Which Antec TruePower PSU to get?

DANNY61902

Member
Jun 30, 2001
178
0
0
Planned system:
P4 2.4C, oced to heaven knows what
ABIT IC7
2x256MB Corsair TwinX PC3200 (LL)
ATI Radeon 9700 (non-Pro)
Pioneer DVD-106S/2
SONY DRU-500A
Cooler Master ATC-201A-SX2

WD 80GB 8MB cache, -or-
max of 2 Maxtor 80GB 8MB SATA

I understand Antec TruePowers come in 330, 380, 430, 480, and 550 Watts... around what level would be adequate for this setup? I would like it to be as silent as possible--there aren't any differences in the fans between these models are there?
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
33,944
3
81
The 330 will work just fine in your system.
 

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
Feb 16, 2003
26,108
5
81
Originally posted by: John
The 330 will work just fine in your system.

Double that, but the more powerful one you get, the quieter it will run because of how its designed. Think about it, the 480 watt has to work less to produce 300 watts of power and the 330W has to work almost to the max for 300W. I would reccomend one step above what you're getting for later expansion and peace of mind in terms of the PSU, I'd get the 380W or 430W.
 

screw3d

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
6,906
1
76
480 is overkill for that...380-430 should be fine and still leave some headroom
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Originally posted by: John
The 330 will work just fine in your system.

Double that, but the more powerful one you get, the quieter it will run because of how its designed. Think about it, the 480 watt has to work less to produce 300 watts of power and the 330W has to work almost to the max for 300W. I would reccomend one step above what you're getting for later expansion and peace of mind in terms of the PSU, I'd get the 380W or 430W.

He's right. The Trupower series' fans don't spin up/down on THERMAL readings but on POWER DRAW readings. That IS the way they are designed. I have the 430 and I can tell you that when I'm running P95 or 3DMark, the PS fans spin much faster, as do the case fans I have attached to the PS's "fan only" 12v leads.

Think about it.
 

zCypher

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2002
6,115
171
116
Why do people need ALL this power? I've built P4 systems on standard no-name 300w power supplies and had no problems. If a 300w can do it, what do you need 500+ for? I have a 300w in my system. Granted it's only a Tbird 1.333, 1024MB DDR, TNT2, CD+CDRW, etc.. but I've ran it for years with no problems ever.

WHAT in the hell do you need 480, 550... or even 430w of power for? I can understand needing 350w for a P4 system with a powerful graphics card... *maybe* even 400w, even that's overkill for 99% of people. But 430w, 450w, 480w, 500+w? Wtf?

lol. yea... whatever one you get, you'll be fine - so ... have fun!
 

oldfart

Lifer
Dec 2, 1999
10,207
0
0
I run a True330 with:

IC7
2.6C @ 3.34
1 Gig XMS
9700 Pro
WD 1200JB
DVD
DVDR
sound
nic
etc

And it's quiet all the time.
 

WhiteKnight77

Senior member
Mar 10, 2003
472
0
0
Originally posted by: zCypher
Why do people need ALL this power? I've built P4 systems on standard no-name 300w power supplies and had no problems. If a 300w can do it, what do you need 500+ for? I have a 300w in my system. Granted it's only a Tbird 1.333, 1024MB DDR, TNT2, CD+CDRW, etc.. but I've ran it for years with no problems ever.

WHAT in the hell do you need 480, 550... or even 430w of power for? I can understand needing 350w for a P4 system with a powerful graphics card... *maybe* even 400w, even that's overkill for 99% of people. But 430w, 450w, 480w, 500+w? Wtf?

lol. yea... whatever one you get, you'll be fine - so ... have fun!

Check my specs out (link below.) I had originally got the 480W when I had 2 fewer fans and a 1gHz Duron with 2 PCI NIC cards to go with my drives and vid card after a generic 400W started failing on me. Even the best generic 300W PSU that I have won't run that system.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
I would go for 380w as well,that`ll still give you headroom for future upgrades.
 

nick1985

Lifer
Dec 29, 2002
27,153
6
81
i think people are too crazy about power these days. a quality 300 watter is good enough for just about every system