SO the official word on AMD & power supplies is you don't NEED a 300W?

[KDOG]

Is that the word? I have a case with a 250W p/s that seems to be working just fine and I don't want to buy a new case unless I have to. But I just ordered a new 1.3GHz Athlon, 2 - 256MB Crucial PC133, and I picked up a Logitech QuickCam yesterday. I'm running everything you see in my sig with no probs...but I don't want to burn up my new stuff. Honestly, do we NEED a 300W ps anymore. I guess I'm doin ok cuz that GF2MX has low power consumption - 4W.

 

[splice]

Maybe, maybe not. You'll have to install everything and see if it's stable. My 1.33GHz would not run stable with a 300W Powerman, so I had to get a 350W So, it really depends on the powersupply. I'm running 2 other system, both use 250w PS's.

 

[Wingznut]

I believe it has more to do with quality, rather than quantity.

 

[Huma]

my powerman 250w handles my 1.26ghz tbird with 2 harddrives, 2 rom drives without a problem.

 

[XMan]

I have to agree with Wingnut Pez. Some of the guys on the AMDZone forum have been having trouble with 1.4GHz + overclocks, and they found that upping their power supply with a higher quality unit took care of the problem. As long as the voltage rails are within spec and they deliver enough current, you should be cool.

 

[madthumbs]

Finally... a thread where people agree with me. Quality should come first. Get power based on how much stuff you're gonna put in your PC. Many Athlon set ups can run on >200W.

 

[LukFilm]

Definitely quality counts. I have 250W PS's running Athlons just fine.

 

[Rand]

As others have said, quality is more important then peak power output. A high quality 250W PS may often do better then a low quality 300W PS.

A 300W PS is not REQUIRED by any means, however is is recommended.
The best I can suggest is to test it and see how it runs...

 

[Mem]

True quality is important but money wise there is not much difference between 300w & 250w,I`ll rather buy a quality 300w then a quality 250w anyday.

 

[Raspewtin]

i think there is a list of AMD approved power supplies somwehere.

 

[Modus]

The OFFICIAL word is the same as ever: only recommended power supplies on AMD's list are, well, recommended. As you can see, even the montrously hungry Thunderbird 1.4 is okay with some 250W power supplies.

If you stray from AMD's list, your mileage will vary, but from my experience, most 250W units will handle up to an Athlon 1.0 GHz with no problem.

Modus

 

[John]

I have an Antec PP303x running my 1.5GHz DDR system just fine. Quality is important.

 

[Zach]

I work for a place with a Supercom (a wholesaler) account, and the standard case they use for all AMD and PIII systems is a 250W AMD approved case. They don't have any problems.

The PS's are Hipoint, I think.

 

[boran]

I think quality is also important but u also have to look at the 3.3 volts and 5 volt space ... many psu's devide their wattage amongst different channels (the real good ones dont, and apply all power they have but then i'm speaking about $500 and more)
and if u have a psu with a small amount of available 3.3 volt or 5 volt (depends which processor and memory u use) u will not have a good psu ...
I personally think that enermax is one of the best and I'm getting an anermax 350 watt PSU for my rig ...