How does my power supply fair with yours?

[watdahel]

This is my 300W power supply and I was wondering how good or bad it is in terms of amperage. I've seen power supplies that have double the amperage than what I have. So, how much current do each of the components of a PC eat up? Let's say I have a XP3000+ cpu and Geforce 6600GT.

My power supply

 

[mechBgon]

That PSU is not a great pick for a new system. For starters, it doesn't have a 4-pin square ATX12V cable, which modern motherboards use to deliver power to the CPU power circuitry. Having only 10A on the 12V rail also spells trouble.

If you want one to buy, make sure it's a reputable brand, preferably with a 24-pin main cable so it's forward-compatible to new motherboards. You can see the 24-pin cable and some other new ones like PCIe video cables, on this page.

 

[ericlala]

looks like a cheapo case psu with only 10A.
what I have is overkill but you should look for something around 20A on the 12v rail

 

[furballi]

Probably should dump that elcheapo Antec.

 

[mechBgon]

I wouldn't say it's el-cheapo, so much as that it's an old, outdated design. It's a PP303-X, and that's four generations back in Antec's history.

 

[Powermoloch]

There are good affordable PSU out there, at least 350 watts giving out 18 amps on a 12V+ rail is fair enough

 

[suszterpatt]

I recently got the Cooler Master Real Power 450W. It has dual 12V volts with 12A and 10A on them, and can actually output 450W continuously. Also comes with a wattage meter.


A bit pricy, bit it will take care of your power problems for a couple of years for sure.

 

[Cheezeit]

10a? I don't think so. Of course you have seen people with twice your amps. heck, almost all the new enermaxes that arn't dual rail have 30a.

 

[Cheesetogo]

For 25 dollars, I picked up an enermax 300 watt psu with 22 amps on the 12v. Enermax 300

 

[0roo0roo]

remember girls wont' date guys with small amperage ratings.

 

[Zepper]

If you have an old-style mobo with no P4 connector and don't run a lot of drives or a fancy video card that requires aux powr, then that PSU would be fine - I ran a pretty hefty system with 3 SCSI HDs on a Sparkle 250 and it didn't break a sweat, seldom made the fan in the PSU switch to full speed.
. Most typical PCs don't use much more than 200WDC anyway. As long as the power is apportioned across the rails in line with the system you are using, a good 300-350W PSU is all anyone really needs and for its day, that Antec was a good PSU.

.bh.

 

[watdahel]

so it's only the +12V I should worry about? What's the purpose of the other rails especially the negative ones?

 

[Zepper]

The +12 rail is becoming more important due to current mobo and vid card designs. You have plenty for a normal, older design system. When you decide to do a makeover, that's the time to think about a different PSU with the total power weighted more to the +12. There are numerous threads on PSUs here, use the search feature. Almost every issue has been beaten to death.
. The negative rails are obsolete, the -5 has been written out of the ATX spec in the latest rev. and -12 is next to go (though some fancy multiple serial port cards still use it). The +5 is used for most purposes on the mobo other than the CPU core - for things like memory and I/O - the other voltages are regulated down from that. The 3.3 may also be used for memory and I/O voltages. All the voltages are also supplied to the PCI bus and AGP slot so the cards can use them however they want based on the current limitations of the bus - those current limitations are why some cards (mainly video) have auxiliary power connectors.

.bh.

 

[czech09]

Originally posted by: Zepper
The +12 rail is becoming more important due to current mobo and vid card designs. You have plenty for a normal, older design system. When you decide to do a makeover, that's the time to think about a different PSU with the total power weighted more to the +12. There are numerous threads on PSUs here, use the search feature. Almost every issue has been beaten to death.
. The negative rails are obsolete, the -5 has been written out of the ATX spec in the latest rev. and -12 is next to go (though some fancy multiple serial port cards still use it). The +5 is used for most purposes on the mobo other than the CPU core - for things like memory and I/O - the other voltages are regulated down from that. The 3.3 may also be used for memory and I/O voltages. All the voltages are also supplied to the PCI bus and AGP slot so the cards can use them however they want based on the current limitations of the bus - those current limitations are why some cards (mainly video) have auxiliary power connectors.

.bh.

What he said ^. Good answer. Anyways, get something a little better. I have a Forton Blue Storm 500w PSU with my FX-53/7800gtx/74gb raptor setup and it holds amazingly. It's 24pin as well and has a 6pin pci-e connector so it'll hold up for a while. Good luck in your search. I'd buy one quality one and be done with it, instead of buying 5 lowerend ones heh (btw the Forton goes for about $70 shipped on some sites which isn't bad if it's an investment for 2-3 years).

 

[dudu123]

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
For 25 dollars, I picked up an enermax 300 watt psu with 22 amps on the 12v. Enermax 300

Enermax 300 w, 1 fan or 2 fans?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
remember girls wont' date guys with small amperage ratings.

So that's what's causing it! :Q

 

[Snooper]

I'm old fashioned. There is only one brand that actually makes GOOD PC power supplies: PC Power and Cooling. Of course, that power supply is probably just fine from looking at it's ratings.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
remember girls wont' date guys with small amperage ratings.

That's awesome. Now I know why my wife married me!!
Tas.

 

[watdahel]

Regarding the extra 12V 4-pin plug, that's only for pentium cpus right? How come there's one on my amd board? Is it also true that it's not the same as having a 24pin ps?

 

[furballi]

The extra 4-pin is for the CPU, both AMD and INTEL. And yes, it's different from the 24-pin PSU (extra pin for the video card).

You need to connect the 4-pin if the motherboard has a 4-pin plug.

 

[Zepper]

Properly Designed Motherboards will have a P4-12V (4-pin square) socket to run the CPU from the 12V rail whether Intel or AMD. AMD has recommended running their CPUs off the 12V rail for at least as long as the Athlon has been on the market - it's just the mobo makers didn't do it much until recently. I won't buy a mobo w/o the P4 connector any more as your mobo will run more stably and there is little likelihood of melting your ATX connector as there was when CPUs were run mainly off the +5V rail. There are pictures linked to a number of posts here showing those melted/charred connectors - one even had melted the plastic entirely from around the contacts - ugggh. I have experienced several of those amongst my friendsl.
. If you have a mobo w/ the P4 connector, then your PSU should be one with higher current on the +12 rail - I like to see 15-20A minimum and more if you have lots of hard drives and other junk running off the +12.

.bh.

 

[watdahel]

Here's a tool to figure out how big a power supply you would need for your next PC.