New Hard Drive, Power Supply Question

[black_magiic]

Im going to be buying a new 300GB hard drive and my friend said my current power supply might not have enough juice to support it. I currently have a 350W power supply. I am also thinking of adding 1024MB of dual channel DDR400 RAM if that makes any difference. Any advice would be appreciated.

[DigitalJunkie]

That depends on how many devices are on your computer, but if you can afford a new power supply then more power is always better!

[black_magiic]

well I have a DVD-RW and a DVD-ROM aswell as a Radeon 9600PRO and a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

[hawkburn]

Yea it really depends on your processor, how many fans, hard drives, cd drives, types of PCI cards and your video card etc.

[black_magiic]

I have a P4 2.8Ghz with HT . So i guess my best bet would be just to get more power to be safe

[DigitalJunkie]

More power to you! :gj

[Siskabush]

My friend has a setup that is pretty identical to yours. He uses a 450W PSU and his machine runs great.

[crackerjacker]

I defintely would recommend you buy a 600 watt power supply. They are so cheap to buy off ebay.
It really does make the difference.
peace

[Siskabush]

hmm, also depends on how much you love your computer.

You can get the cheapo generic power supplies (450W for 30$), or get one by Superflower, enermax or FSP for 100+$. Enermax is the best of the best.

[hawkburn]

Just found this:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Should figure everything out.

[Omyn]

I dont like that one, you should calculate your power supply limit, and then multiply the wattag you received by 1.5, this will ensure proper power allocation throughout your computer even when it is running at peak, and helps protect against surges.

Remember some power supplies can be 500watts and still be garbage, go with name brands I dont know how many 500 watt power supplies I have in my closet that just dont put out the performance necessary for my computers.

Remember weight of the power supply is a big factor too, it shows the quality of the components inside as well as the size of the capacitors, the heavier the power supply the better.

I usually go with a power supply that weighs about 5 pounds otherwise I wont buy it, light power supplies are nothing but garbage dont get sucked into buying them, personally antec makes the best I have used and they have never let me down once, all my antecs have never had a malfunction.

Well best of luck to you, and it might be a good idea to buy wholesale www.pricewatch.com

[phalkon30]

Most likely you'll be able to run it, for a while. I'm assuming thats a cheap 350 that came with your case. I've seen so many of those just randomly die from being overstressed.

So basically, you can use it, but it won't last you that long. Be prepared to buy something in the future when it goes out.

[g-smooth2k]

Don't get a cheap Generic Power Supply
Bad thing to do - It won't last too long.

Get either Fortron Source (http://www.fortron-source.com/)/SPI - Sparkle Power Inc., Antec, Thermaltake, Enermax, Zalman or OCZ

Fortron Source (http://www.fspgroupusa.com/) & SPI - Sparkle Power Inc. (http://www.sparklepower.com/) are made of Great Quality along side with a good Reliability record.
It is also Cheap and Affordable. Heard lots of positive feedback about the Fortron's and the Sparkle's.

As far as hard drives are concerned get either a Western Digital Caviar (EIDE) / Raptor (Serial), or a Seagate (Barracuda; Ultra ATA; Serial ATA)

[hawkburn]

I've been using a 380 watt Antec that came with an Antec case I got awhile ago without problems on my:

Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz Northwood
1 GB DDR SDRAM
3 hard drives
2 cd/dvd/rw drives
Radeon 9800 xt 256mb
7 fans (diff sizes)

No problems. I did have one problem when I was playing a game and charging my ipod at the same time though. The mobo gave a series of beeps, and when I removed my pod it worked fine. I've been considering getting an Aspire ps like this: http://www.xoxide.com/500waassuuvr.html What do yall think?

[crackerjacker]

well its obvious when you buy a power supply u should buy a name brand one. if your in a desperate situation and dont have the money for an expensive one, a cheap one can be an alternative for like 2 months until u save up for one.

i have to agree an antec power supply is great quality. like i said not everyone has the money to buy an expensive one, so the cheap one can last them till they have the money for the nice one.

cheers

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

I bought an Antec after a previous one blew. With a new comp now, I hope to not need another one for a very long time. If I do, I'll prolly go with Antec again.

[Omyn]

Actually in our computer class we have tons of different manufacturers for hard drives, while only one or two of the westerns and maxtors are dead, we have over ten defective seagate drives.

But yes, my Antec has lasted me years, and I will never switch to anything else.

[hawkburn]

All I can say to this http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=24350 is wow.

If only it was more than 350 watts, I'd buy it.

[CompuGeek]

I'm using this (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-159-023&depa=0) power supply and recommend it.

Cheap, silent, and 18 amps on the 12 volt rail is plenty of power.

[Slycktom]

I've been building computers with the power supplies that come with the cases for years and have never really had a problem with them. As long as its 350 watts or higher, you should be ok. If you want to waste your money on the over hyped products, I'm sure you'll make the manufacturer very happy.