power to little?

[choby]

hi i have a AMD 3200,2x160 HD drives,1gig of ram (2x512 sticks),dvd burner,reg. cd drive,sound card 5.1, and a 9600xt, i am a gamer, but my question would be do i have engough power with only 230watts, if it isnt will it hurt my comp, does not haveing enough hurt my comp, i also have Windows XP, and so far everything will run? any help will be greatly apperciated :D

[saphalline]

Yes, too little power can hurt your system. One of the problems is called "voltage dips" and in general the problem of too little power can result in the overall condition of "dirty power". This degrades your hardware over time and can result in dead parts depending on the severity.

The power supply is another problem. Most PSU's operate at peak efficiency on a 70% load. For a 230W PSU, you don't want to exceed a 161W power draw. Any more than that (and especially as you approach the max of 230W) and the PSU starts overheating, losing efficiency, losing power, and eventually dies. The death can be peaceful, such as just quitting, or it can be violent, such as frying your whole system and even starting on fire! :eek: Either way, a dead PSU is undesireable.

A 230W PSU is extremely borderline for your system. With those specs, I'd recommending moving up to a 350W PSU. On idle (when your system isn't doing anything) the power draw will be much lower than 230W and you'll be fine. On full load (such as when playing a game) the power draw will easily exceed the 70% 161W mark of the PSU, and damage to your system will begin.