Power supply question

[DJS0302]

I keep reading where you should have at least a 350 watt power supply as the
bare minimum but why would a reputable company like Antec make a case that
holds 2 hard drives, 2 floppy drives, and four 5 1/2 bays and then only include
a 300 watt power supply? Would a 300 watt power supply be sufficient enough to
power that many drives?

 

[w_tom]

First many power supplies that claim 350 watts do not output
350 watts. The Antec may be a 400 watt supply (according to
other manufacturer's way of rating). Second, a 300 watt
supply is sufficient for most systems. Most peripherals draw
a maximum of 10 watts. What is left for motherboard and CPU?
Plenty.

Second, too many just hype a number only because they
installed a scam 300 watt supply that caused problems. Did
they first confirm the power supply was indeed 300 watts?
No. They just assumed 300 watts is always too small because
that one was too small and erroneously rated. Many power
supplies dumped into the market without specs are often
smaller than the wattage number.

A common problem when computer assemblers never first learn
basic electrical principles.

 

[Mac Cool]

DJS0302:

Would a 300 watt power supply be sufficient enough to
power that many drives?

http://takaman.jp/D/index.html?english

 

[kony]

I keep reading where you should have at least a 350 watt power supply as the
bare minimum but why would a reputable company like Antec make a case that
holds 2 hard drives, 2 floppy drives, and four 5 1/2 bays and then only include
a 300 watt power supply? Would a 300 watt power supply be sufficient enough to
power that many drives?

"Most" people will not be trying to access 4 optical drives
simultaneously, nor filling those bay slots with hard drives
instead. If you need a lot of hard drives, 300W usually
isn't sufficient for a modern build due to CPU shifting to
12V rail for power, contrasted to the pre-P4 era when almost
all used 5V for CPU.

If you're buying a new budget-grade CPU and only a couple
hard drives, you'll likely be fine with a 300W Antec.
Reasons to seek larger (true capacity) power supply would
include higher end (more power hungry) CPU, gaming video
card, more hard drives.

Why do they sell cases with 300W? Because people buy them.
Same with generic cases sold with really bad generic power
supplies that end up dying, maybe frying parts in the
process... people buy them.

 

[Thagor]

(e-mail address removed) (DJS0302) wrote in

I keep reading where you should have at least a 350 watt power supply
as the bare minimum but why would a reputable company like Antec make
a case that holds 2 hard drives, 2 floppy drives, and four 5 1/2 bays
and then only include a 300 watt power supply? Would a 300 watt power
supply be sufficient enough to power that many drives?

If you want to go cheap, get a 400 watt or better. If you put some money
in it, a quality 300 watt will do the job. Most people fail to consider
future add-on or upgrades, nor do they think about all those plug in
USB/Firewire/Sata devices that get used from time to time.

More modern systems today require lots of power because of the heat from
the CPU and Video card. Heat is energy and then the fans required to
extract the heat use even more. I have replaced many 300 watt or lower
ATX power supplies. Yet only a few above the 300 Watt rating.

HTH

 

[John Smith]

Also you can try; http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

 

[Mac Cool]

Thagor:

More modern systems today require lots of power because of the heat
from the CPU and Video card.

No. Heat is a byproduct of the energy being used. This may help:
http://www.cpuplanet.com/features/article.php/1690721

 

[Mike Walsh]

Yes. Most drives require relatively little power compared to CPUs and 3D video cards.

 

[/mel/]

Yes. Most drives require relatively little power compared to CPUs and
3D video cards.

Typically 5V@700mA and 12V@800mA, so up to about 15W.


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/mel/