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How much power does this system need?

W

windex256

Junior Member
Hi,

I'm in the process of helping my dad put together a new system, and need some advice in selecting a PSU. I know he should go with a reputable brand, such as Antec, OCZ, Enermax, etc, but I'm not sure how much wattage he'll need. He's not into overclocking or gaming, so the video card and processor shouldn't be drawing too much juice, but he's going a little overboard with the hard drives, and I'm not really sure how much power they'll require. The system is as follows:

Athlon64 Newcastle 2800+
Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP
3 x 512 RAM
Leadtek GeForce4 MX4000
US Robotics 56K modem
2 x 160GB Seagate SATA HDDs
2 x 160GB Seagate IDE HDDs
Sony CDR/RW
Sony CD-ROM
Floppy
120mm fan
100mm fan
80mm fan

Anyone have an estimate of about how many watts all that would need?

Thanks,
Windex256
 
Only 300? That seems a bit low. Are high end video cards and overclocked processors really the only major drain on power these days? It seems like an Athlon 64 system with four hard drives would need more than 300, but maybe not. Anyone agree/disagree?

-Windex256
 
Quality 350 or 400 should do--check the amperages to make sure.

To add to that list, PCP&C (they have a lower-end line), Seasonic, and Fortron are also good names to consider (good Fortrons can be found quite inexpensively if the budget is tight).
 
300 will not be enough, you have at least 15A off the 12 volt rail. Don't look at total watts but a high amp for the 12 volt rail.
 
Plus, it's always good to have some extra headroom for upgrades or using the P/S with a future computer. It seems demand for power is always going up over time. I mean, video cards are becoming real power hogs lately and CPU's too. That heat is power converted!
 
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