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| maxstradamus |
I believe I fried my power supply and I need to get a new one asap. So I turn to you fellow TA's.
Basically I was wondering what's the difference between 300W, 400W and 500W ATX power supplies.
I'm pretty sure that I fried it because I had too much stuff pluged in to one outlet but I could be wrong. The fact is that the computer is not responding to anything. I hit the power button, it doesn't do . And there is no light on the motherboard to check if it's getting any power. (I know, motherboard)
So, is 500W better than 300W? Why? and most importantly why is 500W cheaper than 300W?
I would post it in the help forum but it seems like noone goes there. Help, I can't live without my comp. |
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| Resnick |
im not sure about this, but..
the lower the power supply the better, because it heats up less, and uses up less electricity
but some motherboards and whatever need the higher power, so make sure u know the minimum power to use
also i think higher power supplies cost more, the reason ur 500w one costs less is prob cuz its bad quality and 300w is good quality
but um..i may not know what im talking about to...yaa..... |
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| xtr3m |
Most people seem to think that power supply is the least important part. I was one of them.
Doing a research about a month ago I stumbled on a great forum post by a guy who worked many years for army as an IT professional dealing with hardware problems. He said that not less than 80% of ALL problems he had to deal with were caused by a faulty, low quality power supplies.
So, if you want to be sure that the blue screens you're getting are not because of a piece of PS, I have two tips for you: buy something that gives a STABLE output, in other words a good brand (Antec and Enermax to name a few), and something that is powerfull enough for your needs (use this to determine your needs: http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/). |
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| caddyshack |
| quote: | Originally posted by maxstradamus
I believe I fried my power supply and I need to get a new one asap. So I turn to you fellow TA's.
Basically I was wondering what's the difference between 300W, 400W and 500W ATX power supplies.
I'm pretty sure that I fried it because I had too much stuff pluged in to one outlet but I could be wrong. The fact is that the computer is not responding to anything. I hit the power button, it doesn't do . And there is no light on the motherboard to check if it's getting any power. (I know, motherboard)
So, is 500W better than 300W? Why? and most importantly why is 500W cheaper than 300W?
I would post it in the help forum but it seems like noone goes there. Help, I can't live without my comp. |
i think the real question here is how are you posting about a broken computer if your computer is broken? LIAR! :eek: |
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| Dr. Cfire |
| quote: | Originally posted by Resnick
im not sure about this, but..
the lower the power supply the better, because it heats up less, and uses up less electricity
but some motherboards and whatever need the higher power, so make sure u know the minimum power to use
also i think higher power supplies cost more, the reason ur 500w one costs less is prob cuz its bad quality and 300w is good quality
but um..i may not know what im talking about to...yaa..... |
Damn it no, just no.
A higher wattage power supply is good. If you want to attach a lot drives and other stuff into your computer you are going to need a higher wattage ps.
Just go with a good quality atx compatable, 350W power supply. |
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| Tranc3 |
Ok...for 99% of people out there, they only need their PSU to output 100W, max. Except then you don't have much of a safety margin, and they don't really make PSU's under 300W anymore. The only time you'd need anything higher than a 300W PSU is if you have multiple processors, or a power-hungry cooling system...something along those lines. No, 8 drives (be they optical or hard) is not enough to warrant a more powerful PSU. I've spoken with some engineers in this industry, and the only reason these 350, 400, 450, 500, even 600+ watt units are out there is because the company can charge you more for it. Not only that, but they've managed to convince many people (including some techie friends of mine) that computers nowadays need more wattage than that supplied by a 300W unit.
If you're wondering how much power your CPU takes up, which for many of you will be the most power-hungry object connected to your mobo, there's a chart somewhere on the net. Ok that's not really fair...take my comp into consideration - I'm running an Athlon XP 3000+ and it only takes up 60-70 watts. Anything more powerful than what I have will not take up more than about 10 more watts.
Wattage does not correlate to quality. Think of it this way - does more horsepower automatically mean your engine is going to be more stable? More reliable? More durable? Quality has to do with the manufacturer. AMD has a listing of recommended PSUs on their site...I'm sure Intel probably has the same. |
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| vasyachkin |
i paid about $70 for my power supply. its a 450 watt Antec with dual continuously-variable-speed fans that are controlled by an internal thermostat. it spins the fans at the lowest possible speed to lower the noise.
do i need 450 watt ? no. do the extra watts hurt me ? no. extra power = extra safety margin.
given that you buy ENOUGH power, quality is more important than wattage. i would rather have a 300 watt Antec power supply than a 500 watt generic one. a quality power supply has better voltage regulation, it will also be underrated while a cheapo garbage will be overrated so there actual power difference will not be as much as you think. |
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| maxstradamus |
Thanks for the link...helped a lot.
I was gonna buy a generic PS but since u guys say that it's so critical, I'll go with some quality brand. Does Best Buy handle Antec or Enermax?
Are there any other quality brands?
One that got fried was jus some piece of unknown brand but what I liked about it, was that it had lots of output connectors. I have quiet a few cooling fans inside.
Thx for all your help.
P.S
caddyshack, one that i'm using now is company's comp. |
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