How much can my PSU really handle ?

[ciproxr]

Ive been worrying about how much my PSU can handle, i was thinking of just buying a 50 dollar forton as i heard its the best bang for your buck and as u may notice all my hardware for the most part are bang for your buck......

My psu Is a antec smart power 350w, 21A on the +12V line

I was planning on replacing the PSU very soon cause after everything i have been reading i was scared that I might ruin my video hard or that it might die out on me but some people told me not to change it yet unless it gives me problems........

I currently have 512 ram and i should be receiving another 512 on monday .....

So one of my question is how much more can i add to my PC b4 the psu cant handle it anymore ?

Theoreticly is my PSU suppose to be able to handle the hardware that i have ?

What if i wanted to add 2 gb or ram ? or maybe another hardrive?


My Rig:

NESO PIXO A700 Black 17" 16ms LCD Monitor

Antec Solution SLK2650-BQE Black case

Antec Smartpower 350w psu

AMD Athlon 64 3200+

MSI RS480M2-IL Socket 939 mobo

TwinMOS 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400

MSI Radeon X800

Western Digital 80GB

Seagate Barracuda 160GB

NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive

NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3520A BK

Onboard sound with Altec Lansing BX3 Speakers

Linksys Wireless-G WRT54GS

Logetech Dual Action Controller

 

[theMan]

just see what happens if you run 3dmark for a few hours. if the computer doesnt crash or something, its fine. its unlikely to just break something, unless it explodes, which i have personally never seen, and rarely happens unless the thing's defective.

 

[Jotho]

Your PSU is probably holding up OK if you're experiencing no stability issues or other "wierdness." However, I should also mention that my old SmartPower 350w out of my SLK2650 worked for a year before giving me major instability issues resulting from 3 burned-out 3.3v pins on the main mobo ATX connector.

 

[ciproxr]

how can i run 3dmark for a few hours ? also which 3dmark ? the only one i have is 3dmark5

Jotho ive had mine since last april , so its not even a year old yet, i guess we will see what happens

 

[Jiggz]

I would say you are OK. Personally, if there is any symptom that a PSU is carrying a lot of load is through the temp of the air blowing out of it. If the air temp is hot (around 45-50 C) then you can tell the PSU is max'ing on its load. But if it's just warm or barely warm, then the PSU is not even half loaded. You should check the air temp only after you ran the system for awhile. Remember, if you do not experience booting problems, you're PSU is most likely OK. The reason why, its during boot sequence when the system draws the most current. If it survives this, it'll most likely survive the regular use.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Extra 512MB of RAM only eats up little power compared to the CPU, so you will be fine.

Anyone who says "YOU NEED A NEW PSU!!!111" doesn't know what he is talking about.

 

[ciproxr]

I noticed the air is hot only when playing games but I dont think its too hot ......I figured out how to loop 3dmark5 and i left it on for an hour and a half without any problems, of course i will try leaving it a little longer just to see what happens.....

thanks guys , i know i can always deppend on you.