Which Power Supply(Watt)

[EchoDown]

I dont feel like being obliterated by the Person gang,
But
Total watts is not that important,the watt rating is the maximum wattage the PSU can put out,depends on your system.
The important thing is not the total wattage but the allocation of the amps to the rails ie +3 -3 +5 -5 +12 -12 V rails(DC) Input 230-240AC output DC
You need atleast 28-39 A on the 12 V as thats where modern PCs suck energy, +3 and +5 are hardly impoertant but thats where the ****e PSU's have their power usually around 30 then the + 12 usually has about 15......
If you want to run properly and be able to upgrade, make sure you either have dual 12v rails with atleast 15A or one single with Atleast 30....
But ofcourse person is about to offer you some piece of ****e since he hasnt posted yet,so hopefully he reads this and decides to not rip you off.
So around 450watts with 30 +12 is fine.

 

[BTTB]

Antec

I like my Antec PSU's.
We have 4x550Watt True Control units in our office on different machines.
Those voltages are rock solid. The oldest one must be about 4 years old now?
You cannot get them any more, but I think the equivalent units are the Antec True Power units, although I lost one last year when we had the power problems in November. It was the first version of the True Power units and it turned out that the 3.3V rails were messed. They replaced it with the True Power II series.
So far so good.

I think it is also wise nowadays to have a UPS connected before your PSU.

 

[andres101]

thanks for the info EchoDown.

i decided to buy the Coolermaster RS-CM450W. I see that it does have "dual +12V1 and +12V2", one is 12A and the other is 10A (18A, 16A peak).

 

[Toxin]

I think it is also wise nowadays to have a UPS connected before your PSU.

Oh yeah, having a UPS is not a bad idea at all. Got one for myself along with the my PSU. Now I actually notice everytime I have a serious power dip.

Not expensive these days either.

 

[andres101]

I am thinking of getting a UPS. Nothing major, just a cheapo to give enough power so that my pc can shutdown gracefully. I see that you can get them for <1k.

 

[EchoDown]

I just looking at that page Andres,the spec you are looking at in the diagram is not the continous but the peak out put which is 16A and 18A....
So yeh thats around 34 total peak...
Another thing is the efficency which is 75% and with most top range PSU's 90% is about where you want it....
But you should be fine,I dont even know what you running on your machine,hey atleast it's colourful

 

[Toxin]

One review I read said that it had a 80% efficency at below 90 Watts and an above 80% for 90-200 Watts.

Don't know how they measure this tho.

@andres101: Where you gona buy?

 

[rburley]

Im also confused in which PSU to get, it will need to be fairly beefy i think, any suggestions?
pc is a athlon x2 4200,gigabyte k8npro sli, 2 gb ram & 7800gt with all the usuals dvdwriter/cooling etc

 

[Toxin]

Im also confused in which PSU to get, it will need to be fairly beefy i think, any suggestions?
pc is a athlon x2 4200,gigabyte k8npro sli, 2 gb ram & 7800gt with all the usuals dvdwriter/cooling etc

Here it is again.

It's a site that helps you calculate what size PSU you'll need for the PC you have. Although don't take it as gospel.

 

[rburley]

ok with the basic spec it says i need about 404w, so i think i should go for a 450w which is a good one? & price 2 plz

 

[Bjorn]

I see it has a <20dba rating, which is quiet.

Taking the RS-CM450W.

Thanks for all the info everyone! really appreciate it. never throught power supplies were so complicated.

I have one of these aswell,had it for about 7 months still serving me very well

 

[Byrd]

OK now the big question

As dealers where do we get that AOpen mobo & Pentium M Processors in Durban?

 

[ic]

Watt power supply?

...
So my question is, which PSU is right for me?
(300W,360W,420W,480W,560W)

IMO go for at least the 480W, but that's just instinct & not based on any hard facts...

 

[EchoDown]

Take a look at my previous post on amperage rating and keep a note of that and I would say a nice base number with upgrade capability would be 480w.
Just remember a 500watt PSU is useless if the amperage is not allocated to the correct switching rail,the output rating for the various rails are always located on the box.

 

[andres101]

@andres101: Where you gona buy?

Rectron.

 

[andres101]

I just looking at that page Andres,the spec you are looking at in the diagram is not the continous but the peak out put which is 16A and 18A....

I did mention that:

...one is 12A and the other is 10A (18A, 16A peak).

 

[Toxin]

Rectron.

I got the PowerCom Line-Interactive 600VA UPS from them along with my PSU. Not bad for the price you pay.

 

[andres101]

I got the PowerCom Line-Interactive 600VA UPS from them along with my PSU. Not bad for the price you pay.

It is too noisy for a HTPC environment (<40dBA)

 

[BTTB]

Power Supplies 101: A comprehensive guide

Power Supplies 101: A comprehensive guide

Thought you guys/girls may like to read this article.
Not 100% relevant to the topic.

 

[Sapphiron]

Rule 1 when buying a PSU : NEVER buy cheap.

A 500W piece-of-crap isn't going to provide as stable a supply of power as a 350W quality product. I'm running a P4, 5900, 7 (yes seven) hard drives, 1 optical off a 350W Antec supply. The thing cost close to a small fortune (compared to a 350W AOpen / some-other-kuk) but it was worth every cent.

Rule 2 : calculate your requirements, allow for growth, then buy what you need.

Use this calculator : http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp


Bear in mind that PSUs tend to be less efficient at lower loads, so a 500W supply that has to provide 250W will actually draw more power than a 350W needing to provide 250W. It's not a majorly significant difference but you will end up paying for more electricity. So don't buy a 500W if you'll only ever max out at 320W ... unless you want to support Eskom.

me too , I'm also running 7 hard drives (one of them a 10000RPM Raptor), Dual Core AMD and GF 6600GT on my Antec Truepower2 380W. My friends Aopen 500W could not manage to run my PC