older antec psu

[mitch3ll]

so i have an old antec sonata case with an antec true 38s 380w psu in it. going to upgrade soon to an amd 5000+, gigabyte mobo, 2gb ram, and a 8800gt or hd3870. should i get a beefier psu? i wont be doing any overclocking or running 2 vid cards. i noticed psu's seem alot more energy efficient these days, might upgrade down the line even if this one is fine.

thanks

 

[MarcVenice]

Nah 380w isn't going to cut it. It might run, but not for long, straining your PSU to the max. Get an antec earthwatts 500w. Or a Corsair vx450/550 or Corsair 520hx if you fancy modular and such.

 

[mitch3ll]

thanks for the help! gonna go check prices.

 

[mitch3ll]

how about an earthwatts 430w? on rebate this weekend

 

[tomoyo]

Originally posted by: mitch3ll
how about an earthwatts 430w? on rebate this weekend

Perfectly fine. Btw the main reason for concern regarding your old psu is just it's an old model with some very low quality caps. Very likely to fail at high load. A high quality 380w with good 12v rails would actually be fine for your system.