Power supply question

[Gallaeglagh]

I was thinking about adding an ATA Raid controller card and maybe 2 more hard drives. Would I be pressing my power supply? Should I try to find the power consumption of each component? Is there any shareware or a way to test? Thanks

Current setup-
350 watt power supply
MSI [MS-6380] mobo
Athlon 4 @ 1.47 Ghz
GeForce 2 64
Soundblaster 5.1
D-Link NIC
generic floppy
30 Gig WD and 60 Gig Maxtor
Plexwriter 24x
Kenwood 72x
256 DDR ram



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"It's all one song," Neil Young

[Whyzman]

G,

Good question! I did a little digging and came up with THIS (http://www.howstuffworks.com/power-supply3.htm). It's a start...

When adding the Wattage together you would certainly want to allow a nice "cushion" for future growth. Although, you seem like you're getting pretty ripe! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[fixrupr]

Whyzman, great link, thanks


Gallaeglagh,
To avoid suckin power, and wear & tear on HD, consider putting in a HD swap bay. I too have only 350 w PS and faced same problem. Found bays at computergeeks.com for $7.50. My backup drives suck no power and cannot get zapped or infected while on the shelf.

[Gallaeglagh]

Thanks for the info but I wish I had more. There certainly seems to be a scarcity of it on the net.

The case I'm using has 2 swap bays (its an Antec server case) which can hold 3 drives each.

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"It's all one song," Neil Young

[Whyzman]

G,

Adding up the wattage of each device is a pretty straight forward and realistic account of total power usage. It's the same procedure electricians use to determine the total wattage use of a multi-bulb light fixture and then apply said information to, say a dimmer switch that would be able to handle the load.

I do believe that it is required for any electrical device to divulge it's power requirements/usage.

Perhaps if you would be more specific about what it is your looking for? I'd be happy to do some more digging around...just not quite sure what it is you're after?

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[This message has been edited by Whyzman (edited 12-07-2001).]

[Gallaeglagh]

Actually, that's what I've been sitting here doing for the last hour and the couple items that I can't find info for are the mobo, the ram and the GeForce

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"It's all one song," Neil Young

[Randy_tx]

Although I think you will be OK with the 350 watt.....not all of the devices are pulling a load at startup...or any other time for that matter - if you want total peace of mind, spend $110 and get a 450 watt PS and be done with it.

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Will XP save Me ?

[ranchdog]

What we like to do is count up the number of devices using power.. multiply by 10.. then divide by three.

Add a little cushion and go with it.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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

[rond36]

I used to run 2 CD drives and 3 HDDs off of a 250W power supply with no power problems. I think your 350W if it has enough +5V and +12V should do alright for 6 drives

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Alright who messed it up this time!

[Whyzman]

I'm with ya on this one G, it would be interesting and informative to know exactly what the power consumption of my computer is also.

In a conversation with mjc the other day he seemed to know the outputs to the various components on the MB.

Did you happen to find the missing pieces in your search?

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[Gallaeglagh]

Whyzman -

No I didn't find all that I needed but taking a somewhat educated guess on the upper end I figured I had sufficient leeway and bought the ATA Raid card.

Thanks for the info.

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"It's all one song," Neil Young