How much power (in watts) do I need ?

[Jon]

The PC Spec is;

MSI 875p motherboard with Intel pentium 2.8Ghz FSB processor

MSI Geforce FX5900 128mb graphics card

120gb Serial ATA hard disk & old 20gb

2 x 512mb high speed memory.

Would a 300w power supply cover it, or would 400w be better?

Most cases seem to come with 300w, but I'd rather be sure & haven't a clue what these things draw/need, etc

Ta!

 

[Iain Hogg]

I would think that 300W should cover it, but if you then start adding extra cards, CD and DVD drives.....

I'd go for the 400W if it is a reasonable price, the less stress put on it, the less it is likely yo overheat a year from now when the fan is clogged with dust!

 

[Jon]

Doh! Forgot to add, will have cd-rw etc.

400w it is then..........

 

[cookie]

get a decent quality psu from antec, enermax or similar. try here

with that set up i'd want 400w to be on the safe side, though you will probably get away with 350w if you get a quality psu. with some cheapo power supplies, you can suffer voltage variations which will cause havoc with stability. bin there, done that thankyou chieftec

i've read good reports of the antec sonata. only 380w but said to be very quiet.

you get what you pay for, though i've heard the q-tec stuff listed above is pretty good if you're on a budget.

 

[Jon]

Cheers boys

All sorted now