Power Supply

[Drummer4Life05]

How important is a powerful power supply? Here's the PC I will be building in a couple weeks:
Asus A7V600-X Mobo
AMD Athlon XP 2600+
1GB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
20GB HDD for OS
80GB HDD for Audio/Backup

I have selected a 400 Watt power supply. Is it really necessary to use 400W? Can I get by with a 350W?

I want this PC to last a couple years [at least], and I'm sure I can always upgrade the PSU. But I would rather spend the extra $$$ now for the 400W than buy another PSU next year.

Thanks guys,
Justin

 

[distortedrumble]

go with 400.....you never know how much power you'll end up needing and sometimes an extra 50 watts is what it takes. i was using a 300w supply on a 950mhz duron 256 pc133 sdram 20 gb system and when i had 8 tracks going, it started to tax the power pretty good. i was running cakewalk guitar tracks 2 with eqs and compressions on channels.. if you can afford 400 then go ahead and get....plus if you decide to upgrade parts of your system, your video or sound card, or processor may need more power

 

[Drummer4Life05]

Exactly what I was thinking.
Good to know someone else seconds my ideas.

Thanks!!

 

[Anthony]

This point alone : I’ll take 400W,350W or 500W

This means nothing.

Without merits of electrical capabilities and efficiency data those designations are nothing but declaration.

For Chieftec or Enermax and few (just a few) others 350W is 350W, but for many unregulated off-the shelf PSU 350 could mean a whole much less.

How much long can no-name PSU efficiently hold that value, what under peaks?

Making savings on PSU is always reflecting inexperienced users who often receive penalty of system stability, better said lack of it

PSU is very foundation of your system, should be treated as you treat you CPU with fan. It is the very essence for stable work.

Statistics show that more then 60% unexpected and uncertain system freezes comes from inadequate or defective PSU.

Best value for quality is Chieftec and Top Gear would be Enermax, still none are silent like Chieftec 420W, it was built as ultra silent priority.

 

[bleyrad]

In addition, consdering that the computer will be used for recording, look for a PSU with "Active PFC," as this smooths the load on your circuits and highly reduces the chance of noise on nearby amps and such.

 

[Drummer4Life05]

In addition, consdering that the computer will be used for recording, look for a PSU with "Active PFC," as this smooths the load on your circuits and highly reduces the chance of noise on nearby amps and such.

Cool, thanks for the tip!

But, what does that mean?? [Active PFC]

-Justin

 

[muskgrave]

POWA!

if you're a game junkie keep in mind the new geforce 6800 is supposed to have HUGE power requirements...

dlv

 

[Drummer4Life05]

Re: POWA!

if you're a game junkie keep in mind the new geforce 6800 is supposed to have HUGE power requirements...

dlv

Nope, no games for me!
But thanks though.