Question on case and PSU

[ArmanleeExchange]

Hi I recently bought one of the antec sonatas thinking that it would be good enough to power my system but after reading some more on the forums I have become somewhat skeptical so I was wondering if the 380 watts is enough to power this

Amd64 3400 newcastle
DFI lanparty
9800 pro
1gb ram
2 7400rpm hds
1 dvd/rw

thanks

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Check the June 2004 issue of Maximum PC magazine. Page 82 has a "Power Consumption Field Guide" for adding up device wattage in your system.

Generally, if you have maybe two PCI cards, a single pair of 7,200 hard disks, a couple optical devices, a GB of memory, four or five fans of various amperage, and a range of CPUs that include the finest of both AMD and Intel, you can get by with around 430 watts. Given the wattage of 2004-issue AGP cards as posted in the "Field Guide", we guess that about 480 watts would be sufficient with a system tricked out for SLI.

Still, greater power capacity may contribute to greater low-load efficiency and cleaner rail voltages. And -- hey? -- what if the estimate above is just a tad "off"? So I'm hoping that a PSU rated at 520W will give me a little lee-way and an "expansion" margin. And the PSU I chose offered me ATX compatibility with BTX-ready, EPS12V and PCI-x capability. For some significant future period, I can use this PSU to build a "next" machine or upgrade my ATX / 800 Mhz FSB system to LGA775 and a higher frontside bus -- otherwise hoping that I can soon afford even a single PCI-x graphics card.

Next year . . . . probably in the fall . . . but we haven't finalized our decisions about whose processor or which motherboard.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
Check the June 2004 issue of Maximum PC magazine. Page 82 has a "Power Consumption Field Guide" for adding up device wattage in your system.

Generally, if you have maybe two PCI cards, a single pair of 7,200 hard disks, a couple optical devices, a GB of memory, four or five fans of various amperage, and a range of CPUs that include the finest of both AMD and Intel, you can get by with around 430 watts. Given the wattage of 2004-issue AGP cards as posted in the "Field Guide", we guess that about 480 watts would be sufficient with a system tricked out for SLI.

Well thats plain wrong.....

A good 380watt PSU will run any single CPU non SLI system no problem. ArmanleeExchange, your fine.

 

[ArmanleeExchange]

hmm ok thanks for your input I almost returned it and bought something else