Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

What size power supply would be best?

May 10, 2004 3:59PM PDT

I'm planning on building a AMD 64 3200+ comp...

ASPIRE Blue Voice Active Cold Cathode Flourescence Lamp
Aspire X-Dreamer II(Black)Case w/350W
6x 80MM fans
ASUS "K8V SE Deluxe" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800XT Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1MB L2 Cache
Corsair XMS 184 Pin 512MB Registered DDR PC-3200
Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA HDD
Samsung Black 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive
Samsung Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive

I'm not sure if the 350 watt power supply is enough, was going to upgrade to a 500 watt ps, but some ppl are telling me that the 350 is big enough please tell me what you think.

Also let me know what you think of the computer...
I plan to use it mostly for games and only a few games at any given time, (thats why the HDD is so small, but considering moving up to the 74 gig) I also have a 80 GB external USB 2.0 HD that will be hooked up too.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:What size power supply would be best?
May 10, 2004 10:35PM PDT
- Collapse -
Re:What size power supply would be best?
Oct 23, 2004 3:02AM PDT

Those links you posted were AWESOME, Bob. THG is a great resource I'd never seen before. I'm sure I'll be using it a lot now.

Thanks for the tip!

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 7, 2004 9:03PM PDT

Hi,
I got the same system with a Radeon 9800 pro and a WD 160 GB.
Only one problem: HD is switched off at end of BIOS setup, then boots properly the XP system.
Dont know the reason for the switch off at begin of session (350 W Power supply should be enough but if not it could cause the problem).
I will post when the issue is solved.
Anyone has an idea?
I will test a 400 W PSU.
Regs
Ralfonso

- Collapse -
Why such a small step up in size?
Oct 7, 2004 11:59PM PDT

From 350 to 400 is not a big step to assure a move away from that possible issue. I supplied articles why I add 100 Watts more than the system requires.

Bob

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 18, 2004 4:31AM PDT

get an antec 430w psu. right in the middle. also , instead of the 9800 xt you should consider getting a nvidia 6800 or 6800 gt. the 9800 xt is still a great card though.

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 21, 2004 5:11PM PDT

Personally, I would go with st least a 400W power supply just to make sure I had enough. If you shop around for the best price it doesn't cost that much to upgrade to more than enough power handling capacity.

Also, I would probably skip the 10,000rpm drive and get a much larger 7200 for less money, then put my savings into loading up on RAM.

I don't do much gaming, but I do video editing which is about equally resource intensive. It has been my experience that maxing out processor and RAM makes the most difference. I have three 7200rpm drives totalling 480GB internal storage - and another 360GB external storage. With an Athlon 64 and 1.5GB RAM I have had no problems with my hard drives being fast enough.

Also, I installed a dual layer DVD burner which also handles CDs plenty fast enough. I also find that there is little difference between "no name" and brand name drives other than a (usually) major price difference - and I saved a drive slot by only using one drive.

Of course, these are just my opinions based on my experiences - so do with them as you wish. Good luck.

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 21, 2004 6:59PM PDT

as big as you cna get is best! for a system like this I wouldn't go for less than 400W and if I couldn't afford this I would make concessions in the form of the DVd-RW to egt a larger power suply then buy this later.

If you can afford it, go for the 500W, I wouldn't think 350 is enough but it's really a matter of judgement. Not having enough power can cause your computer to turn itself off which is extrmly annoying ( not least becuase you losoe al unsaved work)

- Collapse -
350-watt is plenty enough but nothing wrong with more
Oct 21, 2004 8:14PM PDT

With what you're running, a 350-watt PSU is more than sufficient... however, if you plan to overclock your components and upgrade in the future, then go for at least a 400-watt PSU. A good deal would be an Antec NeoPower 470-watt PSU. If you wanna save some cash but still get a good deal on a very powerful power supply from the previous generation (late 2002-2003), try gunning for the Antec TruPower 550-watt PSU.

Since I'm commenting, I should add that your choice of registered memory is not the wisest one... it's expensive and limits your choices... only servers use registered RAM, apart from the Athlon64 FX-51. Unbuffered RAM is definitely better and cheaper.

Your 3200+ has a 1mb L2 cache... meaning that its a Clawhammer from the 754 socket generation. It's not a good upgrade path and may be phased out after the nForce 4/K8T890 boards are released. Furthermore, it uses a single channel memory controller instead of the 939's dual channel controller. Thus, it's performance isn't nearly as good as the 939 socket processors.

I also agree that you shouldn't bother with 10,000rpm drive... its cost isnt worth the small performance difference. You'd definitely be better off with a larger capacity 7,200rpm drive.

- Collapse -
Re: 350-watt is plenty enough but nothing wrong with more
Nov 1, 2004 3:09AM PST

KyleMAD,

Good advice! How noisy are the Antec PSU's you mentioned?

Thanks, Bill V

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 22, 2004 3:04PM PDT

I have been custom building my own pc's for about 6 years. Considering the vid card your using needs a minimum 300w PS I would want a little more than 350. I would reccomend the Antec true power 550 it's what I use. A very solid PS good value and gives you a lot more upgrade abilty w/o a new PS. Try to always be forward looking. Good luck.

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 23, 2004 4:19AM PDT

When I built my comp I wasn't sure what I would finish up with so I bought a Q-Tec 550w Dual Fan Gold, which was on offer anyway. I now have an Athlon 2600+ on an Abit NF7 S board with a FX5200 8X 128Mb DDR graphics card. I have 2 floppy drives, DVD ROM and a dual DVD burner. Two Hitachi Desk Star hard drives 120Gb and 160Gb, I have a Canon S530D printer with a built in card reader and I have a front panel with 4 card readers. Iv put in 8 fans and it sounds like Concord and runs like a dream with XP Pro SP2.

Ken

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 23, 2004 4:32AM PDT

I forgot to mention I have 1536Mbs DDR RAM.

Ken

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Oct 26, 2004 5:17AM PDT

bigger is better if you plan to add very many usb or firewire cards or one of the faster video or sound cards. They eat a lot of power. my custom build w/soyo dragon plus mother board started with a cheap 350 watt supply. after adding way more extras than it could handle it went south. A 420 watt was the largest one I could get locally on short notice, but if I could have found a 500W or 600W one I would have gone for the biggest one.

- Collapse -
Re: What size power supply would be best?
Nov 21, 2004 11:42PM PST