PSU question

[oxymoron]

how do i determine how much power i need for a cpu? i know that if the power suppy is not powerful enought, the system can become unstable, crash or the psu could become a very large paperweight. if you know of any good place for me to learn or you know yourself, pleaze post. thx

[BuddhaTB]

I would just go out and get a 400 watt powersupply. That should be good enough for your system. If you planning on having lots of drives and add-in cards, I would suggest maybe a 450 watt powersupply. But a 400 watt PSU should be fine. If you have the money, I would suggest getting a PSU from a respected company such as Antec or Enermax.

This thread can be helpful to you
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8508

[ryus]

I currently have a 300W PSU. Do you think that is enough for:

1 52X cdrom
1 48x CDRW
1 60GB Hd
1 10GB Hd

Hoping to add first:

ATI 9700Pro

and maybe in the summer:

16X DVDrom

????????

[TheWizard]

You're using a 300W power supply with that setup (P4 2.4GHz and all those drives)? I definitely recommend upgrading the PSU if you are going to include another IDE drive and especially if you are going to include a Radeon 9700.

[ryus]

So my 300W power supply would not be enough?? I mean even if when I play games, only one hard drive will be on, and all the other drives will not be used.

I'm sure if all my devices were on at the same time while I was playing an intense game it would not be enough juice.

So what do you think?

[BuddhaTB]

I think the 300 watt PSU, might be on the borderline of okay. If you have the extra money, I would definitely upgrade to a 400+ watt PSU. Just run the extra IDE drive and Radeon 9700 to see if your PSU is pumping out enough power. If your system starts to show signs of abnormal activity or frequent crashes or lock-ups, I would most definitely upgrade to a more powerful PSU. It's basically trial and error.

[ryus]

Thanks for the help guys.