power supply watts, how many?

[andreadebiase]

I need to power the following system:
MSI KT6 Delta-LSR
AMD 2500 XP barton core
2 hard drives ATA
2 optical drives
floppy


is 350W enough?

[pave_spectre]

I suspect that 350W would bve the minimum you would want for reliability so long as you get a good brand as even 400 or more might not do much if the supply is a cheapo.

[Budfred]

Here is some good information about choosing a power supply and here is a good review of several major brands....

[Paleo Pete]

In general 350W should be able to handle most average home systems, until you start adding things like extra case fans (more than one), high end video card, heavy duty CPU fan, and multiple USB devices.

Most of the systems I've built have used 350W power supplies, and I'm using two of then right now with no problems. This system is a Celeron 1GHz, 2 IDE drives, CD-R, CD-RW, ATi Radeon 7500 dual capable video, 256MB RAM, floppy, NIC, SB16, SCSI scanner, USB cam, extra case fan. No power problems at all...OK except when it goes out during a storm I've been running it 24/7 for about a year.

The Mandrake box is very similar, AMD 1GHz, almost identical hardware but no SCSI or USB devices, nVidia MX400, both have external modems. Both have 350W power supplies, I've been running the Mandrake machine 24/7 for about 8 months, again no problems. Both running standard Cooler Master CPU and case fans, and kept clean inside.

Heavier power supplies are not usually necessary unless you plan to use several case fans, the latest and greatest power hog video cards, high power draw CPU fans, 4 drive RAID setups etc. 350W should handle most home systems.

I can't find it now, but someone posted a basic power draw chart once, according to it my current system would run on a good 180-200W PSU. 350W gives it breathing room, which is always a good thing...

[andreadebiase]

well i do actually have 3 80mm fans to power that i forgot to mention before and the video card is an nVidia Ti4, also with a little fan.

[Whyzman]

I would have a look-see at the links supplied by Budfred. The first one is becoming a standard link for understanding Power Supply differences and addressing individual system needs...

I would pay special attention to the 12V rail as this is the focus of case fans etc...

[Abbadon]

Also important is the brand of your psu.

A 350W Antec Truepower psu is totaly different from a crapy no-brand-350W psu.

[mjc]

Basically if the video card has a fan of its own then think about greater than 350w for the power supply.

3 case fans should also put you in the higher range, unless you have a very good...think Antec TruPower series.

[andreadebiase]

ok i was thinking of the Model: SL400
FEATURES

Maximum Power
400W

18A on the 12V rail
38A +5rail
28A +3rail

[saphalline]

I agree with Paleo Pete that a good 350W or even a 300W would do you just fine. The three things that really push a power supply are (again like PP said) a high-end CPU, a high-end video card, and several hard drives/optical drives. Keep in mind you'd have to have all of these present in a system to warrant a 400+W PSU.

[andreadebiase]

All these just present ot all these present and being used? I went ahead with an Antec 400W by the way.
thank you for your help