300 Watts Powersupply for Athlon64 + Radeon 9800Pro?
 

I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:

Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS

plus the CPU fan, motherboard fan, the the fan for the power supply.


I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

The saleslady at the PC store I visited insisted that I'll need a
350-Watt power supply to go with all the other things I bought. I
told her I already had a 300-Watt power supply at home.

On 29 Sep 2004 03:14:17 -0700, (Opticreep) wrote:

I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

The trouble is that PSU's vary greatly in quality and output. You may
get away with your 300W supply and you could try it, but if you find
your PC is unstable then a PSU upgrade would be high on the list of
solutions.
--
Andrew, contact via interpleb.blogspot.com
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.

On 29 Sep 2004 03:14:17 -0700, (Opticreep) wrote:

I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:

Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS

plus the CPU fan, motherboard fan, the the fan for the power supply.


I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

The saleslady at the PC store I visited insisted that I'll need a
350-Watt power supply to go with all the other things I bought. I
told her I already had a 300-Watt power supply at home.

If it's just a cheap generic you may have issues with it. Only way to
find out is to try it, if you get powering up issues, reboots or
freezes go out and get yourself a decent 400w or higher. Something
like an Antec, Sparkle or Zalman PSU.

"Opticreep" wrote in message
om...
I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:

Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS

plus the CPU fan, motherboard fan, the the fan for the power supply.


I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

The saleslady at the PC store I visited insisted that I'll need a
350-Watt power supply to go with all the other things I bought. I
told her I already had a 300-Watt power supply at home.


A word of warning - the last time I pushed my luck with a generic 300W PSU,
when it eventually did break down it destroyed the motherboard in the
process! Given that you're bound to eventually upgrade past the capacity of
your current supply at some point in the future, and that a reasonable
350-400w psu is cheaper than most new motherboards, I'd upgrade now and not
take the risk.

Tom

Opticreep wrote:
I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:

Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS

plus the CPU fan, motherboard fan, the the fan for the power supply.


I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

The saleslady at the PC store I visited insisted that I'll need a
350-Watt power supply to go with all the other things I bought. I
told her I already had a 300-Watt power supply at home.

NEVER trust the advice of a salesman! They are paid to sell, so always make
independent enquiries! She may however be right, but the only way to find
out is to try it with the 300w PSU and replace it if need be.


--
Remove ".invalid" and replace with ".co.uk" to reply

"Opticreep" wrote in message
om...
I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:
Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS
plus the CPU fan, motherboard fan, the the fan for the power supply.
I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

That might be a bad idea. You probably have a $20 PSU which will power your
~$1000 configuration. You don't have to be drastic, branded 300W PSU would
be enough, you can take a 350W one just to have more spare room for future
upgrades (DVD-RW, more HDs, stronger CPU/GPU). Enermax, Antec or smth.

"Mr. Slow" wrote in message
...
Opticreep wrote:
NEVER trust the advice of a salesman! They are paid to sell, so always
make
independent enquiries! She may however be right, but the only way to find
out is to try it with the 300w PSU and replace it if need be.

And risk that if it gets burned, it goes with a bigger bang?

Mr. Slow wrote:
Opticreep wrote:

I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:

Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS

plus the CPU fan, motherboard fan, the the fan for the power supply.


I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

The saleslady at the PC store I visited insisted that I'll need a
350-Watt power supply to go with all the other things I bought. I
told her I already had a 300-Watt power supply at home.


NEVER trust the advice of a salesman! They are paid to sell, so always make
independent enquiries! She may however be right, but the only way to find
out is to try it with the 300w PSU and replace it if need be.

*sigh* I'd like to make a comment about how crap your advice is, but I'm
just too apathetic right now. **** off though, will you?


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

Opticreep wrote:

I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:

Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS



since your spending all that money why not spend the extra 60 - 100
dollars and get a nice new case and power supply, then you wont have
anything to worry about.


--
DalienX

"Opticreep" wrote in message
om...
I'm building a gaming computer with the following parts:

Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
Socket 754 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card
1 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CDROM Drive
Audigy 2 ZS

plus the CPU fan, motherboard fan, the the fan for the power supply.


I already own a computer case with a *generic* 300W power supply.
When I upgrade my PC with the parts I listed above, will the 300-Watt
power supply suffice? Or would that be a very bad idea?

The saleslady at the PC store I visited insisted that I'll need a
350-Watt power supply to go with all the other things I bought. I
told her I already had a 300-Watt power supply at home.

The last PSU I had was a generic 400watt unit that ran a XP2400
with 512mb sdram and geforce4 plus 2 Hdds and DVD and CDRW.
It lasted 12 months and when it died it took the Mobo and Ram with it.
Now I use a decent branded 450watt model for the same setup except
its a Radeon 9700 instead of the GF4. My advice should be obvious ...