Soyo Dragon + to a Xp 2500/Nforce 2. I have a antec 300 watt ps that has been running my system with 2 40gig Maxtors in raid, GeForce 4400, 2 optical drives and 4 case fans.
Basically wondering if this power supply will have enough juice to run the barton/Nf2, raid, GeForce 5900 (non ultra), 5 case fans and 2 lights. If this oldie will hold out great if not I need some recomadations on a good dirt cheap ps that will fufill my system needs.
Thanks in advance for any help that you all can give.

 

[pspada]

I usually consider a 350w the minimum for a Athlon XP system. YMMV

 

[stevennoland]

Would you want a bargin bin heart for your heart transplant? A second hand kidney? I think not. Why would you want a cheap power supply? Power supplies are where you should be splurging. Buy yourself a Vantec VAN-520A and be done with it. SVCompucycle.com has em for $120.00 . Vantec also makes lesser wattage models (albeit for less $$$). Antec and Enermax also make good power supplies. AnandTech just did a power supply round up part II. Check it out. It's where I made my decision from.

 

[mechBgon]

A dirt-cheap power supply to run a 5900 on? No no no Get a respected brand such as Antec, Enermax, etc and make it a nice burly one. You don't want to lose your entire rig because your PSU failed catastrophically.

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
A dirt-cheap power supply to run a 5900 on? No no no Get a respected brand such as Antec, Enermax, etc and make it a nice burly one. You don't want to lose your entire rig because your PSU failed catastrophically.

And you want to be able to go back on the man. should it take out your entire system. That would be kind of hard to do with your old generic PSU.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: fredtam

Originally posted by: mechBgon
A dirt-cheap power supply to run a 5900 on? No no no Get a respected brand such as Antec, Enermax, etc and make it a nice burly one. You don't want to lose your entire rig because your PSU failed catastrophically.

And you want to be able to go back on the man. should it take out your entire system. That would be kind of hard to do with your old generic PSU.

He said that he is currently using an Antec. Not some generic brand. Still, a 300W power supply will be marginal for your needs. I would upgrade to something with more power. Watch the amps on the 12V rail also because that powers your hdd, cd-drives etc and since you have quite a few devices you should look for one rated at no less than 20Amps on the +12V rail.

I've heard that the Vantec power supplies are quite noisy also (fan noise) so I would steer clear of them. The Antec true power 430W would be an excellent choice.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: fredtam

Originally posted by: mechBgon
A dirt-cheap power supply to run a 5900 on? No no no Get a respected brand such as Antec, Enermax, etc and make it a nice burly one. You don't want to lose your entire rig because your PSU failed catastrophically.

And you want to be able to go back on the man. should it take out your entire system. That would be kind of hard to do with your old generic PSU.

He said that he is currently using an Antec. Not some generic brand. Still, a 300W power supply will be marginal for your needs. I would upgrade to something with more power. Watch the amps on the 12V rail also because that powers your hdd, cd-drives etc and since you have quite a few devices you should look for one rated at no less than 20Amps on the +12V rail.

I've heard that the Vantec power supplies are quite noisy also (fan noise) so I would steer clear of them. The Antec true power 430W would be an excellent choice.

That's true. Older Antec 300W units weren't as strong as today's, however. Today's SL300 has 220W combined on 3.3V + 5V, whereas the PP303XP and PP303X had 180W and 160W, respectively, and I expect he's got one of those. He's asking for a "dirt-cheap" PSU to go with his new upgrade, which is sort of like running K-Mart motor oil in your new Corvette :Q

Yeah, a TruePower 430 would be a nice pick IIRC, nVidia recommends a 350W PSU minimum for a FX5900, and although they're probably hedging their bets, I forsee possible problems with an el-cheapo brand PSU.

 

[Zepper]

If your new mobo has a P4 (12V) socket to power the CPU and your Antec has the P4 plug (4-pin square) (or buy an adapter from SVC, etc.), then your 300W Antec should be just fine (if it were an off-brand, I might worry a bit). But as always Mo Power, Mo Better for AMD.
.bh.
Where's the :sun: ?

 

[Jhhnn]

Shouldn't hurt anything to try what you have, see what happens. One way to compensate for a slightly weak psu is to put the lights and fans on a switch, turn them on after the computer boots up. Boot failure is the most common symptom of a weak psu, that's when current draw is highest.

The Fortron/Sparkle family of psu's are very good, especially at the price. They're also very conservatively rated, with high momentary overcurrent capabilities. A 350w or 400w model will definitely do the job. The price jumps up a lot between the two...

 

[Chord21]

Thanks for the feedback all, I should clarify what I ment by a "dirt cheap" power supply heh. I am on a limited budget for this upgrade and unfortunatly the GeForce 5900 was too good a deal to pass up. So after all is said and done I have about 50 bucks to spend on the ps.
Was looking at the Thermaltake 420 watt, seems decent and fits in my price range.
Also thanks for the info on the recomended rateing required for the GeForce card, wasn't shure.

Umm whats wrong with K-Mart motor oil

 

[Wigwam]

i am also deciding between an enermax 350 and a thermaltake 420 - have you got any feedback on the thermaltake? is it noisy or quiet? [any idea how it rates in noise/heat/general reliability against the enermax?]