need advice on psu requirements

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

guys

I'm looking to upgrade my mobo and cpu and am looking at the following: -

http://msicomputer.co.uk/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=260&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=

I plan to put an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800 AM2 2GHz into the board but rely on the onboard graphics until my budget can stretch to a PCIe card.

The question I have is what wattage psu should I use. I have a 400w psu in my current system and although it's not a top of the range one, it is not just a generic one either. I have had two "experts" tell me that I need a 500w or a 600w for a dual core processor.

MSI's "tests Reports would seem to indicate that even a 300w psu would be sufficient - http://msicomputer.co.uk/uploads/test_report/TR7_260.pdf

Any advice would be appreciated on this.

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

500W and 600W? Pull the other one...

I have a q6600, 8800GTS 2 HD (will be 5 soon) and all the other trimmings (including 4 gigs of ram) on a 520w corsair.

my little server box is running a 3800 with a (Scan.co.uk LN:11602) 430W SEASONIC S12-430 + TIES and thats all because i wanted to throw a few HDs in

Try this forum for specific help: forums.hexus.net near the bottom is a hardware sub forum ask in there

 

I would personally go for at least a 500W supply, you might not need that power at the moment but it will futureproof you later on if you decide to add any extras etc.

 

if you get a good quality PSU 400W should be enough, the 2 components that draw most of the power are the CPU and gfx especially if you have a 8800GTX then you'll need a 500-600W or 800-1000W if you're running 2 in SLI. a normal dual core system probably draws 200-300W but you always over spec the PSU. What you need to look for in a PSU is how many 12v rails it has and how much amps on each, 2 at 20a or 1 at 35a should be fine. cheap PSUs wattage rating is done on the maximum burst it can with stand but it wont be able to draw that power for long periods of time.

grim

 

Its not just the power for the CPU you need to think about. If you are running allot of power hungry drives then you need more current and therefore power. As for the CPU, its the regulation of voltage that counts, and the more expensive power supplies tend to be best. All that said. All the Dual core machines I've built lately have had a 500W or above PSU put in. You will probably be OK with what you have (if its not a cheapo), rather than buying a cheap 600W with poor regulation.

 

Dual Core tend to take less power than older CPU's. Saying that if your going to get a dedicated Graphics Card then you might well need a more powerfull PSU. Also I would invest in a good PSU and don't be tempted to buy a cheap one. In the past this was an area that I saved a few pennies on and it's not worth it as cheap PSU's tend to be of poor quality and more prone to problems. Buy a good PSU even if it means saving for a little longer and I would try and future proof it and go with something around 650W when you get a graphics card. For now the one you have might be ok as long as it's a 24pin PSU.

 

Hmm my server runs on a 380w with Dual Core cpu, 12 hard drives, 2gb ram, DVDRW, 6 case fans inc crossflow fan


my main rig is Quad Core, High end graphics, 4GB ram, 3 HDDs, 2 DVD Rws and is on a 520w i think
get a decent 500w and you will be fine
make sure its got adequate ampage on all the rails,

 

are you running a small country on that server Phoenix...

 

WOW - wot a great response

Guys, thnx for that, the advice was just wot I was looking for.

Think i'm gona stick with me 400w for now and look to upgrade wen I get a dedicated gfx cards. Means I can afford to get a little more ram for the new board

 

heres another take
my barebones system comes with a stock 300w PSU
that PSU powers the mobo, the memory (2GB DDR2 800), HDD (7200RPM) DVDRW, Core 2 Duo, GeForce 7950 GT OC 512MB

stable as a rock
I think you will be fine providing your PSU has all the appropriate new age connectors required

PS: is that an Eve avatar I see you touting?

 

at the end of the day power supplies may as well be seen as consumables, ive had to replace so many over the years (not mine at work), no matter how much you spend you have an unknown life expectancy of your PSU, although the better the quality the longer it usually lasts

grim

 

hehe - yeah, from an old character. Seemed a good idea at the time and now I'm too lazy to change it to something else

 

I would find it hard as a home user to justify £100 item a consumable
well decent PSUs can be had for 50 these days, my new one was just over 50, my old Antec ones were closer to £100

Many of my PSUs have actually been carried over between systems,
I would recommend you use something to clean the power to your system if your experiancing that kind of frequent need of replacement

a PSU should easily outlive a PC

 

All good PSU's should last until the technology changes. The only reason I changed my last PSU was because the connector went from 20 pin to 24 pin. Always buy good PSU's that way you can expect problem free Computing.

 

The one thing I have noticed with PSU's is that they seem to be getting more expensive whilst other components are getting cheaper.

 

i paid £120 for my 550W enermax 5 years ago, had to bodge the connectors has no sata, no PCI-E power and only a 20 pin connector lol

grim

 

5 years does not make it a consumable
5 year makes it a bloody good deal, and generally over the expected lifecycle of an enthusiasts pcs

I assumed you had plenty of things go wrong with it to take such a stance

 

like i said better quality last longer, i've seen power supplies last days and many only last weeks and its been the number one fault i've repaired over the years. This power supply has done me well although it'll be going on my next upgrade. it was bought because i was getting into watercooling and needed to run 6 120mm ystech fans and a water pump.

grim