Suggest a power supply for this config (7n400 Pro)

[hasu]

I'm upgrading my main rig. The new configuration is going to be:

Motherboard 7n400 Pro
AMD-XP2500 (Barton)
ATI8500LE 128 MB

IDE 1 : 16x DVD Drive
IDE 2 : 32x CDWriter
IDE 3 : Maxtor 80 GB
IDE 4 : Maxtor 80 GB
IDE 5 : Segate 60GB
IDE 6 : Maxtor 40GB

What should be the power supply rating for this config?
What is the rule of thumb to arrive at a figure?

 

[Buz2b]

You could probably get several opinions on this but I would think you should be looking at a minimum of a good quality 400 watt and above. I'd probably go with a good 450 watt; not a cheapo or generic either. There are also othere items to consider when calculating your needs. Things like the MB, sound card, NIC, video card, etc, all take power that needs to be considered. You can take a look at this page for a very rough guide to calculating your needs. Click on Figure 2 link at the bottom of first paragraph. You should add about 30% to your total from that. Here is another page that you can use. And, if you haven't gotten a headache by then, you can take a look at this .pdf document that also has a power consumption/caculations page. Look in the contents for it's location.
Hope that helps.

 

[hasu]

Thank you very much!
That's the reply that I was waiting for!!

I have calculated the power requirements to be about 420W.
Wondering if Antec TruePower 430 has enough muzzle to drive this at nominal FSB (166MHz).
This article says that TruePower 430 can output about 410 W between 3.3, 5 and 12v.
I heard that nforce2 is more power hungry that others.

 

[Mem]

I have calculated the power requirements to be about 420W.
Wondering if Antec TruePower 430 has enough muzzle to drive this at nominal FSB (166MHz).
This article says that TruePower 430 can output about 410 W between 3.3, 5 and 12v.
I heard that nforce2 is more power hungry that others.

If you want to be 100% safe just buy the Antec TruePower 480w version.

 

[3sixes]

hasu

If youre intrested in doing some research, Ive just collected a bunch of power supply info links for the gigabyte forums.
Look for the power supply info

And here

nforcers gigabyte f.a.q

 

[hasu]

Probably I should go for 480W!
3sixes' compilatiion is very useful and I should be able to draw my conclusions from there. Thank you!

I have a quick question, since all these PSUs are working in switched mode, it wont be drawing so much of power continuously, am I right? (concerned about electricity bill, since I keep my PC on most of the time!!)

Edit:
I have made some measurements of current drawn by a slighly modified configuration.
(DVD Drive, CDWriter, 2 x 7200RPM HDD, FDD, AMD2500Barton, ATI8500, 1GB DDR)

A/C current has never exceeded 1.01Amp for the above configuration at 133MHz FSB.
Current drawn by the same configuration at 166MHz FSB never exceeded 1.21A.
(these figures correspond to continuous power requirement of about 110W to 130W)

 

[Buz2b]

hasu,
In regards to your question about the amount of power that the system draws continuously, don't worry. Your system will not draw the max amount all the time. In fact, your monitor will, in most cases, draw more power than the system does. Just make sure that the monitor shuts off after a reasonable period of time if the unit is on for extended periods. That's easy to set up in windows.

BTW, when you say you calculated your power needs to be 420 watts, does that include adding in an additional 20-30%? If so, then the 430-450 watt would be fine, If not, well you do the math; it looks like the 480 would be a much better choice.

 

[hasu]

While researching, I got this tool to calculate the power requirement.

Edit: emphasized the link!

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: hasu
While researching, I got this tool to calculate the power requirement.
Click here

Look like a pretty nice tool. I do think you need to add a bit to their estimates though. A bit of headroom will provide you with some piece of mind now and confidence when you inevitably add some additional "upgrades" in the future. As an example, I am on the second MB with the same PS currently (350 watt Enermax). Putting the first MB's components into the calculator showed a need of aprox. 286 watts. Now I am using the same PS with an upgraded version of that original config (new MB, CPU, RAM) that shows a need of 325 watts. I'm still ok but near the limit. The key is that I originally bought a better PS than I needed. However, that extra few bucks then saved me from buying yet another new PS when I updated recently. Food for thought anyway.

 

[hasu]

Price difference between True430 and True480 (newegg, directron) is only $10. But there is a guy in FSFT forum who wants to sell True430 for $58. That tempts me to go for 430W. I will be getting rid of one hard disk very soon anyways. Still arguing myself whether to go for True430 from FSFT or to get a new True480!!

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: hasu
Price difference between True430 and True480 (newegg, directron) is only $10. But there is a guy in FSFT forum who wants to sell True430 for $58. That tempts me to go for 430W. I will be getting rid of one hard disk very soon anyways. Still arguing myself whether to go for True430 from FSFT or to get a new True480!!

I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a damned tempting offer for the one in FS/FT. Any idea (didn't look) how old it is and if the warranty is transferable. The reason I ask is that usually they have a 3 year warranty. If that one is a year or less old and has transferrable warranty, I would be hard pressed not to go for it. If there is no warranty of at least 2 years, I'd dust off the wallet and pony up for the new 480.

 

[Buz2b]

Just checked at Antec's site:

II. Who Is Protected
This warranty is enforceable only by the original consumer purchaser.

Easy for me to say cause it ain't my funds but I'd go for the new 480 and be confident of present and future systems having all the reliable, warrantied juice they will need. Still a tough call though.

 

[hasu]

Originally posted by: Buz2b
Just checked at Antec's site:

II. Who Is Protected
This warranty is enforceable only by the original consumer purchaser.

Easy for me to say cause it ain't my funds but I'd go for the new 480 and be confident of present and future systems having all the reliable, warrantied juice they will need. Still a tough call though.

I am sold! I did not think that far!!
Thank you!