What can happen when running a 250W PS w/ Athlon XP ?

[KeillRandor]

Just wondering, I have a almost all PCI-slots occupied and I had planned to upgrade to a XP.
Is it risky ? (Power Supply may get overloaded and damaged ?)

Thanks.

 

[MilkPowderR]

CPU takes up the most wattage, then the Video card usually come second. They take up more power(wattage) than the rest of PCI peripherals. ..and with all PCI slots full and running your Athlon processor (assuming beyond 1Ghz) on a 250watt PSU is a bad idea. Very dangerous. Instead of your PSU getting damaged, it would likely destroy your Hard drive or CD-ROM. CPU can get hurt but haven't happend in my life yet but still chance. My HD did get killed due to using a 250watt PSU. Found out that the total wattage put out by that PSU was not sufficient for the overclocked system. Always get plenty of power available in the PSU. it's better to have more than not enough.

 

[Wind]

Random reboot...lots of them. PC hanged...lots of them...get the picture ?

 

[CTho9305]

<< CPU takes up the most wattage, then the Video card usually come second. They take up more power(wattage) than the rest of PCI peripherals. ..and with all PCI slots full and running your Athlon processor (assuming beyond 1Ghz) on a 250watt PSU is a bad idea. Very dangerous. Instead of your PSU getting damaged, it would likely destroy your Hard drive or CD-ROM. CPU can get hurt but haven't happend in my life yet but still chance. My HD did get killed due to using a 250watt PSU. Found out that the total wattage put out by that PSU was not sufficient for the overclocked system. Always get plenty of power available in the PSU. it's better to have more than not enough. >>



??? nobody has done a controlled study on this. 250 should be OK, 235 might be getting low. If it is too little, you'll notice htat your voltages fluctuate a lot when you do stuff (like eject a cdrom, or have disk activity). ALso can cause spontaneous reboots, or just plain not booting.

 

[MilkPowderR]

CTho,

Read on this thread. Long ass thread You may want to read all of it. Scroll down quite a way down and you'll also see the Table for power consuming for each components in your system. What you said in the last part of your reply is correct. Fluctuation is usually the first sign of instability due to either or/ and PSU not giving enough power or a good, low rated PSU i.e. 250watt +/- become bad for whatever the reason. There are many things to take into considerations. Anyways, read the threads I gave u a link to. it's very informative.

 

[MilkPowderR]

and if I were you, don't take chance breaking your HDD before it's too late. Having more than enough power is better than not enough.

 

[Insidious]

Ok, I'm confused....?.......

You just spent how much on your new CPU?

and you want to scrimp on the PSU, why?


Anyway, there are some 250W supplies listed on the AMD recommended PSU list (and you didn't look there, why?)

(Sorry, dog is too far away, TV is broken from the Colts game..... Gotta kick something!)

 

[MilkPowderR]

<< Ok, I'm confused....?....... >>



Yes... you're confused because you do not know what we are talking about. You don't even know what you're talking about. No wonder...



<< You just spent how much on your new CPU? >>


What are you trying to find out here? What's this question for? a New CPU??.. who said new CPU? it has to be a new CPU? for what? huh?.....



<< and you want to scrimp on the PSU, why? >>


What?... does scrimping bother you? How bad?.. what's the problem there.. Explain. btw, you ask too much. that shows attitude there obviously. I don't need garbage like this from smart-ass guy like ya. why.. why..why... why.... asking why....why..... LOL funny. actually sound stupid. Recommendation, try to figure it out yourself instead of asking too many of "Why?".




<< Anyway, there are some 250W supplies listed on the AMD recommended PSU list (and you didn't look there, why?) >>



Ok.. just exactly how big of portion they sell 250watt PSU in the AMD recommended list? For what system clock speeds??.. Are you talking about slow systems like 600mhz to a Gig?? Don't other people use faster systems like T-bird 1.33 and Up and overclock them?? They already put out more heat/wattage at those speeds and considerably more when they're overclocked. You have to take all other components i.e. drives(CD ROM/CD RW, DVD, HDD, all the PCI cards, Vid cards etc.) in to account. You know better! Ok.. it seems that you like 250watt PSUs so much, why don't you keep that.. and when/ or if you ever upgrade to a faster system, see how long your little PSU will last.. It seems like you have very strong defense for the beloved 150watt- 250watt PSU's. Are you in love with them? oh... what a gay. LOL. Maybe you can't afford more powerful, expensive PSU's?? ahhh.... That's it!!! I've got it know. Thanks. =)) Bottom line, you like a little PSU, KEEP using it. I'll stick with a better PSU. It's not a problem.



<< (Sorry, dog is too far away, TV is broken from the Colts game..... Gotta kick something!) >>



That's your problem. Like I give a damn about it. LOL. then go kick something! Nobody is stopping you. Keep the thing to yourself. Just a hint..

 

[minendo]

I am running an xp1800+ oced to 1610 on my antec 250w psu. I have yet to run into any problems.

 

[Insidious]

It's nap time

 

[Wind]

KeillRandor,

Indeed there r a lot of debate here on the PSU. Some ppl run fine w/ 250W, some not even w/ a 300W.

The quality of power from ur PSU is very important. Obviously branded PSU had a better power quality, more sensitive towards power variances & so forth.

It also depends on the no. of components in ur box. U were saying all PCI full...I assume tht would be at least 5 components apart more fr the std 1 HDD, 1 FDD, 1 CDROM....

I doubt u'll make it at 250W...at least to get it stable. U can try running tht PSU. If its not stable...the 1st thing to look at is ur PSU.

Enjoy.

 

[gtd2000]

<< Obviously branded PSU had a better power quality, more sensitive towards power variances & so forth. >>

e

Not necessarily - especially when the branded PSU is often sourced from the same production line as other "non-branded" PSU's and a nice expensive label stuck onto it!

The rated output of the PSU is more often than not inaccurate - hopefully by buying an "approved" or "branded" PSU the inaccuarcy is reduced and you actually receive a decent quality product.

I love to tell people about my buddy who bought the Aluminium Lian Li case in Hong Kong. He was building up a nice new Athlon system, and asked the owner of the shop which PSU he would recommend for his new case as he wanted a good quality one

He recommended the same one I bought for US$5 from another shop Strange thing is, he could have recommended the other PSU's that cost around US$60...but he didn't...
The rated output was 300W though.

Works flawlessly in the My Toy system below.
Andara Meaty Bones uses a 250W I believe?

 

[Wind]

<< Not necessarily - especially when the branded PSU is often sourced from the same production line as other "non-branded" PSU's and a nice expensive label stuck onto it!

The rated output of the PSU is more often than not inaccurate - hopefully by buying an "approved" or "branded" PSU the inaccuarcy is reduced and you actually receive a decent quality product.
>>



LOL. Agreed. But I'm sure u agreed as well tht buying a branded (not necessary AMD approved) PSU do reduce tht ambiguity of "quality power".

 

[CTho9305]

<< CTho,

Read on this thread. Long ass thread You may want to read all of it. >>



cool, thanks. that was basically what I was looking for.

 

[gtd2000]

I just received my new case on Monday this week which comes with an AMD/P4 "approved" 300W PSU.

Hope it performs as well as the no-name, no-brand, cheapo PSU's that I am used to

However for $50.40 shipped I can't be too disappointed

Picked this up thru the hot deals forum. To be honest the construction of the case is not quite as great as I anticipated but it has some very decent functions/features