Power Question

I'm wondering if I'll have enough power before go off and buy some upgrades. I hope someone can help.

My Current Setup:

Motherboard Name
Asus K8N-E Deluxe (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

CPU Type
AMD Athlon 64, 2533 MHz (12 x 211) (Socket 754 - 3700+ Clawhammer)

System Memory
2560 MB (DDR SDRAM) (2 - 1GB Corsair XMS 2.5CAS, 1 - 512MB Corsair XMS 2.5 CAS)

Video Adapter
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT (256 MB) - XFX

Disk Drives
ST3250823AS (250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA) - Seagate Barraccuda 250GB SATA
WDC WD1200JB-75FUA0 (111 GB, IDE) - Western Digital 120MB IDE Slave

Optical Drive
NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A - NEC 16x DVD +/- RW

I also have 5 80mm case fans.

Current Power Supply:
COOLER MASTER Real Power RS-450-ACLX ATX12V 450W Power Supply Nemko / TUV / cUL / CE / BSMI - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171005

The upgrade I'm looking to do is to add a 400GB Seagate Barraccuda SATA harddrive. I would like to keep the IDE if possible, but wouldn't mind dumping it. I also have another DVD burner I would like to hook up. Would all of this be overkill or should I upgrade the power supply before I order anything else? I know I can just order it an see if it stops working, but if I have to shell out for a power supply I'm going to wait a couple weeks before I order anything. Either way it doesn't really matter. Best guesses of how far I could push the current PSU are welcome.

 

it should be ok. Have you checked your voltage rails in the BIOS? if everything looks good then don't worry about upgrading. 450w is a good size to have. I would check your +12, +3, and +5 v rails. after adding the extra parts and if everything is right around where they should be then you are golden. the voltages can be a bit higher or lower and that is perfectly ok.

 

Thanks for the response. Much appreciated. Current voltage with Windows running and stable:

Voltage Values
CPU Core - 1.54 V
+3.3 V - 3.25 V
+5 V - 4.92 V
+12 V - 11.90 V

 

that looks normal. now add in your stuff and recheck. you should be good though. Good luck.

 

Thanks

 

Here's a nice little calculator to give you an idea of wattage being used...

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