Power advice

[indigodream]

Hello All,

I've assembled a list of components I intend to use to assemble my PC. I'd like to know what power I need from the PSU, bearing in mind I'll be using the onboard graphics.

The list is:
CPU - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=632503
Motherboard - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=576193
Memory - either 2 of http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=121624
or http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpar...CF8BCDA5CA7304
(I've notice Crucial is more expensive - does this equal better quality?)

I'll be using my old hard drives - 2x Seagate 200GB - and a Lite-On DVD writer + floppy drive. If you'd like me to give exact model numbers, let me know. (I might add another hard drive on the future.)

So my question is, how much power will these require? A friend told me 500w, but that sounds quite a lot.

Many thanks.

[TwoRails]

Hi indigodream,

Welcome to PC Mechanic !!

You're suspicions are correct: a 500W unit is way overkill. For onboard video, one HD, one optical, a quality 250 - 300W unit would be plenty, though I personally don't like to go under 350 for a little breathing room and being able to add other stuff later on.

Look at the stickies here:

http://forum.pcmech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

It's some good reading on PSs.

HTH

TwoRails

[telegramsam]

To answer your RAM question; Corsair is excellent RAM. Don't know if the Crucial is necessarily better. If the Corsair is better priced, it's a better deal.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by indigodream Memory - either 2 of http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=121624 or http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpar...CF8BCDA5CA7304 (I've notice Crucial is more expensive - does this equal better quality?)

No, Crucial is not better than Corsair...same quality and reliability from both. Crucial is more expensive because of the name recognition factor.

Originally Posted by indigodream So my question is, how much power will these require? A friend told me 500w, but that sounds quite a lot.

You could get by with a good quality 350 watt PSU but you might want to get a 400 watt PSU just for the extra headroom.

Cricket

[Devastator]

Scan is pretty expensive you might want to compare with some other UK sites I use:

www.ebuyer.com
www.novatech.co.uk
www.overclockers.co.uk

Sometimes www.dabs.com has good deals too.

[freakitchen]

If you don't plan on adding a powerful dedicated video card, this unit will do you fine:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=468726

If you want that option, this would be a better choice:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=644038

In regard to your other parts, I'd suggest using faster RAM for an AM2 system. You might also consider getting 2GB, with the price of RAM as low as it is:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=255300

In regard to shop choice, I'd be quite happy to shop at Scan.co.uk - but ebuyer *might* give you cheaper prices overall. Whichever you choose, it makes sense to buy everything from one shop if possible, so you don't have to pay multiple shipping costs.

[indigodream]

Thank you all for the advice - it's very helpful.

[Dominion]

One thing

Are your old drives SATA or IDE?

There is only one IDE slot on that board and your DVD drive will need it.

You may need something like this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...036&doy=search

Here is a cheaper one: (ebay has them to)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124850

Prob better to hook windows install harddrive to the IDE slot and put convertor on your storage drive and DVD-Rom.

[freakitchen]

Dominion makes a good point about the hard drives, but, if your old drives are indeed IDE, I'd suggest going for a motherboard with a slightly older chipset - this ASUS has all the main features of the Gigabyte you picked, but benefits from 2xIDE ports. I've seen problems occur with IDE to SATA converters; much better to go for a board which supports your parts natively.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=496182

Of course, by all means go for the newer chipset board if IDE support isn't an issue for you.