How much power do I need? 250W/300W/400W?

[scourge]

Building a system based on a KT133A mobo with probably a Duron 750 or maybe a 1Ghz TBird (266). Voodoo4, DVD, CDRW, SBLive, etc. Anyway, there's quite a price difference b/n a 250W ATX case and a 300W one especially "AMD Approved". What do I really need?

[Bsdboy]

Go for one that's AMD Approved you will save yourself from problems in the future.

Bsdboy

[Kuasimodem]

Part of the AMD approval is the wattage, and part is the current capabilities of the 5V standby power (can't remember where I read it, now). Most Thunderbird/Duron systems require at least 1A on the 5V standby source.

I would go for the biggest AMD approved power supply that you can afford, that way when you add more stuff to your system (fans, drives, killer vid card...) you will have the power reserves to handle it.

The other thing is, if you have a 250W PS, and your system is constantly using 180-220W of power, it's like running your car's engine at 5000 RPMs all the time. If you have a 400W PS and drawing the same amount of power, it's just loafing along and is going to last a lot longer, less stress on the components.

<edit> I just noticed, this is post number 400 for me! (think I'm online too much?)

[This message has been edited by Kuasimodem (edited 06-18-2001).]

[Atomic Rooster]

To be safe, you should go for the 300w case. I've seen too many probs with under powered systems on many of these message boards. My system runs fine with a generic 300w PSU, but if you can swing it, get the "AMD Approved" PSU.

[This message has been edited by Atomic Rooster (edited 06-18-2001).]

[muno]

Thanks for the info on what 'amd approved' means kuasi =)
-M

[linux_guru]

It depends how much gear you hang off it, as to how much power you need. I have a 1G Tbird, 3 HDD, 2 CDR, Tape, scsi, etc. with a 350W PSU. For an AMD system, 300W is probably the minimum requirement.