help choosing a power supply

[Shieldwolf]

MSI Motherboard for AMD Processors Model K7N2 Delta-L Retail
Specifications:
Supported CPU:AMD® Athlon(tm)/Athlon(tm) XP/Duron(tm) processors
Chipset:nVIDIA® nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
FSB:200/266/333/400 MHz
RAM:3x DDR PC3200/2700/2100/1600 up to 3GB
IDE:Dual Channel Ultra DMA133/100/66 max 4 Devices
Slots:1x AGP 1.5v 4X8X, 5x PCI 32-bit PCI and 1x ACR
Ports:2xPS2,1xCOM,1xLPT,1xLAN,4xUSB and Audio Ports
Onboard Audio:AC97 Interface supporting up to two concurrent codecs
Onboard LAN: Chipset integrated 10/100 Base-T Ethernet/Fast Ethernet
Retail box (see pics for details) more info>
N82E16813130419 $80.99
$80.99


Processors
AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL
Specifications:
CPU: 1.83 GHz
Type: XP 2500 Barton Core
Cache: 512K L2, 128K L1, Total 640KB
BUS: 333MHz
Socket A
Retail Box (Heatsink and Fan included)
more info>
N82E16819103379


Now I need a power supply to go with it. I don't I need to go to crazy. Is this over kill?




Antec Power supply True480 with Blue LED Fan Retail Antecs's True480 power supply with blue LED internal illumination.
Specifications:
+5V Stand-By & Logic On/Off
Antec Low Noise Technology
Maximum Power 480W
Dimensions - L5.9" x W5.5" x H3.4"
UL, CSA, TUV, CB, CE, NEMKO Approved
Antec Low Noise ATX12V, for AMD®
AQ3 - Antec Quality 3-year parts & labor warranty More...


IF so what would you recommend?

[XPav]

I have a 300W Fortron power supply.

It works just fine.

And its quiet.

You don't need 480W of power.

[Supertanker]

Time to roll out the ol' Firing Squad link:
http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/default.asp

Or just buy an Enermax. They generally have a lot more voltage to each rail, which is the real issue instead of the wattage.

[Qenan]

I've had good luck with Enermax.

[Lunch of Kong]

heck, if you're just running a MB and a CPU, with no hard drives or CDrom drives, you'd be fine with a 200W power supply.

We can't tell you how much power your system needs until you tell us what its components are.

p.s. - I run a 2.4Ghz P4, 1GB of RAM, ATI 9700pro, hauppage winTV capture card,1 DVD, and 1 hard disk off a 200W powersupply.

ps2 - on the other hand, I run a 1.7Ghz Celeron, 512MB RAM, RAID controller, three bay cooler fans, four 80mm case fans, and 9 hard disks off a 420W powersupply.

[XPav]

I run an AthlonXP 2400, 1 hard drive, CD, DVD, ATI 9600 Pro, network card, and 4 80mm Panaflos at 5V off of a 300W power supply

[Nathan Phoenix]

I originally ran a 420W supply for a system very similar to yours, but I was having power supply problems so I thought it wasn't strong enough. I ended up actually putting an older 300W supply in just to try it out, and everything works great! The 420w supply was just a bad one, and 300W seems plenty for what I need. I even have a bunch of extra lights & fans in my case.

[wisefool]

Keep in mind that the wattage ratings are misleading. Power supplies have three rails, 3.3v, 5v and 12v. IIRC 12 volts is only used for case fans, cdroms etc.

I'd recommend the following:

Seasonic super tornado 300 watt: big 120mm fan, slow spins with a good thermal control. About $65 bucks.

Seasonic SS-300, older model, still very quiet. Note that the SS-300 Non-PFC uses sleeve bearing fans which tend to be quieter, and the Active PFC uses ball-bearing fans. I've picked some up for $40 at a local store.

They have 400 watt models (I have three right here), but I think you can save some cash and get the 300 watt. I've used the 300 watts on an Athlon XP 2000+, four 7200 rpm drives, two cdrs, and a water cooler. Plenty of juice in the sucker.

Fortron power supplies are also good, get the one with the 120mm fan. Newegg is listing the FSP350-60PN for $39+6 S/H. I don't have personal experience with this but the posters at silentpcreview.com have given them thumbs up.

Antec is fine, but it is like the BOSE of the PSUs. Over-marketed which means you can get a better product at lower prices.

Edit: I noticed you listed a motherboard. Just make sure your motherboard's chipset has Soundstorm implemented (not all Nforce2 boards have it, mine doesn't). Then you don't have to bother with a creative card and their crud drivers.

[Bull]

IIRC 12 volts is only used for case fans, cdroms etc.

The 12 volt rail is actually pretty important for the CPU these days. I think Intel products even require a p/s with the little extra 12v plug.

[Lunch of Kong]

I ended up actually putting an older 300W supply in just to try it out, and everything works great!

Yeah. There's enough unused capacity to power another 1 computer. Hmmm... Do they make Y splitters for motherboard power connectors?

At the time, I didn't know exactly what the load of 9 hard drives powering-up from zilch would be, and figured an extra $50 was worth my time to not have to google the answer.

The thing with the 420W power supply is that they still provide the same number of MOLEX power connectors as in the 300W model. I had to buy a whole bunch of Y connectors to get power to all the components.

[Erik Andersson]

I have a Zalman 300W which is silent and also works well. The Fortron with a 120mm fan sounds interesting, but I would be even more interested in PSUs that can run entirely without fans. There are some, but I'm not sure how much power they can provide without having to turn the fans on.

[Chris Nahr]

I also have a Zalman 300W power supply (type ZM300A-APF). It's indeed very silent and supplies enough power for a sizeable system (P4 3.2 GHz; SCSI subsystem with disk, DVD, and tape drive; ZIP drive, Audigy Platinum, and GeForce FX 5200). In fact the fan is so quiet that I don't think it's worth the effort further silencing that part of the system.

[wisefool]

Silentpcreview's recommended PSU section lists four passive PSUs, first two are reviewed. They run $200+, I've been tempted to try one out.

proSilence Fanless PCS-350W
TKPower 300
RSG Electronics ECP230W
RSG Electronics RCP300W-Series

Thanks for the correction, the problem is the 12v rail tends to be insufficient, not the 3.3v and 5v.

I've had Zalmans, they are quiet as well. Enermax PSUs work well but they are too noisy for my tastes.

[XPav]

I'm telling, the Fortron 300W power supply with a 120mm fan is $30 and quiet. The loudest thing in my PC is now my ATI 9600 Pro's fan, and I can cut that down with the Tyan software.