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Will my powersupply bear it?

R

Robster

Member
Alright, i'm still belonging to the S478-generation and I'm upgrading my CPU from 2,6 to 3,4GHZ 800FSB Northwood. My question is though, how much power do i need on my PSU and will my current powersupply be OK with my new CPU? I have no clue about it...

My specs

Case Antec SLK-3700AMB
Cooling Glacialtech 120mm casefan, Acousti 120mm (12v) casefan, Zalman CNPS9500LED CPU fan
PSU SL-400P info can be found here general and here detailed
CPU Intel P4 3,4GHZ 800FSB Northwood
Memory Corsair Twinx2048-3200C2PRO (2Gig DualRam CAS2)
Video Gainward 7800GS 512MB AGP
HDD 1xWD 120GB 7200RPM 8MB IDE, 1xMaxtor Maxline III 300GB 16MB S-ATA
Cd/Dvd/Floppy 1xAsus 40X CD-Rom drive, 1xFloppy-drive
Monitor Samsung SyncMaster 940BF
Misc Extra USB & Firewire card plugged to motherboard, PS2 Keyb & Mouse.

Appreciate all help...
 
as i said earlier i dont know much about PSUs, but according to the second link i posted on the PSU it says

FEATURES
Overload Protection
Latching Protection
+12V @ < 21A

and on OUTPUT

+12V Max. Load 18A

Is it what u meant? =D


EDIT

one single 12v
 
I just took a look at the PSUs retail box that came with it. It says

Max output on +12v = 23A

Will that help any?
 
I have a feeling it is 23A, not 18A. 18A @ +12V rail is only 216W (very small for 400W PSU). But going by your box specs (probably the right ones), you should have 276W @ +12V rail, a little more realistic. Assuming 80W for CPU, 90W for the GPU, and 40W for other componants on the 12V rail, that adds up to 210W on the +12V rail. So you should be fine.
 
Put your mind at rest with this:

PSU Wattage Calculator

If you're going from a 2.6C Northwood to a 3.4C Northwood, I don't see that there would be much if a difference unless you're over-clocking. And then, it might just be a matter of 10 or 20W over current power consumption -- if that.

However, you DO seem to have made a minimalist approach to PSU selection, while the Antec is pretty good -- generally. I have two NeoPower 480's in systems within my family, and they're pretty reliable.

For the two hard disks and other stuff in your system, run through the calculator to see what the maximum draw would be. You'd want between 20 and 40W above that, just for a margin.
 
I ran your numbers and I come up with a 321W requirement, so as long as the Antec meets its 400W spec, you should be good to go.

You should be fine even if you OC the heck out of the Northwood.
 
Only shortcoming I see, mentioned by others here, is the 18A 12V rail. The seat of pants estimate provided by another poster puts the peak draw on that rail at 17.-something amps. If the peak is 23A -- as someone asserted, probably better.

I just think it's "sorta close." But moving from one Northwood to another, as you show? I don't see how that would be a problem.
 
Thanks for all the help.

I went through the calculator too (cool site), feel more at ease now after seeing that.

ps. i do rather rely on the retail box that it is 23A
 
I know it seems pretty weird comparing the rest of my specs (they seem more updated than my PSU) But that PSU just happened to come to me for free after my old Antec 350W (came with case) broke. So they sent me a new one last year.. for free... i figured i'd stick to it for a while and see how long it lasts.
 
Considering the various equipment I'm using for my own system, there was once a listing of wattages by component (CPU, memory, hard disk, fans, etc.) in Maximum PC as well as a few other sources. Or a person could determine the various wattages of the components to some minute level of detail, but the printed guidelines were reasonable.

I come up with about the same totals with the above-mentioned calculator as I did manually.
 
How is a manual calculation performed? Any sites or guides where i can see the different wattage values for respective component?
 
Originally posted by: Robster
How is a manual calculation performed? Any sites or guides where i can see the different wattage values for respective component?
Click to expand...

well some people add the maximum wattage use of every component.

which is well impossible to ever get to happen in real world use.
 
Originally posted by: Robster
How is a manual calculation performed? Any sites or guides where i can see the different wattage values for respective component?
Click to expand...

What people like myself will tell your system uses.
 
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