YAPST: Is 200W enough for this rig?

[Electrode]

Mobo: Chaintech 7NIF2
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton)
RAM: 768MB PC2100
Storage: Western Digital 40GB 7200RPM hard drive, Lite-on 16X DVD-ROM
Fans: Two 60mm exhaust, 80mm intake, 80mm on CPU
Cards: Leadtek WinFast TV2000XP Deluxe w/ remote
PSU: Off-brand 200W MicroATX

I've been running this setup for the past 3 months. I have noticed that the system often locks up for no apparent reason, usually when capturing video, but sometimes just out of the blue. I think it's being cooled well enough (Thermalright SLK800U w/ 80mm Panaflo on the CPU, exhaust fan in the back of the cabinet it's set up in), and the RAM survives memtest86, so that leaves me with the PSU. Is a lack of power to blame? If so, what would be my best bet for a replacement? There isn't really much to choose from as far as MicroATX PSU's go...

 

[MercenaryForHire]

It might be because it's an offbrand. 200W rated, yes - but what can it hold on 3.3/5 combined? That's a fair bit of components for GhettoTech outputs.

- M4H

 

[nick1985]

stay away from off-brand PSU's

quality > quantity

 

[Electrode]

Alright, what do you recommend I get?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Electrode
Alright, what do you recommend I get?

Enermax or Enhance make good mATX PSUs - so does the case OEM usually. (IBM case, IBM PSU.)

Pics of the case this is going in?

- M4H

 

[Electrode]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Pics of the case this is going in?

It's an Athenatech A100SC.200. This stock pic looks just like it, except mine is set up horizontally. I'll take a pic of the setup later. For now, here's an old pic I took while doing some last-minute tweaking. Since I took this pic,the sound card has been removed and the TV card and hard drive have been replaced.

As for PSUs, I just ordered a Fortron FSP200-50SNV. It's 200W and newegg has it for $25.

 

[nick1985]

fortron is a good brand.

 

[ams30gts]

dunno if 200w would be enough. especially if its generic. ive tried my share of cheap PSUs and hate them. after getting my antec, theres no turning back now

 

[WalkingDead]

you're fine w/ 200W for microATX. Most of the people here don't know that mATX use way less power than full ATX. As for a good brand of mATX PS, Seasonic is the one to get. It's very quiet and I had been using it one a full ATX board. That's right a 200w microATX power supply on a full ATX board.

 

[Walay]

errr...actually altough 200 watt might be enough, but since it is a no brand p/s, they r usually rated higher and since they don't use good components, the voltage is also not stable at high output.

it might work, but u better get a better one just to be safe, because u are pushing a no brand powersupply at/more then its limit, and is cheaper to buy a power supply then haveing the risk of it breaking ur whole comp.

 

[WobbleWobble]

mATX cases usually come with very low 180-230W PSUs because you can't really fit more than 1 HDD and 1 optical drive.

I've had great success with Inwin 180W PSUs that come with their mATX cases on both AMD and Intel machines.