By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Squilliam on 31 May 2008
Edit Thread
Grampy said:
Squilliam said:
Grampy said:
Squilliam said:
Just in case anyone was wondering, the stock powersupply in that machine was 230w.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371005 - 34A 12v rails, 380w

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052 -29A 12v rails 500w.

Both are good brands and both are rated at 5 eggs. I would pick the Antec over the thermaltake one.

230 watt oem is all too common and I still see some 200s but I don't think there's any excuse for it. Still, I suppose 90% never add anything so it works out. I agree Antec makes some good units. My personal favorite is Zalman but the tend to be pricey.


Zalman make some of the quietest High wattage PSU's out there. I've seen a ZM-850hp I think on several reviews and it didnt even register on the Decibel sensor until it was well into a 400w load. Silence is golden.

What my point was, is that the high wattage PSU actually provided fewer useful watts than was indicated vs the Antec even though it was rated 120w higher. Now correct my if im wrong, but the main components of the computer run off those 12v rails. CPU/GPU so the Antec had essentially 120w less rated power but only 60w less useful power. It was also high efficiency.

230w is actually fine, unless you upgrade. With the efficient 65w Athlons anyway and 1 HDD 1 DVD writer etc you could even sneak a 6 series GPU like the 2600pro into it without worry.


I wouldn't disagree with anything you said. My personal experience has been that the extra reliability of having at least 50% extra capaciy is worth the few dollars. I know others that just add up the power reqirements of each component and buy just enough of a power supply to cover them. Aparently their experience has been different.

 


The base system probably wouldn't draw more than 120watts at full load anyway. So the PSU would be extremely reliable in that environment. Without a professional oems experience it pays to err on the safe side. Unless you understand what you're doing you wont know if you're overloading one of your rails. The only thing I could expect is that the machine is capable of supporting a 75watt or less GPU that doesn't require extra power. The specifications demand this, but they don't demand much more.

My personal experience when I thought I knew more than I do now. I had 4 HDDs, 2 Optical drives, multiple usb devices and I decided to add just one more Optical drive to my unknowingly critically overloaded cheap PSU. It blew up straight away and took my motherboard with it. I still don't understand WHY, or which rail I blew but I know that it was my fault for having the cheap PSU and it was also my fault for assuming that I can just add things Willy Nilly. That was only a year and a half ago and I learnt so much from those two acts of stupidity.

Overcompensation is an excellent supstitution for stupidity and ignorance. Hence the reason why everyone gets a PSU thats wayyy bigger than they need. Its simply safer. Taking a bad bet and winning is not a good reason to go ahead and take another bad bet. God I wish more people would understand that fact.  

In summary, keep it in the motherboard spec - no extra power connectors and you're fine. Move away from spec and start adding HDD's/Optical drives etc, upgrade to something decent. Not all manufacturers are kind enough to tell you the maximum power on each rail.

 



Tease.