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Power Wattage

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by aakash shah 1 view

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I recently discovered that my branded computer has only 250 watts as its power supply. I wanted to know if this may be insufficient. This is my current computer configuration:
P4 2.4
512 rd-ram
2 - 120 gb hdd's (the computer came with 1, and I added the second one)
DVD-Rom
CD-RW
128 mb nVidia ti 4600 graphics card
santa cruz dsp sound card
NIC card
floppy drive
4 usb 2.0 ports (no firewire)

If 250 watts is insufficient, then how can I support my claim, i.e. where can I find information that says that 250 watts is insufficient?

Thanks a lot!

14 replies

by dmiles

The power supply rating to efficiently provide power to the hardware installed should at least be a 350W minimum and 400W maximum,with the 250W it would be insufficient to maintain running at the configuration of your system.
Check for support at any hardware site such as
www.tomshardware.com

by aakash shah

Thanks for responding dmiles. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any solid evidence to support my claim. If you were referring to a specific article, could you please post the link for that?
Thanks.

by lbsmusica2

The computers power supply needs enough power to use the system factory defaults.Adding any components,hardware or upgrades must be done with sufficient power.Is this all you have added?Log on to the computers web site to verify that 250 watts (ATX)I gathered is a sufficient amount of power require for 2 120 gb hd.I blew a 350 power supply with a 20gb hd,and everything else.My opinion NO.

by aakash shah

Thanks for responding doksplan. Unfortunately, I need some some convincing evidence to support this claim. Can you suggest any sources where I can get this support from?

Thanks

by djent

It is accepted general knowledge that P4 class machines need 350+ watt power supplies. You can either accept this crumb of knowledge or continue your quest for "documentation". As responders to your questions we have no obligation to provide documentation to support our opinions.

by aakash shah

Thank you for responding djent. I was convinces myself that I need more wattage also, but without support for this claim, I cannot do much. Also, my question stated that I need this support because I cannot not simply cite one's words as support.

Thanks.

by bughunter

Try
www.upgradesource.com/advice/advice061001.html
or
www.pcpowercooling.com/maxpc/index_cases.htm
(or go to www.pcpowercooling.com and use the appropriate link).

If you go to the pcpowercooling home site and use the link for their power supply selection wizard you will find that they recommend a 275W power supply. The wizard does not account for all of the hardware that you listed. To be very accurate you would have to find the max current load that each item draws under max performance conditions and then calculate the total wattage used and of course add a standard safety factor...good luck there.

My guess is that your power supply is the standard supply that is included for that box/drive/motherboard style but the manufacturer did not account for the your unique configuration. Hopefully you can use the recommended standards that the above websites use and prove to the manufacturer that they should upgrade your power supply.

by dmiles

Make sure you use a PSU that has enough power for your P4 board. I would
not recommend anything less than 275 watts, like this Silencer model. But
this would only allow you to minimal P4 system, with these limitations:

No more than 2 hard disks.

No more than 3 cards (audio, video, NIC).

No more than 2 CD-ROM devices (CD-R/W, CD-ROM).

Only one P4 CPU.

CPU cooler required.

Case fans required, both intake (lower front) and exhaust (top rear).

by tech_wiz03

Ok since you seem bent on proof pick yourself a copy of introductory circuit anaylsis by the merill publishing company ( a bell and howell company) out of columbus ohio and do the engineering math section on fanouts and loads of switching power circuits. The book should cost you about $60 US and take about 5 hours to do the calculus on all the devices.

The above people are 100% correct the load that you are putting your system under far exceeds tolerances. The power is a factor of current draw times voltage or P=EI and on the given info your system needs 308 watts at idle and with everything at peek needs 367 watts.

Solution:
Buy a cabinet and powersupply of ATX variety available most everywhere for $30 to $50 and transfer your syetem components. Buying the powersupply allone will run you about $50. make sure to pay attention to the rating when you make
your putchase.

hope this helps
Rick at alltechdevelopment.netfirms.com

by tech_wiz03

Also note that removing the second 120GB harddisk from the system will drop you to with-in the +/-10% rating of your current power supply such that the manufacturer supplied system as shipped without modification although running maxed out is acceptable.

by kinetechs

Here's some supporting information. If you research each component with the manufacturer, you'll probably be able to get more acurate results but you'll be doing a lot of work. Amps x voltes = watts.

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/maxpc/index_cases.htm

Remember to take out any spaces added to the URL. And, as always, all comments appreciated!

~Sean

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