250 or 300 watt power supply

[GPo]

How do I know if a 250 watt power supply is enough ? At what point do I need to go to a 300 watt? Do some devices quit working or will I get lock ups. How can I tell ?
GPo

[Nightweaver]

It really depends on how many devices you have hooked up... Generally, 250W is fine if you're only running one hd, cd-rom, and a couple of cards. If you want to make sure you have enough juice for any upgrades, etc., I would go with a 300W.

[NavyDood_ F/A18_Mech]

I my old case with a 250W power supply. this is what I had:

Mobo with celeron 366 overclocked to 458
3-Fans on the heatsink for the CPU
1-hard drive
1-cdrom
1-CDBurner
1-56K modem
1-S/B Live sound card
1-ATI vid card
2-Voodoo2 vid cards SLI'd
2-Vid card fans. one on each card
1-3" fan cooling the hard drive

I never had a problem with the 250W power supply in it.

OH CHIT.... I forgot to mention that it is was a Antec powersupply. I don't know how well a cheap $20 250W power supply would have done. Thanks Dave2......

Jim




[This message has been edited by NavyDood_ F/A18_Mech (edited 04-10-2000).]

[Dave2]

Not only does the amount of watts matter but also the quality of power supply. Antec and Vextrec make good quality power supplies.