Wattage

[spestocks]

OK, My power supply says max total = 250W, so I assume i have a 250 Watt box, right? (It is an ATX box)

2nd - the red selector on the back...it has 2 choices 110, and 230...what are these for?

And should I have a different power supply than the above mentioned for a 1.2GHz 266 bus AMD Athlon?

[BigBlue66]

Originally posted by spestocks:
OK, My power supply says max total = 250W, so I assume i have a 250 Watt box, right? (It is an ATX box)

Um, well, it means your power supply is 250watts. Your ATX case is just a case.

2nd - the red selector on the back...it has 2 choices 110, and 230...what are these for?

They correlate to 115volts and 220volts respectively, give or take a few volts. The UK, and I don't know how many other countries, have 220volt electrical service. If you're in the United States, leave the setting at 110! You will fry everything if you set it to 230.

And should I have a different power supply than the above mentioned for a 1.2GHz 266 bus AMD Athlon?

YES, AMD processors of that size require at least 300-350watts, more would be better. Also make sure it's an AMD recommended power supply. You can find that info on their web site. www.amd.com (http://www.amd.com)

BB 66


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Yes Sir, Occifer!

[This message has been edited by BigBlue66 (edited 08-20-2001).]

[psabi]

I believe that there are some power supplies that AMD has blessed that are only 250w. The issue isn't the sticker on the supply but actually the RELIABILITY of that rating.

Wattage is important but the source is just as important. A 250watt supply from pc power and cooling will prove to be more reliable and stable than the 300 watt power supply you see on tigerdirect for $19... You also have to keep in mind (as I believe AMD uses in their disclaimer) that the supply takes into consideration having only a certain amount of devices. If you are going to have 2 7200rpm drives, a cd burner, a DVD drive, every slot filled, extra cooling fans, etc. - you want to look at higher wattage units.

Power supplies do degrade overtime - thus bigblue's recommendation that the higher the better. The degradation may also impact your ability to recycle that older power supply you have lying around. I imagine blue's suggestion was also to accommodate your future expansion plans as well.

[mjc]

Also all PSUs are not the same, one 250W may only have 75W available on the 12V leg (which is important if you have many drives) and a another over 100W. The same is true of the other voltages.

And in today's systems it is easy to reach the capacity of a particular voltage. I know that it is unlikely to use all the devices attached to your computer at the same time, but during power on you will, at least most of them.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Gun Control...hitting what you aim at!

[ranchdog]

Santa going to bring us all a 430Watt EnerMax (with dual fans) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

[mike31]

Originally posted by spestocks:
OK, My power supply says max total = 250W, so I assume i have a 250 Watt box, right? (It is an ATX box)

2nd - the red selector on the back...it has 2 choices 110, and 230...what are these for?

And should I have a different power supply than the above mentioned for a 1.2GHz 266 bus AMD Athlon?

Spestocks,
The 2 choices on the back. From what I hear, the 110 is for USA and 230 is Overseas. Use different voltages.
Now the ? of Power Supply and what you should get as a minimum.

CD/DVD = 5-10 watts
CDRW = 10-15 watts(this will increase with speed of burning)
Sound Card = 1-10 watts(this will increase with speed, complexity, and amount of memory onboard)
Hard Drive(s) = 30 watts+
Video Cards = 30 watts+ (new AGP specifications AGP Pro50 for 50 watt Video Cards and AGP Pro100 for 100 watt Video Cards)
CPU = 75 watts+ (there are rumors of processors that will draw up to 100 watts of power)

As you can see there is more than just the CPU taking power from the Power Supply.
An Athlon can draw up to 75 watts without overclocking. A Geforce or 3Dfx Video card can draw 30 watts+. This does not leave much for the other peripherals. The HD's, Cdrom, DVD, CDRW and floppy have both a 12 and 5 volt connection. That 5 volt connection come out of the same source as the CPU 5 Volts. Do you see where we are running out of power for our System?
As the demand for current goes up, after a certain point, the voltage starts to go down. When the voltage hits a critical point, we start to see all sorts of bad words, the computer has either locked up or crashed. This is where the QUALITY of power supply comes into play. A Cheap generic PS will not have the headroom to handle high current demand. The total specification for the power might be the same, but the quality of components will not be the same.
If the voltage of the CPU or sometyhing else goes out of spec or goes too low, the Computer crashes. If it goes too high you may be buying a new PC
The same goes for the ripple specifications. The more the current draw, the bigger the ripple. Ripple is the amount that the voltage will vary plus and minus the specified voltage. Riplle should not destroy components, but it will cause crashes.

Question : What do you call a Rose in a Wheat Field
Answer : It is a Weed.

Question : What do you call a Data signal on a Voltage line?
Answer : NOISE!

Noise and grounding go hand in hand. Improper grounding in a PS or on a Mobo can cause all sorts of problems. Crashes, Corrupt data, funny looking specs. on the Monitor, or all sorts of stuff that can be harder than heck to diagnose. Again the Generic PS may not have adequate grounding and this will cause a lot of grief, time and money. This has only ONE cure.
BUY A GOOD QUALITY POWER SUPPLY. One that is big enough to handle the load. 350 watts minimum and a brand name that is on the approved list for your CPU.

Bear in mind this does not take into accoutn the CPu Fans or any number of fans you will need to add to maintain a cool Internal Case Environment.

I cannot recommend Enermax enough. One of their best models is the EG365P-VE, 350 watt. Not the Whisper model.

Mike



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