Power Supply

[a2o]

Hello,
I have 2 computers currently:

Computer 1
500 watt power supply 20 pin
3.4ghz P4
Abit duramax Motherboard
1 gig of 533 RAM
120gig Sata Drive
80 gig IDE Drive
NEC 16x DVD burner

Computer 2
400 watt power supply
2.6ghz P4
MSI neo2 865pe
1.5gig 400mhz RAM
DVD-ROM
IDE Drives:
2-200gig WD
1-160gig Maxtor
1-120gig Maxtor
1-80gig Maxtor

I have been having a lot of problems with computer 2 to find out the
power supply can't handle the power requirerments. What my plan was
was to swap computer 1's 500 Power supply into computer 2 and
purchasing a new 24pin Power supply for computer 1 since i am using a
20 ping connector with the Abit motherboard which has the 24pin
connector on it. Can anyone tell me if i will need more power than a
500 watt power supply to power computer 2? If it will, what would you
recommend for a 24 power supply for computer 1? What size power supply
would you recommend for Computer 2? Thanks for the help.

 

[Miss Perspicacia Tick]

Hello,
I have 2 computers currently:

Computer 1
500 watt power supply 20 pin
3.4ghz P4
Abit duramax Motherboard
1 gig of 533 RAM
120gig Sata Drive
80 gig IDE Drive
NEC 16x DVD burner

Computer 2
400 watt power supply
2.6ghz P4
MSI neo2 865pe
1.5gig 400mhz RAM
DVD-ROM
IDE Drives:
2-200gig WD
1-160gig Maxtor
1-120gig Maxtor
1-80gig Maxtor

I have been having a lot of problems with computer 2 to find out the
power supply can't handle the power requirerments. What my plan was
was to swap computer 1's 500 Power supply into computer 2 and
purchasing a new 24pin Power supply for computer 1 since i am using a
20 ping connector with the Abit motherboard which has the 24pin
connector on it. Can anyone tell me if i will need more power than a
500 watt power supply to power computer 2? If it will, what would you
recommend for a 24 power supply for computer 1? What size power
supply would you recommend for Computer 2? Thanks for the help.

With PSUs, size is *NOT* everything. A 350-400W quality brand (Enermax,
Antec, Tagan, OCZ, etc) should be more than adequate for either system which
says to me that the PSU is of pound store quality. A pound store PSU might
be stamped '400W' but I can guarantee you can halve that. I have a 500W
Tagan in my system (cost me £80) which is overkill, but it's there for
future expansion. As I say to everyone who asks me this question - which
would you rather - £60-£80 on a PSU now - or £300-£400 on replacement
components in a couple of months when it fuses and takes half the components
with it? Economising on a PSU is false economy - you'll end up regretting
it - sooner rather than later.

Do yourself a favour and spend the money now - or spend considerably more
later.

 

[a2o]

Thanks for the reply. And i will be following your recommendation.
Thanks again.

 

[DaveW]

I would recommend in investing in an 550 Watt Antec True-Power power for
each computer. This power supply unit is rated to be one of the most
conservatively and heavy duty designed units available for consumer use. I
think it would handle your loads just fine.

 

[a2o]

Thanks for the reply.
What if i were to go this route? Would this power supply and case work
OK do you think?

ANTEC Performance Plus Case with 430W Power Supply, Model
"PLUS1080AMG" - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-115&depa=0

 

[a2o]

I currently have an MSI Neo2 FISR2. I have 2 drives plugged into IDE1,
2 in IDE2 and 2 in IDE3. Whenever I have a drive plugged into IDE3 I
have issues with my PC being unstable. I recently was noticing what i
thought were issues with my RAM which after much playing around, came
to find that when I would unplug the drives from IDE3 the RAM would
check out and the PC seems to work fine. why can't i have drives
plugged into IDE3? I have purchased a new power supply thinking maybe
there was some power issues but that has not solved it either. I have
tried 3 different brands of varying sizes from 40gig drives to 200gig
drives.
Also, i did upgrade the bios to 2.5 in this machine thinking the latest
release may fix it but it did not.
Any ideas as to what it could be this time? I went and bought an antec
PSU and it was doing the same thing as my older PSU's.