quick question is 300W enough for the followin system?

[blade2]

Athlon 1800+ XP
KT3 Mobo
8 gig HD
40gig HD
Cd-rom drive
Riva TNT2
PCI Modem

wont be doing much o/c although will probably upgrade the TNT2 soon
so is 300W enough-i havent found anythin about it on the AMD site

 

[mechBgon]

Power supplies vary quite a bit at any given wattage rating. For starters, does it supply at least 180W on the 3.3V + 5V lines? The label may say. What brand of PSU is it?

 

[blade2]

er see usually id post that if i knew, but i dont know;
im thinkin of getting a new case from the local PC store which has fan mountings on it already (to save me from hackin my old case up and gettin a new PSU) - all i know is that the case is £30, which is cheap, and has a 300W AMD approved PSU and they this PSU for basically all their systems..im gonna ask them their view about the PSU but i wanted a 2nd opinion whether 300W is enough, i reckon it is since they use it to power the systems they make

 

[mechBgon]

I've seen 300W power supplies with 3.3V + 5V ratings ranging from 160W to 220W... from the same manufacturer! The conventional wisdom is that insufficient or poorly-regulated power may cause frustrating crashing problems. How well the stock power supply will do is anyone's guess... at least you have a local dealer to bring it back to if necessary. Good luck with your new rig!

 

[bozo1]

"AMD Approved" really means nothing. When AMD was approving powersupplies, which they don't do anymore, each supply would be approved for certain speed processors depending on the capability of the supply.

For any current AMD processor, AMD simply wants the 5-volt line to be able to provide a minimum of 30 amps and a total of 180 watts available on the 3.3 and 5 V lines combined.

Most powersupplies list their specs on the label. Just check the label.

 

[Lonyo]

I have a 300W with XP 1900+ 1gig DDR RAM, 55gig hdd, Ti 4400, and it all works fine, so I doubt you would have many problems. Surely you could just send the psu back if it doesn't work and order a new one? Not enough power would surely only cause a crash, not any permenant damage?

 

[blade2]

thanks for all the advice guys! i forgot that if it sucks i can return it and also i might see if i can upgrade it to a 400W aswell, thanks a lot again : )