• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Will an Antec 300W Smartpower handle this...

B

BigandSlimey

Member
A Skt754 mobo (3/4 devices powered/connected to usb2.0), 3000+ AMD64bit, Geforce 6600GT, 120gb HDD, 1gb RAM (2x512mb), DVD-ROM, Floppy, 2 case fans (and possibly an additonal DVD-RW/CD-RW)?

Gaming being the main application (HL2 😉)

Thanks in advance guys.


EDIT: More detail on specs.
 
How many sticks is the 1GB? It can handle what you have listed w/o the additional DVDRW (if the memory is one stick) but it is very, very close. I would want more headroom.
 
I have a 3200+ Barton, 1GB of ram, a 9700 Pro, 1 HD, 2 optical drives and 1 80mm and 3 92mm fans on an Antec 300W. No problems at all with CS:S all day. 🙂

EDIT: If you don't feel comfortable using a 300W on your fancy new A64... then get the best you can afford. I'm just using this because it was laying around. 😀
 
Hi, thanks for all your replies. I was deciding between two Antec Case+PSU options:-

The Antec SLK2600: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=92600 which has this PSU http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=25300

The Antec SLK3700AMB: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=93700 which has the http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=25350

But there was also the option of buying separately a "600W" Magna PSU and a case. When I read a product review for this PSU somebody commented that "there's more to power supplies than wattage" 🙁 Could you guess whether the "real" wattage of the 600W PSU might provide more/less power than a 350W smart power PSU?

So, can someone explain a good way of approximating what power supply is required for a given spec. of hardware and how to identify the true credentials of a power supply?


Thanks.
 
Originally posted by: BigandSlimey
Hi, thanks for all your replies. I was deciding between two Antec Case+PSU options:-

The Antec SLK2600: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=92600 which has this PSU http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=25300

The Antec SLK3700AMB: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=93700 which has the http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=25350

But there was also the option of buying separately a "600W" Magna PSU and a case. When I read a product review for this PSU somebody commented that "there's more to power supplies than wattage" 🙁 Could you guess whether the "real" wattage of the 600W PSU might provide more/less power than a 350W smart power PSU?

So, can someone explain a good way of approximating what power supply is required for a given spec. of hardware and how to identify the true credentials of a power supply?


Thanks.
Click to expand...

Just get a good quality power supply (i.e. Antec), and you will be fine.

I would personally get a Antec 430W or so to allow for future upgrades and so forth.

It is true that a cheap power supply regardless of how many watts is is not a good choice.

Pick up an Antec power supply and see how heavy it is compared to a generic one.
 
I've never heard of "Magna." I would stick with the known brands like Antec, Fortron/Sparkle, Seasonic, Enermax, and the like, because there truly is more than wattage. There's voltage stability, reliability, efficiency, airflow and fan noise to consider. You get the most important aspects, voltage stability and reliability, by sticking with the known quality brands, and within the quality brands, you can get latter three in varying degrees as you move up in price.

The maximum wattage of that 600 watt magna might actually be close to 600 watts, but at what cost to stability or reliability? Since your proposed system probably will never even approach 300 watts combined DC power, why would you compromise on the most important characteristics for a power rating that quite frankly, is overkill even for a dual processor system with two SLI video cards and 6 hard drives?

If the PSUs that come in those Antec cases by default are the 300 watt models, just run with them. You really shouldn't have any problems.
 
This question gets asked over and over again because of all the misinformation people spread. "300w is not enough, get a 550w to be safe" 300w will run quite a bit if it's a quality part.

To answer your question. Get the antec 3700amb or the 3700bqe if you need it to be a lil' quieter (for more $$$).

newegg $65 shipped for the 3700amb (w/350w antec PSU).
 
As long as it's a quality part, it'll be fine.
Like TripperJoe said, a quality PSU can run a surprisingly loaded rig.

As always, my favourite example is HPaq DL380 boxes, dual Xeons up to 3.2 GHz, up to 12 GB of RAM, 6 SCSI drives, 3 PCI slots, crapload of fans, and quite a few integrated things(dual GigE, iLO, etc).
All running on a 400W PSU.
 
Originally posted by: Sunner
As long as it's a quality part, it'll be fine.
Like TripperJoe said, a quality PSU can run a surprisingly loaded rig.

As always, my favourite example is HPaq DL380 boxes, dual Xeons up to 3.2 GHz, up to 12 GB of RAM, 6 SCSI drives, 3 PCI slots, crapload of fans, and quite a few integrated things(dual GigE, iLO, etc).
All running on a 400W PSU.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with both Sunner and TripperJoe. People tend to waaay overestimate their PSU requirements.
 
Thanks for the info people, sorry to be a pain but what if the specs were increased to a 3400+, 256mb 6800GT? (the guy I'm advising now wants a kick-ass setup as opposed to my budget friendly one)

I read on the manufacturer website for the 6800GT that a 400W PSU would be required (they say a 350W for the 6600GT), is this another example of overestimation? Are they just covering their backs?


P.S. thanks TripperJoe for the finding the price for that case, but unfortunately I'm all the way in the UK and have to buy my stuff from www.ebuyer.co.uk
 
Originally posted by: BigandSlimey
Thanks for the info people, sorry to be a pain but what if the specs were increased to a 3400+, 256mb 6800GT? (the guy I'm advising now wants a kick-ass setup as opposed to my budget friendly one)

I read on the manufacturer website for the 6800GT that a 400W PSU would be required (they say a 350W for the 6600GT), is this another example of overestimation? Are they just covering their backs?


P.S. thanks TripperJoe for the finding the price for that case, but unfortunately I'm all the way in the UK and have to buy my stuff from www.ebuyer.co.uk
Click to expand...

That might be stretching it a bit, a very high quality PSU could most likely do it, but since we don't have the same kind of control over what we get as for example HP's enterprise division does, we can't be entirely sure about the quality of the components we get, we can only go by what others say.

And yes, the estimates the manufacturers make take crappy PSU's into account, hence they overstate them a bit.
 
Originally posted by: BigandSlimey
Thanks for the info people, sorry to be a pain but what if the specs were increased to a 3400+, 256mb 6800GT? (the guy I'm advising now wants a kick-ass setup as opposed to my budget friendly one)

I read on the manufacturer website for the 6800GT that a 400W PSU would be required (they say a 350W for the 6600GT), is this another example of overestimation? Are they just covering their backs?


P.S. thanks TripperJoe for the finding the price for that case, but unfortunately I'm all the way in the UK and have to buy my stuff from www.ebuyer.co.uk
Click to expand...


You would still be fine if you went with a quality supply.
 
Same here--I have the AMB variant. You won't be disappointed with the case or the PSU--and even if you did switch the PSU out, it's still a damn fine case for the money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top