Power Supply

[Adorkable]

I want to upgrade my power supply but i dont know what to look for i was thinking at least 500w i need to upgrade beacuse i want to get a new video card and the video card i want needs at least a 350w.

[Chewy]

your computer specs and the new video card?

[Adorkable]

new video card is a ati allinwonder http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...343&pfp=BROWSE

[Adorkable]

thats the video card i limited on space and i need at least a pci video card imm not a gamer but i want to be able to tivo and for the specs what would you need to know i have no clue?

[Furiousg]

Do you have a PCI Express motherboard?? You keep mentioning PCI, but the card you linked is an Express model.

Your system specs would really help.

[Adorkable]

yes p4 3.0 1mb l2 cache 800fsb 16x dvd rom, 16 x dvd rw intel 915g chipset 200 gb sata hd 1024 mb ram i want to buy a 19 flat panel too i up grading peace buy peace

[Chewy]

assuming you have a new computer, a gig of ram, 2 big hard drives and a dvd burner or two, you will need a good 450 or 500 watt power supply.

what's your current power supply?

[Adorkable]

piece by piece

[Adorkable]

whats a good brand ?

[Chewy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010320058+4026&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=58&Order=price

look for a lot of good reviews

[UncasMS]

there is one thing you should consider:

when you have to choose between 350 or 500 watt the latter will not always be the better one!

i personally will rather go for an 350w enermax than a 500w noname

the specs of the very psu is the decisive factor not the wattage

let's compare these number for example:

+5v - 32a
+12v - 26a
-12v - 1a
-5v - 1a
+3.3v - 32a
+5vsb - 2.2a
(a decent 350 watt psu)



+ 5VDC 38A
+12VDC 17A
-12VDC 0.8A
- 5VDC 0.5A
3.3VDC 28A
+5vsb 2.0A
(noname 500 watt psu)



now which one would you go for?

the first one in my case as the +12v has sufficient power (26a) compared to only 17a for the so called 500w psu, which might lead to trouble with demanding hardware


i hope this is a warning example that buying a psu only because of the total wattage can be a severe mistake

[Furiousg]

Agreed
Yes, definately look into the current supply available at the usable voltage levels. Excellent point UnCas.
More often than not, you get what you pay for.

[Adorkable]

Thanks for the help i didnt relize how inexpensive they were at newegg i never even looked thinking of spenging 130 dollars on o9ne at compusa but newegg doesnt has a great slection for under 80 bucks sorry uncasms i dont why there are all the those diffiernt numbers ,but i get what u meant by the number of amps from how a good one at less watts will put out more amps and how a cheap one at more watts puts out less amps

[UncasMS]

the +12v line is very important dont even think of buying anything with less than ~25a nowadays when planning to use a powerful vga
(25a of course when the psu does not provide 2x +12v, which newer versions often will)

[Chewy]

+12V1@17A, +12V2@17A,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103928

+12V1@18A, +12V2@16A

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182016

right now my beast is happy on a 450 rosewill