PSUs... all lies! (maybe)

[scaryjeff]

My question really is why do I need a 400W+ PSU such as the ones featured in the Anandtech roundup, when I can use a 300W one listed as P4 compatible? Intel recommends a +12 volt current of "at least 8 Amps" [ http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/12v2x2.htm ], and all of the 300W PSUs I saw provided almost double this figure. I understand that a PSU can't provide the maximum listed output for every rail at the same time, but it doesn't look like this is ever going to be a requirement of the system. Am I really going to lose out if I buy a sparkle 300W instead of a sparkle 400W that costs nearly double the amount? The system the PSU will go in is a P4-2.6, hopefuly running at about 3GHz. No extra case fans, no 10 hard drives, no flashing lights or pumps or peltiers or any nonsense like that. Is using a 300W PSU really going to result in a horribly unstable system that crashes if I try and burn a CD or play a 3D game? Or is it just going to mean I am not able to plug a bunch of superfluous devices into my PSU?

 

[PanzerIV]

No, you don't need a huge PSU if you aren't overdoing it with cold cathodes, fans, HDDs and the like. A BRAND NAME 300W (such as that Sparkle) should do you fine. Just don't go cheap like Allied or God forbid, Dear. Those higher end PSUs are usually going to actually perform a little better than they are rated.

 

[EeyoreX]

RE: your thread title. I think you must not actually read many of the PSU threads here. Very rarely do I see someone who seems knowledgable and intellient and is respected here post a "You need a 500 watt PSU". More often than not, I see "a 350 watt will be enough" or the like. Nearly everyone will tell you a lower wattage high quality PSU is far superior to a higher rated cheap PSU.

In closing, you will be fine with a quality 300 watt PSU.

\Dan

 

[MercenaryForHire]

/pats his 185W IBM PSU which happily powers a Tualatin, 512MB, 2x optical drives (DVD+-R and CDRW), Quadro4, G200MMS, and many USB devices

300W say what now?

- M4H

 

[scaryjeff]

Okay, thanks What I meant about the lies part is that in reviews and roundups such as the anandtech one, they only ever seem to review the big PSUs... this had lead me to believe that you actually need one of these PSUs for a 'normal' system, so I guess the only lie was what I thought was the case, sorry about that.

 

[Ionizer86]

Sparkle 300W is fine. One of my buddies got one with a $48 case to run his 2500+ at 3200+ with a number of other decently power-consuming pieces, and it's fine.

Allied is actually pretty good now. See the Newegg user reviews and Anandtech's PSU roundup on that $30 400W. Excellent for that cost. Probably a tad bit better than a Sparkle 300W.

 

[dml54]

The computer I'm typing at is a K6 @233Mhz, I have 2 hard drives, a floppy, CDRW and CDROM and 3 fans with all onboard devices enabled. All running fine with a compaq 75Watt AT PSU, so 300 should be more than enough

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I declare dml54 the current leader of the PSU Limbo contest. :Q

Place myself in second - C500/256/10GB/CD/1f with 85W.

BTW, scaryjeff ... Regarding your 566@850 Celermine - what voltage and cooling setup do you have? I was there before, and it only got fixed by a "signalling" option in the BIOS getting set to "low". Good luck.

- M4H

 

[scaryjeff]

My board is an asus cubx and apparently it has problems overclocking this particular chip. My rubbish heatsink is only losely attatched to the CPU and with a 3ghz coming soon... I can't be bothered any more

 

[yhelothar]

yes it's mostly all about brand...
but yes it would help a lot to get one of those 400W+ PSUs featured in the anandtech roundup if you are a hardcore overclocker. Power supplies have a very strong role in determining how well your CPU can overclock.

For example, I had a 350W Enermax, which is already very high end. I had stability problems with my t-bird 1.33GHz oc'ed to 1.53GHz. It would crash within minutes. I upgraded to the 450W enermax model, and I ran it for months 100% stable, not one crash.