PSU Question

[stiltman]

I'm wondering if I will have enough power. I have a 300watt PSU

Here's my current setup

Single fan case
Intel MB
P4 1.6 overclocked
1gb RAM
7200 HDD 80gb
7200 HDD 120gb
CDRW
DVD
Adaptec SCSI card
Intel NIC
Built in sound

currently I have a ATI Rage Ultra
I want a ATI AIW 7500 or 8500DV

Think I have enough power?

[gmatov]

Yes.

[stiltman]

Going by this site and using the high numbers to be on the safe side, I came up 299w. I only have 300w PSU

That's why I'm questioning if I have enough power to handle a AIW 7500 or 8500dv

[gmatov]

Stilt,

As they do sell PSUs, I'd tend to take their estimates with a grain of salt.

I don't know what a typical AGP vid card takes, but would think their numbers are fo a Gforce275 meg or some equivalent, a hotsy-totsy super card.

The rest of the things, I do not think you are going to use enough of at the same time to get to any kind of a max.

The last squib on that page says 30 to 70 % of full cap for efficiency, so, at 299, you need a 1000 watt, per them.

[rallynavvie]

Most motherboard monitor software has a place to monitor voltages on both your 5v and 12v lines. Just watch that while burning to both drives from each HDD and running Quake 3 and a video encode in the background. If it dips more than 10% on either channel get a bigger PSU. In the end it can't hurt to have an overpowered PSU. I have a 550W in my dual CPU system, partly because it suggested a minimum of 400W and parltly because I'm running 5 IDE HDDs, 2 LVD SCSI drives, 2 DVD burners, a DVD-ROM, and all the USB- and FireWire-powered devices that I have to hook up to it. You should be OK with the 300W though.

[pixel]

I have 2 DVD drives, 2 HDDs, a floppy drive, and all five of my PCI slots are in use, but a 300W is fine for me.

BTW: I have the 8500DV and it is a great card. You really need to buy a seperate sound card otherwise you will have nothing but bother in the form of distorted sound, sound levels going over and countless dropped frames. I was pretty big into using the onboard sound and have had nothing good come of it. Many other people (lordsmurf, txpharoah, mastersmurfie, who are all experienced ATI users) have said that ATI's weren't really made for use with onbaord sound and you will save yourself a lot of bother if you have a seperate sound card.

If you want a budget card I would suggest the Hercules Fortissimo Gamesurround 7.1: http://europe.hercules.com/showpage.php?p=56&b=0&f=1

All the magazine reviews say that this is definitely the best card to get for its price and I will be getting one shortly.

[Solarjetman]

The last squib on that page says 30 to 70 % of full cap for efficiency, so, at 299, you need a 1000 watt, per them.

I think you mis-understood that. They do NOT want you to buy a power supply that you are using less than 30% of its max. Its not saying that you should only use 30%.

Just like a 5 ton A/C would be too inefficent at cooling a one bedroom apartment.

However, you said that your CPU is overclocked. That would through a monkey wrench into the equation. You may be ok, but the higher end video cards use more power. In fact some have external power connectors to power them. Since you are overclocking, you obviously are not concerned with stability. So why not try and see what happens?

[pixel]

Sorry, I missed the overclocked P4 bit.

I thought it was impossible to overclock P4's because they were locked up. I thought it was only possible on AMD's.

How did you do this?

[stiltman]

Thanks for your feedback

I'll take a look at the Gamesurround Fortissimo III card

[rallynavvie]

I've got a Hercules GameTheater XP Pro 7.1, it's almost the same card. I've never had problems with it other than the cable to the breakout box is rather bulky when I have to take the system with me. At home it's connected to a Sony 600w receiver with a digital optical cable for 6.1 DTS surround mixing. Couldn't ask for anything more. The equivalent Sound Blaster is rumored to have IRQ conflicts with my system. I thought we had done away with IRQ conflicts?