Political Crossfire Forums

[Demonic Spoon]

Hey folks. I am thinking of building a computer, I have a question.

Power supplies: what do I look for? What do I need/want in a power supply? Moreover, will this power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007

Work for a new computer?

[Melcar]

How "big" will the computer be? What I mean is, will it be a hardcore gaming rig type or a web surfing and some word processing type PC?
When looking at a PSU, the important specs. to look for are total watts and the amperage on the individual rails (12V, 5V, 3.3V), with the 12V rating being the most important (the higher the better of course); http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.asp?Image=17%2D171%2D007%2D09%2Ejpg%2C17%2D171%2D007%2D02%2Ejpg%2C17%2D171%2D007%2D03%2Ejpg%2C17%2D171%2D007%2D04%2Ejpg%2C17%2D171%2D007%2D05%2Ejpg%2C17%2D171%2D007%2D06%2Ejpg%2C17%2D171%2D007%2D07%2Ejpg%2C17%2D171%2D007%2D08%2Ejpg&CurImage=17%2D171%2D007%2D04%2Ejpg&Description=COOLER+MASTER+eXtreme+Power+RS%2D430%2DPMSR%2FP++430W+Power+Supply+%2D+Retail
The PSU you show would be adecuate for a low/middle end "mainstream PC".

[PricklySponge]

You need to state the computers supposed specs.

A PSU is one of the last things you want to skimp out on. It essentially holds the power [pun intended] of life and death over the rest of your computer.

[Demonic Spoon]

P4, dual core 3 ghz...

1 gig ram

Geforce 7300 GT 256 mb. of onboard memory.

[PricklySponge]

For a mid quality build I would go with an XClio 450BL -- That's probably the cheapest think you're gonna wanna touch.

[PricklySponge]

The Xclio should be fine. If you want to go with something a bit more expensive you could get something from seasonic. Here's a great thread,

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=4146

A benchmark done at toms hardware.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/11/stress_test/index.html

[Melcar]

Demonic Spoon wrote: P4, dual core 3 ghz...

1 gig ram

Geforce 7300 GT 256 mb. of onboard memory.

For that I would recommend this;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954
or this one for future profing (in case you decide to add "hungrier" components latter on);
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101021

Good PSU brands are Antec, Enermax, FSP (both PSUs I link to are Fortons), Hyper, and OCZ, and maybe even Ultra (just avoid their modular models).

[Gus]

Just, whatever you do, don't buy one of those $10 500w power supplies. When it comes to PSUs, you pretty much get what you pay for.

[pete]

Demonic Spoon wrote: Hey folks. I am thinking of building a computer, I have a question.

Power supplies: what do I look for? What do I need/want in a power supply? Moreover, will this power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007

Work for a new computer?

For starter one of the reviewers at that weblink said that his PSU burned out on him after 4 weeks so thats not a good sign to start off with. As far as wattage i'd go 500 / 550 with dual fans and make sure that the damned thing has some weight to it. Expect to pay between $75 - $100 for something that wont let you down.

Good Luck,

Pete

[PricklySponge]

pete wrote: Demonic Spoon wrote: Hey folks. I am thinking of building a computer, I have a question.

Power supplies: what do I look for? What do I need/want in a power supply? Moreover, will this power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007

Work for a new computer?

For starter one of the reviewers at that weblink said that his PSU burned out on him after 4 weeks so thats not a good sign to start off with. As far as wattage i'd go 500 / 550 with dual fans and make sure that the damned thing has some weight to it. Expect to pay between $75 - $100 for something that wont let you down.

Good Luck,

Pete he does not need 500 watts

[Melcar]

PricklySponge wrote: pete wrote: Demonic Spoon wrote: Hey folks. I am thinking of building a computer, I have a question.

Power supplies: what do I look for? What do I need/want in a power supply? Moreover, will this power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007

Work for a new computer?

For starter one of the reviewers at that weblink said that his PSU burned out on him after 4 weeks so thats not a good sign to start off with. As far as wattage i'd go 500 / 550 with dual fans and make sure that the damned thing has some weight to it. Expect to pay between $75 - $100 for something that wont let you down.

Good Luck,

Pete he does not need 500 watts

For the type of system he plans to build, anything above 450W is overkill.

[FCTE]

Demonic Spoon wrote: P4, dual core 3 ghz...

1 gig ram

Geforce 7300 GT 256 mb. of onboard memory.

I would get a good brand name like Antec, a 450 Watt, and just make sure it has the connections you need. If your graphics card is PCI Express you need the PCI power connector, and if you use SATA drives and they didn't come with both the SATA power connector and the standard power connector, you need the SATA power connectors.

[PricklySponge]

Melcar wrote: PricklySponge wrote: pete wrote: Demonic Spoon wrote: Hey folks. I am thinking of building a computer, I have a question.

Power supplies: what do I look for? What do I need/want in a power supply? Moreover, will this power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007

Work for a new computer?

For starter one of the reviewers at that weblink said that his PSU burned out on him after 4 weeks so thats not a good sign to start off with. As far as wattage i'd go 500 / 550 with dual fans and make sure that the damned thing has some weight to it. Expect to pay between $75 - $100 for something that wont let you down.

Good Luck,

Pete he does not need 500 watts

For the type of system he plans to build, anything above 450W is overkill. pretty much.... a good 430-450 watt PSU will work fine.