Power Supply Upgrade Needed?

[Z80]

I have an older Antec Sonata case that came with an Antec True380 (380 watt) power supply that has performed flawlessly. I am currently running an Athlon XP 2Ghz CPU, Shuttle AN35 motherboard and Radeon 9800 video card. I would like to upgrade to a newer AM2+ or AM3 motherboard, budget level Athlon X2 or Phenom 2 CPU and mid-to-lower level 4000 series ATI/AMD video card. I assume I can keep my case but will my power supply work. If it's powerful enough, will I need any plug converters? Specs on the power supply are as follows:

Specs

Thanks for the info

 

[HOOfan 1]

It has a -5V line....does it use a 20 pin or a 24 pin ATX connector? If only a 20pin..I would upgrade if I were you.

 

[Z80]

The power supply has a 20pin ATX connector. I was looking at 20 to 24 pin converter connectors on Newegg and alot of the buyer comments said most ATX motherboards with 24pin ATX plugs will work just fine with a 20 pin connector. Most desktop (not server) motherboards do not even use the extra 4 pins? Is this true?

Thanks for your reply

 

[yh125d]

If you're gonna do a whole system upgrade go ahead and get a new PSU. I imagine the one you have is already a few years old as it is

 

[HOOfan 1]

20-24 pin adapters are just a waste...you can't create outputs that aren't there. Some boards might not work with a 20 pin connector but will with the adapter, but I think most work with the 20 pin alone...which makes the adapter utterly pointless. Just not such a great idea to use an ATX 20 pin with a 24 pin motherboard. Yes the motherboards do use at least the extra 12V line for the PCI-E slots.

 

[Z80]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to start shopping for a new power supply. I checked the motherboard manuals for Asus and Gigabyte and they recommend at least a 500W unit. I've had good luck with Antec so I'll watch for a sale on one of their models.

Thanks Again!

 

[tomoyo]

Converters are generally terrible unless you're talking like IDE to SATA power ones. Definitely get a new PSU instead. IF you're going for Antec, anything above a Basiq is generally good and even basiq's aren't that bad.