PSU Recommendations?

afdarcy · 07-12-2003 5:02pm #1

I'm thinking of upgrading my PC to a P4, so among other things I'll need a new PSU. Any recommendations? Was thinking of a Chieftec 360W from Komplett, but will this be sufficient? Will be running a Radeon 9600XT and Audigy 2, SATA HDD, DVD drive and CD-RW drive, as well as some USB devices - though most of them don't draw power over the USB connections as far as I know.

Should I be looking for a higher spec PSU? From what I hear, some of the cheapo 400W+ can sometimes only deliver
power as low as 220W in reality.

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OfflerCrocGod · 07-12-2003 5:28pm

360W should be enough but if I were you I'd go for more 400W name brand PSU. Whatever you do don't get a cheap PSU always get a good name.

unkel · 08-12-2003 2:13am

The Chieftec should be fine for now. Mind your PSU will probably outlive the rest of your PC. Power consumption by CPU and GPU is increasing all the time. I would recommend the Zalman 400W PSU which is also silent :cool:

It's power rating is almost 450W, pretty much the same as the PSU considered to be the most powerful around: the Antec TruePower 480.

Expect to be paying in the region of €100 for either. A lot for a PSU I hear you think, but deffo worth it

-oRnein9- · 08-12-2003 6:40pm

Since the topic of psu's is being mentioned instead of creating a new thread I just thought I'd ask is a 300W ps sufficient for a p4 with a ge-force fx5600 + dvd drive , 80gid hd .

Creamy Goodness · 08-12-2003 10:43pm

420w is minium for a p4 of any kind.

i tried putting a 400w in my p4 rig and it failed on installing winxp :S

-oRnein9- · 08-12-2003 11:43pm

I am running a P41.5ghz on a 300w ps maybe that is my freezing problems but only the odd time when playing games.

jow · 09-12-2003 8:34am

Originally posted by Cr3m0
420w is minium for a p4 of any kind.

i tried putting a 400w in my p4 rig and it failed on installing winxp :S

no,

a good brand quality PSU from 320w ist absolutely sufficient.

We installed a lot of P4 systems with 320w be quiets.... never any problems.

It is like OfflerCrocGod said: go for a quality one (enermax, zalman, be quiet etc. etc.) and you will be happy.

Also, the more expensive ones are usually less noisy....

jow

Energizer · 09-12-2003 1:14pm

Enermax psu are brilliant, i had power problems last summer,

I spent €100 on a enermax psu and it has been smooth sailing since!!!:D

TacT · 09-12-2003 1:21pm

I bought myself a Gold Qtec dual fan 450W psu from the for sale board a good while ago and haven't looked back

L5 · 09-12-2003 1:26pm

how can you find out what voltage your PSU is?
Mines a dell P4, thinking of getting a 9800 pro soon so need to know if i need a new psu.
Thanks

Sleipnir · 09-12-2003 1:29pm

Open up the computer case and look at the PSU
There's a sticker on it which will tell you about the power output.

L5 · 09-12-2003 1:41pm

Had a look at the sticker there. It says DC output 250w
Is that a really poor PSU? The pc is only 3 months old, P2.4, 512 RAM , 120 HDD.
Dell.....

Sleipnir · 09-12-2003 2:29pm

250 would be below minimum if you wanted to put anything else in there. Typical Dell, they only put in the absolute minimum required.

If you start adding hard drives, serious graphics cards, multiple fans etc then 250W just wouldn't do it.
But, if your system is working ok then there isn't really any need to change it.

Dempsey · 09-12-2003 2:56pm

Originally posted by Cr3m0
420w is minium for a p4 of any kind.

i tried putting a 400w in my p4 rig and it failed on installing winxp :S

Im using a 350W in my rig and its absolutely perfect.

jow · 09-12-2003 2:57pm

Originally posted by Kananga
250 would be below minimum if you wanted to put anything else in there. Typical Dell, they only put in the absolute minimum required.

If you start adding hard drives, serious graphics cards, multiple fans etc then 250W just wouldn't do it.
But, if your system is working ok then there isn't really any need to change it.

Hi,

you have overseen: "I have a Dell"

I am pretty sure that you can forget about changing the PSU of a Dell. :mad:
They don't have the standard ones, or does actually somebody here was able to install a new one?
All the Dells I have seen have "special" designed ones. This ensures that the customer "can" buy a new PC every 3 years

jow

Sleipnir · 09-12-2003 3:35pm

Dell's PC's are designed to be the cheapest from a manufacturing point of view.
Their machines have lost a lot of build-quality in the past few years. The motherboards are basic, basic, basic.
They are not designed to be upgraded by the end-user at all.

L5 · 09-12-2003 5:19pm

shower of b%$tards. So that rules out me being able to buy a decent gfx card after christmas. I was thinking of getting a 9600 pro or something along those lines. Im not interested in extra hard drives or anything like that. Would it handle the gfx card?

Creamy Goodness · 09-12-2003 5:25pm

Originally posted by Dempsey
Im using a 350W in my rig and its absolutely perfect.

ok maybe cos my psu was a Q-tec

but in all fairness there is no point skimping trying to save money on the most important device in a pc.

Sleipnir · 09-12-2003 5:32pm

Originally posted by L5
shower of b%$tards. So that rules out me being able to buy a decent gfx card after christmas. I was thinking of getting a 9600 pro or something along those lines. Im not interested in extra hard drives or anything like that. Would it handle the gfx card?

It would depend on the card but I would recommend a new one if you're upgrading.
Make sure it fits though!

afdarcy · 12-12-2003 9:54pm

Thanks guys, I ended up ordering a 400W Antec. Hopefully it'll be future proof enough (as long as Intel don't change their spec again - nah, they never do that...)

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