PSU question

[dorian hawkmoon]

I have a 40Gb and a 80 GB ATA hd, I want to discard the 40 Gb and attach a 250 Gb sata hd. (I have 450 watt PSU - iBall), i have an Asus dvd-ram (sata) plus all my other hardware spec specified in "my system spec." , will this PSU be enough to run all this?

 

[computersplus]

can you post a model number from that PSU

 

[computersplus]

never heard of that brand before this will probably work but I would replace it with a better unit never skimp on a power supply get a good one by a good maker like Corsair, PC power and Cooling, Seasonic something like that if you get a good stable PSU made by a good maker with PFC the wattage becomes a little less important because it's more efficient and wastes less power if you get a crappy PSU with no PFC and it's rated at 1000 watts but wastes 50% of that now you only have a 500 watt PSU.

Also look for one that has ample amperage on the +12 volt rail a single rail would be better than multiples get one that's rated at the very least 20 amps the more the better if your going to use a large video card and a quad CPU with 4+ gigs of ram you better have 40 amps

 

[pparks1]

Based on your computer specs, a 450 is mostly likely going to be just fine and dandy. Although I do agree that cheap power supplies are usually not the best by any means.

I run quite a number of lab computers at work with Antec cases and 430 Watt Antec Basiq PSU's and they are fine. Most are dual and quad core boxes, with 4-8GB of RAM, 8600GT video cards, multiple NIC's, a DVD burner and a couple of hard drives.

 

[1Bowtie]

With the question being can you take out a 40gig hd and replace it with a 250 gig sata the answer is yes, your comp will handle it just fine.

Smitty

 

[dorian hawkmoon]

Thanks folks, I was just a little bit worried that 450 W (17 amp 12 volt rail I think) PSU won't be able to handle the 250 Gb + 80 Gb HDD plus the gpu and whatnot, and some of the important parts may get fried!

 

[computersplus]

the larger hard drive isn't going to draw more power than the smaller hard drive actually the newer SATA drives as apposed to older IDE drives should be more power efficient but like I said earlier i would still shop around for a better power supply 17 amps isn't much

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Drives only use maybe 10 watts, so they are very unlikely to be a deal-breaker for any particular power supply.

 

[Zidane24]

Based on your computer specs, a 450 is mostly likely going to be just fine and dandy. Although I do agree that cheap power supplies are usually not the best by any means.

I run quite a number of lab computers at work with Antec cases and 430 Watt Antec Basiq PSU's and they are fine. Most are dual and quad core boxes, with 4-8GB of RAM, 8600GT video cards, multiple NIC's, a DVD burner and a couple of hard drives.

That makes me question the actual necessity for these big power supplies out there

 

[computersplus]

for the average system a high wattage power supply is not really needed but a stable power supply with active PFC and some decent amperage is about all you need

 

[Fumz]

Based on your computer specs, a 450 is mostly likely going to be just fine and dandy. Although I do agree that cheap power supplies are usually not the best by any means.

I run quite a number of lab computers at work with Antec cases and 430 Watt Antec Basiq PSU's and they are fine. Most are dual and quad core boxes, with 4-8GB of RAM, 8600GT video cards, multiple NIC's, a DVD burner and a couple of hard drives.

That makes me question the actual necessity for these big power supplies out there

The necessity doesn't exist for most of the higher wattage PSU's... unless of course, if you're attaching a microwave to the rig; afterall, one cannot game without a tasty hot pocket, or two.

PC Power Consumption: How Many Watts Do We Need? - X-bit labs

**edit**

Although, the OP does need to increase his +12 volt amperage a bit.

 

[Zidane24]

Based on your computer specs, a 450 is mostly likely going to be just fine and dandy. Although I do agree that cheap power supplies are usually not the best by any means.

I run quite a number of lab computers at work with Antec cases and 430 Watt Antec Basiq PSU's and they are fine. Most are dual and quad core boxes, with 4-8GB of RAM, 8600GT video cards, multiple NIC's, a DVD burner and a couple of hard drives.

That makes me question the actual necessity for these big power supplies out there

The necessity doesn't exist for most of the higher wattage PSU's... unless of course, if you're attaching a microwave to the rig; afterall, one cannot game without a tasty hot pocket, or two.

PC Power Consumption: How Many Watts Do We Need? - X-bit labs

I admit I bought a top of the line Corsair 850W about a year ago for around $100 and I can see that I didn't need it at all...

I fell for the "I need it just because I do" trap

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Zidane:

Good idea to question it. That info is easily obtainable. It takes a major pile of components to actually draw say 400 from the wall socket.

But that isn't the consideration driving the purchase for those who buy the 600 watt supplies.

It seems other things come into play.


Hmmmmm...........what might that be??


Hmmmmmmm...........

