How to know what power of power supply to get

Hello all,

I'm on the verge of buying a new 200 GB IDE HD for my girlfriends computer,
to complement her older 40 GB drive.

I think her system is currently running on a 300 W Enermax QuietWhisper
Power Supply (which unfortunately is now whispering quite noisily...). I am
wondering whether adding this 200 GB new drive will put too much load on the
PS. How can i determine this?

She's got :
- Gigabyte GA-7VM400M mobo (All-in-one : sound/lan/video)
- 512 Meg PC2100 DDR
- Western Digital 40 GB IDE drive.
- LG DVD drive
- LG CD-R/RW drive
- Adaptec SCSI card
- MP3 player is occasionally plugged in USB port for uploading music files.

what do you guys think???

thanks

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:58:03 -0400, "Zed Rafi" <dg@sf.net>
wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I'm on the verge of buying a new 200 GB IDE HD for my girlfriends computer,
>to complement her older 40 GB drive.
>
>I think her system is currently running on a 300 W Enermax QuietWhisper
>Power Supply (which unfortunately is now whispering quite noisily...). I am
>wondering whether adding this 200 GB new drive will put too much load on the
>PS. How can i determine this?

The power difference between the whole system without the
new drive, and with it, is negligable. If the system were
borderline already, only then would this push it over the
edge.


>
>She's got :
>- Gigabyte GA-7VM400M mobo (All-in-one : sound/lan/video)
>- 512 Meg PC2100 DDR
>- Western Digital 40 GB IDE drive.
>- LG DVD drive
>- LG CD-R/RW drive
>- Adaptec SCSI card
>- MP3 player is occasionally plugged in USB port for uploading music files.
>
>what do you guys think???

That the PSU is mainly suiable because the video is
integrated, otherwise it would've been a little undersized
for the system in the first place BUT will probably continue
running for a while longer. Take voltage readings with a
multimeter to detemine if the load is too high (one rail
dropping or the other rising too high).

As for the noise, they just used junk fans and you need to
lube (if it's a sleeve bearing) or replace the fan(s), or
the whole PSU if you like. A decent dual ball-bearing
exhaust fan is about $5, a decent 350W PSU for that box is
about $35, in a Sparke or other brand, not Enermax which
have to be derated to about 70% of labeled wattage.

Before you get that 200GB drive, make sure the MB BIOS supports large drives and
also the OS(it might need updates).

John

Zed Rafi wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm on the verge of buying a new 200 GB IDE HD for my girlfriends computer,
> to complement her older 40 GB drive.
>
> I think her system is currently running on a 300 W Enermax QuietWhisper
> Power Supply (which unfortunately is now whispering quite noisily...). I am
> wondering whether adding this 200 GB new drive will put too much load on the
> PS. How can i determine this?
>
> She's got :
> - Gigabyte GA-7VM400M mobo (All-in-one : sound/lan/video)
> - 512 Meg PC2100 DDR
> - Western Digital 40 GB IDE drive.
> - LG DVD drive
> - LG CD-R/RW drive
> - Adaptec SCSI card
> - MP3 player is occasionally plugged in USB port for uploading music files.
>
> what do you guys think???
>
> thanks

> Before you get that 200GB drive, make sure the MB BIOS supports large
> drives and

how do i check if the BIOS support large drives? I checked in my mobo's
manual and it's not written in plain words. I also checked on my mobo's web
page on the manufacturer's site and didn't find anything there either (not
in plain words anyway).

is there a technical expression that i don't know of that tells me if my
BIOS does or does not accept large drives ? (>137GB is that right?)

> also the OS(it might need updates).

Does the out-of-the-CD version of windows xp sp2 support large drives by
default, or does it need to be updated?

thanks

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 00:45:28 -0400, "Zed Rafi" <wer@ser.net>
wrote:

>> Before you get that 200GB drive, make sure the MB BIOS supports large
>> drives and
>
>how do i check if the BIOS support large drives? I checked in my mobo's
>manual and it's not written in plain words. I also checked on my mobo's web
>page on the manufacturer's site and didn't find anything there either (not
>in plain words anyway).
>
>is there a technical expression that i don't know of that tells me if my
>BIOS does or does not accept large drives ? (>137GB is that right?)
>
>> also the OS(it might need updates).
>
>Does the out-of-the-CD version of windows xp sp2 support large drives by
>default, or does it need to be updated?


Yes XP SP2 supports large drives (48bit LBA).

Your board has KM400 chipset, ATA133 IDE, it will support
large drives by default. If you are running an early bios
version it might still be a good idea to update the bios
though, other bugs might be fixed in a later bios else
they'd not be releasing later bios.