Is a 85watt power supply enough???????

[Vette73]

OK beofre you freak out, I am not trying to run a prescott or dual opterons here

I got a Flex/Matx case and it came with a small, but true, 85watt power supply.
I want to run this board...
Socket 370

With a 866Mhz 133Mhz FSB P3. I will also have a hard drive (20-40gig range), floppy, single 256-512mg DDR ram, and cd burner. The rest will be from the board like the sound, ethernet, and video.

The CPU will also have a fan but that is all.
The power supply is a Suntek AM612BS80S

So you think its a go?

 

[mxzrider]

my gateway athlon 700 had a 200watt. and it barely ran on it. as soon as i replaced the ps it perked right up and ran like the wind for the time period. it may run but the ps will definatyl die with a few weeks. and it will be slow as dirt, if it dont restart a load

 

[AristoV300]

No... I am sure you can buy a used 200+ PSU for a great price.

 

[pjs]

As an EE and computer system administrator, I would say NO to that power supply. No, as in NO!!!

Did I say no? If I didn't, I meant to say ... NO!!!

Even if it were enough (which I seriously, seriously, doubt) it would be so close to it's rated output that it would be running hot all the time. It's reliability and longevity would be seriously lessened. Seriously.

I am serios!!!

Paul

 

[lenjack]

I think he means no.

 

[BW86]

no it wont run

 

[mindless1]

I have a 90W PSU in a Netvisa case powering a Celeron @900MHz, 1 HDD, 1 CDROM, 256MB PC133. That's close to your config, so it may be possible but the two main quesitons are:

1) how confident are you that it's really worth 85W?

2) what is the amperage-rail ditribution? If it puts almost all those watts on the 3V/5V rail it may be possible, leaving only 1-2A on 12V rail.

Such small power supplies can vary widely in what an accurate rating really is. Some are rated for continuous long-term use at that wattage and some aren't (Like the tiny via epia style power boards).

If you can manage a bigger power supply it'd certainly be a better choice. Here are a couple of very good deals.
150W 1U
150W - Search Page for "ES2853"

 

[Zap]

What amperage does the power supply put out? I think that may be a better set of numbers for comparison rather than the usually fake wattage.

 

[Vette73]

Thanks for the info mindless1.

Here are the ratings of it, and it does FEEL like aquailty power supply. Its not light for its size.

5V = 7A
3.3V = 1A
12V = 2.5A
5VSB = 1.5A
and the -12 and -5 are both .1A


So does that help any? Also the space for a power sup;ly is SMALL. This one is 5 1/2 X 3 3/4 X 1 7/8

Thanks

 

[Zap]

Um, that may not be enough. I have a power supply from an original Shuttle FV24 rated at 150W that is sufficient for running whatever fits in the Shuttle system (socket 370, three drive bays).

From the label (Channel Well)
+3.3 = 10A
+5 = 14A
+12 = 4A

 

[Vette73]

UPDATE



I got the system running with teh 85watt PS. Seems to be very stable. Had some problems finding a heatsick that would fit and not hit the CD burner, but all is well now.

Got WinXP installed and updated the drivers.