Decent Power Supply

Hi , i've just got a new p.c and the current power supply that came with the p.c is 300w.

I have ;

Processor : 5000+ x2 dual core
RAM : 2GB RAM
Graphics card : Nvidia 7950 GT
Drives : 2 DVD/CD R/W
Harddrive : 500GB
Soundcard : X-Fi Fatal1ty

Will 300w be enough to supply my p.c or do I need a new one , if so could someone post a link to a few ones that would enable my p.c to perform at it's fullest potential.
THANKS , ellis

 

There might be some power issues with the 7950GT, mostly amperage, not voltage though. The best way to test this is to plug it all in and see what happens, if there is a problem; buy a new PSU. There's absolutely no harm in testing. In the instance that this is not going to be a hefty enough PSU, I suggest purchasing a Thermaltake Toughpower (Personal Favorite)

 

IMHO a 300w power supply is barely enough to run a basic PC with one HD, one CD/DVD, one FDD, on board video/audio. You'll find that most of the higher end video cards generally have a minimum recommended power supply specification, and it's usually 450w. Some of the mid-grade cards recommend a 350w minimum.

 

Get this. Made by pc power & cooling (one of if not the best PSU manufacturer) is extremely powerful (can run dual 8800gtx's in SLi) which means future proofed and its marked down from $250 to just $160 plus free shipping.

 

Usually, power supplies that come with cases or prebuilt systems are not very good supplies. Unless you bought an Antec case that came with an Antec supply, I wouldn't trust it for long. One of the problems is that when these inferior supplies blow they often take the motherboard with them. Modders call these supplies that come with an inexpensive case "throw aways". Any brand name supply thats at least 500 - 600watt will be fine for you, you don't have to go that high but it leaves you room for expansion (added hard drives and beefier graphics etc.).

Don't pitch that 300 watter though, keep it around for testing purposes and as a spare if you need one. Or you can hook up a bunch of fans to it and point them at you in the summer for extra cooling of your face.

 

My advice, use that one as a test unit. Never go cheap on the power supply. Never. Keep this in mind, it powers all things. So if it is junk, it can kill any and/or all of your computer's parts.

E