Decent power supply ratings...

Some One wrote:

Just wondering if anyone out there has put together a Javascript page
that lets users select their hardware and get and estimated power
requirement.

Try this page:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/produc...ctor/index.htm

Keep in mind that their recommendations are regarding *premium* PSUs,
and you should not attempt to try a cheap PSU with the same "rating."

When I was shopping for a power supply on ebay I came across this from a
vendor. It may or might not be slightly overkill, but if there's only $20
difference (shopping around) between a 300w ps and a 430w ps I'd rather be
safe than sorry.

"Unfortunately most major computer companies like Dell and Gateway only
have a 250-300 Watt Power Supplies w/ their Desktops. Below is an example
of what the some components draw from the power supply."

It could be the way they rate them. Look at some of the speaker systems.
Some have been rated for 50 to 100 watts and are powered by a small wall
cube. No way. Compair their sound to a real 50 watt sound system in an
entertainment center. At work we have about 300 Dells and they have very
small supplies but they stay on 24 hours a day and seldom crash or die.

"Some One" wrote in message .ca...

I've got an ATX supply here with the following ratings:

+ 3.3 - 14A + 5.0 - 25A +12.0 - 10A - 5.0 - .5A

...yes, this is a crappy RESCON 250watt supply.

- AMD 2000+ XP chip - 2 IDE drives (60gig each)
- CDRW - Geforce 2GTS video
- Gig of DDR memory - SBLive sound
- 10/100 PCI NIC

If the mobo has a square 4-pin connector or a 4-pin drive connector,
then it uses the +12V rail for the CPU power and may draw 6-8A from
it, perhaps leaving too little for the HDs and CD-RW. The +3.3V rail
may have to put out 12A. But if the mobo doesn't have that 4-pin
connector it may draw 15-18A from the +5V rail.

I once tried to run a 1.3 GHz AMD Duron from a really bad 250W PSU and
without any drives, and it would always shut down in 30 seconds, but
it was able to power a 1.7 GHz Celeron with one 5400 RPM HD and a
CD-ROM. I used that PSU only for testing and switched to a
high-quality 300W for normal use.