Power Supply Question

[MonkeyBlitch]

I recently purchased a Lexar 400 watt PSU from a local computer store. What is the switch on the front of the PSU for? I haven't used the PSU on a pc yet but I did buy it becuase it was cheaper than a Enermax 350 watt for $50. I will probably connect a Radeon 9500 Pro 128 MB DDR vid card and will it support this? Also where can I find out up to what Athlon cpu it supports? or does a 400 watt PSU support all? Thanks for your help.

[scott_d]

What switch are you talking about? Is it the red one? That one is the voltage selector and should be set accordingly to where you live..
If its black thats the power switch.
A 400 watt psu should support all of that, but I have never heard of "Lexar", so I cant comment on the quality of the power.
A 300 watt enermax or enlight would be better than a no-name generic 400 watt.
HTH

[MonkeyBlitch]

I never heard of it either, why do all I hear is to get a brand named PSU? Doesn't the PSU do is supply power to the computer hardware?

[Alaron]

Good brand names like Sparkle, Enlight, Antec and Enermax make better power supplies then no names. They supply cleaner power, and use heftier heatsinks and better quality wiring and capacitors so your components get the right amount of quality power. No name PSUs can be cheaply made with poor quality parts and are much more susceptible to failure.

[MonkeyBlitch]

I'm worried on the PSU I have. Should I just try it on the build and see if everything works fine?

[Alaron]

I wouldn't want to take the risk. It may be frustrating to have to buy a new PSU, but it will be even more frustrating to have to buy all new components after the PSU fails. Pick up a 350watt PSU from one of the brands I listed earlier.

[electrotech]

fact and fiction, both

[MonkeyBlitch]

Are you serious? If the PSU stops working it then fries all the computer hardware?

[scott_d]

it *can*, but it may or may not, depends on how lucky you are.
I've had 2 no name psu's die on me and they were the only thing that went, I am lucky. I finally got smart and bought an antec.

[Alaron]

Like Scott said, when a power supply fails it may or may not take hardware with it. It might just die by itself, it might take one or two components or the whole system. It depends on how the psu fails. I would not recommend taking the risk. Pick up a quality power supply and some peace of mind.

[MonkeyBlitch]

I decided to return the PSU and get me a Enermax 350watt PSU. I need to know if this PSU will support a Radeon 9500 pro vid card? Is 350 watt enough to power a high end system?

[scott_d]

350 watts will be just fine. Since it is a quality enermax, you should have no problems.

[MonkeyBlitch]

Check what this person wrote on the PSU:

Purchased this PSU a year and a half ago, it has never had any problems. Currently runs the following devices and never falls below rated voltage levels:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ @ 2.12GHz
Asus A7V8X @ 177Mhz FSB
1GB Crucial PC2700 @ 354MHz
ATi Radeon 9700 Pro @ 340/340
16X Lite On DVD-ROM
40x12x48 Lite On CD-RW
(2) 60GB Seagate Barracuda IV HDDs
120GB Seagate Barracuda V 8MB cache HDD
(5) 80mm 2900RPM fans

Voltage levels currently:

+12V = 12.576
+5V = 5.026
=3.3V = 3.392

Do not listen to people who tell you to get 400W+ power supplies. Those are only best used for servers running 6-8 SCSI HDDS and multiple processors. This 350W PSU powers my entire system even with all the overclocking I do and as you can see, voltage levels are above rated. I've used it to power my old 1GHz AMD Thunderbird AXIA @ 1.4GHz and my old AMD Athlon XP 1600+ @ 1.7GHz as well.

If you purchase a 400W+ PSU then you'll be wasting your money for a majority of the wattage will NEVER be used.

Is this true?

[Alaron]

Yes, its true that 400+ watt power supplies are overkill. As long as you have a quality unit, such as Enermax, a 300 or 350watt is plenty to run high powered systems. The 350 that you bought will be plenty for your computer.

[MonkeyBlitch]

Thanks for your help!

[glc]

For all but high end SCSI systems, I use $24 300 watt Enlight power supplies and have ZERO problems.

[krokadil]

I know that people are particular about sticking to the major brands - with good reason - but certain other brands can do you just fine as well. Just make sure to go to the AMD website and put in your processor to see what PSU's are recommended.

My cheap case came with a cheap Codegen PSU that I will replace when I get the money, but it is recommended on the AMD site so I'm not too worried about it exploding.

Yet.

[Cricket]

Originally posted by krokadil
I know that people are particular about sticking to the major brands - with good reason - but certain other brands can do you just fine as well. Just make sure to go to the AMD website and put in your processor to see what PSU's are recommended.Just remember that DEER brand power supplies are also on the AMD recommended PSU list...not very comforting if you ask me.

:) Cricket