Is my PSU adequate?

[ph4t3]

When it comes to hardware, I'm completely noob. Help will be much appreciated.

So I have a 240 watt PSU. A few months ago I had a Nvidia Gforce 8500 GT card installed (without checking if my PSU will handle, which i probably should have right?). Anyways, yesterday I installed a 1TB hardrive. That makes a total of 3 SATA drives.

This morning i noticed that after turning the PC on, one of the fans in the case (that being either the PSU fan or the CPU fan) decided that it should audition for McLaren Wind Tunnel specialists. I swear, thought the thing was going to explode. Suddenly my screen (I'm running windows 7 by the way) turns blue (not BSOD mind you). The keyboard and mouse and non responsive. I try the reset button. Nothing. The power button. Nada. I yank the power cable. Nothing. I realise I have a UPSo), so i switch it off.

Then i boot the PC again and log in. This time, it's a whole half an hour before it does it again (and only when i do CPU intensive tasks).

So the question. Is my PSU adequate to run my setup? Somehow i doubt it. I need an experts opinion here.

 

[rurapente]

hmmm. the description sounds heat related to me. but could be power. I would say 240w is VERY VERY small. Those little desktop HP's and Dell's have 250 or higher. So yeah maybe when things get tough your psu is not giving enough and causing problems. Although, lack of power wouldnt make the fan go faster, in my mind. but anyway it could be a rogue symptom.

I'de get a bigger psu, and check for heat problems.

 

[BillytheBrave]

mmm, it sounds like you need to upgrade your PSU to at least 480watts or 550watts which should be more than adequate. To give you an example; your screen card alone takes up around 80wats to run depending on what type of screen you use between 20watts on idle and again 80watts in use. now you are already on 160watts out of 240. that leaves you with less then 80watts... not nearly enough to run everything on your computer.. including boot up time etc ram hdds cd-rom.

hope this helps.

 

[Chevron]

You don't need a 500watt. Get like a 360watt. Unless you plan on getting a bigger graphics card.

 

[LFX]

sounds like overheating, but a power issue, given your current psu, seems just as likely

350 - 450w should suffice, personally i would go for 450w upwards, just to be on the safe side in terms of future upgrades.

 

[Drake2007]

Min spec for a PC nowdays is 300W so your's is definately not up to the job.

 

[Nameite]

Wow just blue??? Try touching the back of the psu when it happens next time, might be overheating, which means you're going over it's limit. Quite a good brand for not popping...try adding a GTX295 for the fireworks