Vista Tutorial - choosing the right power supply

Hi
I've been surching the internet for a new power supply. And found that
there's every thing from 300w to 1000w and with a wide price range.
I don't know if I should stay with a 500w or can I go smaller like 465w or
go bigger?
I'm not planing to use two video cards or anything.
maybe a second hard drive but nothing that would need 1000w's

My old one was a 500w 20+4 pin.

It will be powering;
K8nha grand with NF3 250Gb chipset
AMD Athlon 64 2.1ghz 3000+
Radeon 512Mb 1600 pro
two sound cards (a sound blaster Audigy 2 and Echo, Darla )
One DVD burner 16X16
two maybe three case fans with LCD lights

Here is what you should consider:

Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL,
CUL, TUV, FCC, and CB certification - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153052


"K8 notsogrand" <K8notsogrand@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:006B7906-7ABF-4415-93D0-F9855A5B4AE7@microsoft.com...
> Hi
> I've been surching the internet for a new power supply. And found that
> there's every thing from 300w to 1000w and with a wide price range.
> I don't know if I should stay with a 500w or can I go smaller like 465w or
> go bigger?
> I'm not planing to use two video cards or anything.
> maybe a second hard drive but nothing that would need 1000w's
>
> My old one was a 500w 20+4 pin.
>
> It will be powering;
> K8nha grand with NF3 250Gb chipset
> AMD Athlon 64 2.1ghz 3000+
> Radeon 512Mb 1600 pro
> two sound cards (a sound blaster Audigy 2 and Echo, Darla )
> One DVD burner 16X16
> two maybe three case fans with LCD lights

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 11:12:00 -0700, K8 notsogrand
<K8notsogrand@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hi
> I've been surching the internet for a new power supply. And found that
> there's every thing from 300w to 1000w and with a wide price range.
> I don't know if I should stay with a 500w or can I go smaller like 465w or
> go bigger?
> I'm not planing to use two video cards or anything.
> maybe a second hard drive but nothing that would need 1000w's
>
> My old one was a 500w 20+4 pin.
>
> It will be powering;
> K8nha grand with NF3 250Gb chipset
> AMD Athlon 64 2.1ghz 3000+
> Radeon 512Mb 1600 pro
> two sound cards (a sound blaster Audigy 2 and Echo, Darla )
> One DVD burner 16X16
> two maybe three case fans with LCD lights


I don't see any reason why you need anything near 500W. 300W is
probably plenty.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

That's not a good answer Ken Blake MVP. The PSU which Carey Frisch MVP
recommended would be a good choice since it is capable and well priced.

A PSU cannot be judged only on wattage, you also need to take into
consideration the efficiency, power output at normal operating temperature,
and most importantly, the amperage on the 12V rail.

Even though the PSU which Carey Frisch MVP recommended is only 70%
efficient, it's other specifications are ample enough that it would still be
capable.

If you want to help the environment, and lower your electricity bill then
you could try to find a PSU which runs at 80% efficiency or better. These
are normally more expensive so may not be worth your while. If you do take
this action, for the 80% efficient PSU, the minimum Wattage for your system
is 350W. The mimimum amperage on the 12V rail(s) is 20A.

Most current PSU's have two 12V rails. As a rule of thumb you can simply
add the amperages together. For example; the PSU which Ken Blake MVP
recommended has 12V1@14A and 12V2@15A, giving a total of 29A. This would be
suitable for your computer.

For more in depth details, some PSU reviews, and a forum dedicated to PSU's
you can follow this link.
http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index.p...=183&subpage=1

On 7-Aug-2007, =?Utf-8?B?Szggbm90c29ncmFuZA==?=
<K8notsogrand@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hi
> I've been surching the internet for a new power supply. And found that
> there's every thing from 300w to 1000w and with a wide price range.
> I don't know if I should stay with a 500w or can I go smaller like 465w or
>
> go bigger?
> I'm not planing to use two video cards or anything.
> maybe a second hard drive but nothing that would need 1000w's
>
> My old one was a 500w 20+4 pin.
>
> It will be powering;
> K8nha grand with NF3 250Gb chipset
> AMD Athlon 64 2.1ghz 3000+
> Radeon 512Mb 1600 pro
> two sound cards (a sound blaster Audigy 2 and Echo, Darla )
> One DVD burner 16X16
> two maybe three case fans with LCD lights

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 18:58:43 -0700, MrSlartybartfast
<MrSlartybartfast@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> That's not a good answer Ken Blake MVP. The PSU which Carey Frisch MVP
> recommended would be a good choice since it is capable and well priced.


I'm sure it's a good one. But it's not the only good one.


> A PSU cannot be judged only on wattage, you also need to take into
> consideration the efficiency, power output at normal operating temperature,
> and most importantly, the amperage on the 12V rail.


All true. But his question was about wattage. As I pointed out,
correctly, it's highly unlikely that he needs as much as 500W.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Gary" wrote:

>
> On 7-Aug-2007, =?Utf-8?B?Szggbm90c29ncmFuZA==?=
> <K8notsogrand@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi
> > I've been surching the internet for a new power supply. And found that
> > there's every thing from 300w to 1000w and with a wide price range.
> > I don't know if I should stay with a 500w or can I go smaller like 465w or
> >
> > go bigger?
> > I'm not planing to use two video cards or anything.
> > maybe a second hard drive but nothing that would need 1000w's
> >
> > My old one was a 500w 20+4 pin.
> >
> > It will be powering;
> > K8nha grand with NF3 250Gb chipset
> > AMD Athlon 64 2.1ghz 3000+
> > Radeon 512Mb 1600 pro
> > two sound cards (a sound blaster Audigy 2 and Echo, Darla )
> > One DVD burner 16X16
> > two maybe three case fans with LCD lights
>
> http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/
>Realy found this site very useful. Thank's

It is a bad idea to have a power supply which is running at maximum capacity.
If his computer is requiring 300W, then he should be buying a 400-500W power
supply. The question was what power supply he should buy, not how much power
he needs.