 

[computersplus]

I'd say a good 650 watt Corsair or something similar is good enough even for a demanding system

 

[Fumz]

... I admit I bought a top of the line Corsair 850W about a year ago for around $100 and I can see that I didn't need it at all...

I fell for the "I need it just because I do" trap

Yeah... but as far as traps go, that one ain't half bad.

 

[pparks1]

People often over buy on their power supplies. Many have heard the advice that you shouldn't skimp on your power supply and they have REALLY taken it to heart.

Here is a link to a power supply calculator that I find very decent that will give you a very good idea of what is necessary: eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

Running my box through this tool came up with 294 watts. For reference sake that is an Intel Quad Core Q9550, with 8GB of RAM, Nvidia 9800GTX+ video card, DVD Burner, 1 7200RPM storage drive, 1 SSD drive, 3 x 120mm case fans, with 3 USB devices attached.

Needless to say, the Corsair HX620 that I bought is MORE than adequate. In fact, if I wanted to really load it up, I could do the following;

--Drop the single Nvidia 9800GTX+ and replace it with Dual ATI Radeon 5870's
--Add an addition 9 7200RPM hard drives onto the system
--Increase to 15 USB devices from the 3 that I quoted above
--Increase to 10 x 120mm case fans
--Add an additional 9 SSD hard drives, bringing my grand total up to 10

All of that comes out to exactly 620 watts.


With regards to my work test boxes, running them through the tool comes up to 220 watts. (so the 430 that my Antec 300 + BP 430 provides is more than enough : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129065

--Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 at 3.0ghz
--4 sticks of DDR2 RAM
--Two 7200 RPM hard drive
--Nvidia 8600GT video card
--2 x 120mm case fans
--Single DVD burner
--2 attached USB devices
--1 stand alone PCI NIC card in addition to onboard NIC card

 

[bobkn]

Based on your computer specs, a 450 is mostly likely going to be just fine and dandy. Although I do agree that cheap power supplies are usually not the best by any means.

I run quite a number of lab computers at work with Antec cases and 430 Watt Antec Basiq PSU's and they are fine. Most are dual and quad core boxes, with 4-8GB of RAM, 8600GT video cards, multiple NIC's, a DVD burner and a couple of hard drives.

That makes me question the actual necessity for these big power supplies out there

Depends.

Graphics cards with high power requirements (GTX295, Radeon 5970) can consume over 200W each. Some people use pairs of them in SLI or Crossfire. An overclocked CPU can also burn over 200W when fully loaded.

An 8600GT (above) gets all of its power through the PCI slot, so it consumes less than 75W. (According to one site, it's less than 40W.) A non-overclocked CPU draws about 100W, fully loaded.

 

[computersplus]

people started buying high wattage power supplies because companies would rate their units at say 450 watts but that was max wattage not constant output the constant output might only be 290 watts so in order to offset this you would have to buy one rated at 600 watts and then maybe you would have 450 watts constant output.

companies use this type of false advertisement all the time so you really need to know the in and outs of this stuff and stick with a name brand

 

[pparks1]

Graphics cards with high power requirements (GTX295, Radeon 5970) can consume over 200W each. Some people use pairs of them in SLI or Crossfire. An overclocked CPU can also burn over 200W when fully loaded.

I do agree with all of this. But I think far too often, people would look at that and say...well...that's 600 alone...so for everything else, I better get a 1,000w PSU.

However, run through the link to the PSU calculator and a Core i7 975, running dual 5970's in cross fire, with 6 sticks of DDR3 RAM, running 4 7,200RPM hard drives, with CPU at 100% TDP and 100% system load, with 1 DVD burner and 3 x 120mm case fans comes out to about 650 watts.

An 8600GT (above) gets all of its power through the PCI slot, so it consumes less than 75W. (According to one site, it's less than 40W.) A non-overclocked CPU draws about 100W, fully loaded.

I realize this is not a high powered card. It's just for a test workstation at work...it's not a gaming machine by any means...it was one of the cheapest stand alone video cards that I could find at the time.

people started buying high wattage power supplies because companies would rate their units at say 450 watts but that was max wattage not constant output the constant output might only be 290 watts so in order to offset this you would have to buy one rated at 600 watts and then maybe you would have 450 watts constant output.

Agreed...but they have continued this trend to this day with high quality power supplies as well. I've seen my share of 1,000 or 1,200 watt PSU's here from brands like Seasonic, Corsair and PC Power and Cooling. All very reputable power supply companies. For many of these rigs, that much power likely wasn't necessary. But I'm sure the mantra is "better safe than sorry".

 

[dorian hawkmoon]

Based on the opinions presented here I'm considering CoolerMaster Extreme Power 460 Watt for my present rig. Any opinions?