which PSU to get for my HTPC?

[zinkpig]

I opened up my pc to find that a dead fan on my coolmax (400W). Poor thing seems have conked a while ago as the case felt a bit warm of late. Since my HTPC runs 24/7 I wanted something more reliable. I was thinking of seasonic s-12 series but cant seem to decide how much wattage I need. I am running the following
athlon xp 2100 on NF2 board
2x Hauppauge PVR 150
1x Hauppauge PVR-USB2
1x Aver HD a-180
1x matrox g450 AGP
1x Serial port adapter
2x Hitachi SATA 250GB
1x Maxtor IDE 250GB
1x dvd writer
1x 90 mm fan
2x 80 mm fan (one is CPU)
2x 60 mm fan
All of this was running stable on the coolmax. I use this system to record TV and watch SDtv and serve a bunch of clients. In the future I may upgrade the MB/proc (around thanksgiving) to a midrange/lowend A64 along with a 6600gt to enable me to watch HDTV.
thanks for your input,
zink

 

[Bobthelost]

380W all you need.

 

[Operandi]

300 is plenty.

 

[zinkpig]

wattage aside are there any differences between the 330, 380 and 430
the cheapest prices I found @ case-mod were :
s12-330- $46.25
s12-380- $60.25
s12-430 -$77.5
+ $7.41 shipping to utah

 

[stevty2889]

I'd go with a 400w fortron. They are good quality, but still inexpensive, best bang for the buck PSU wise.

 

[zinkpig]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I'd go with a 400w fortron. They are good quality, but still inexpensive, best bang for the buck PSU wise.

my case doesnt have as much airflow as the std desktop cases. I wanted to keep heat accumulation down by using a PSU with good efficiency as my system runs 24/7. The fortron's report an efficiency of ~ 70% and the seasonics ~80% . Is that difference significant in terms of heat ? I know it doesn't mean much in terms of power saved.

 

[clarkmo]

Efficiency for the psu keeps the psu temps down. Seasonics are very nice and quiet and so are the Fortrons. Either will do nicely without affecting case temps. In my htpc the psu is configured with the bottom fan down. There is a grill to suck in fresh air, but only for the psu. I ended up with a psu with a 120mm lower fan and 1 80 mm fan sucking case air for better airflow in the case. You config should work nicely with a good 120 or 140 mm fan in the psu.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: zinkpig

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I'd go with a 400w fortron. They are good quality, but still inexpensive, best bang for the buck PSU wise.

my case doesnt have as much airflow as the std desktop cases. I wanted to keep heat accumulation down by using a PSU with good efficiency as my system runs 24/7. The fortron's report an efficiency of ~ 70% and the seasonics ~80% . Is that difference significant in terms of heat ? I know it doesn't mean much in terms of power saved.

Seasonics are more efficient, they are great PSU's as well, just a little more pricey than the Fortron. Either one should be fine though. I've had no trouble with my Fortron, but it has a single 120mm fan, so you do likely want something with dual fans for a SFF case.