Question : Problem: Which Power Supply Unit do I need.  350W or 450W ?

Hi there !

I don't know which power supply unit i'm needing for my computer. Is a power-supply unit with 350 Watt sufficient or do I need one with 400 or even 450 Watt?

My Computer consists of:

2 Harddrives
IBM IC35L0G0AVERO7 Deskstar 60 GXP 7200 RPM
IBM IC35l120       Deskstar 180GXP 7200 RPM

CPU-Cooler - Verax P14

AMD Athlon XP 1800+

Kingmax 256MB PC300 DDR CL2
NO-Name 512MB PC300 DDR CL2

ATI Radeon 8500 64 MB DDR

Mainboard  __  ASUS A7V266-E VIA KT266A Socket A, Raid

DVD Writer - NEC ND-1300A
DVD-Drive - Toshiba SD-M1612

Analog WinTV receiver  - Hauppauge Win TV PCI Go

Thx for your help,
Corum

Answer : Problem: Which Power Supply Unit do I need.  350W or 450W ?

I have heard several experts' opinions on this subject, and each one resembled the other very closely.  You won't need more than 300W for that.  If you have a 350W power supply already, make sure it's AMD approved.  http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/SellAMDProducts/0,,30_177_4458_3505^869^4348^4358,00.html

I have a 300W power supply that powers the following:
• 12 total fans
• 1 hard drive
• 3 CD-ROM drives of different variations (DVD, CD-RW)
• AGP video card
• 3 PCI expansion cards (ATI TV tuner)
• 13 USB ports
• 1 floppy drive

I'm not crazy

The power supply is actually rated at a 278W total output.  An especially famous computer builder whom Antec advertised for picking their case stated that he's never seen any computer need more than 200W, including high-end video and audio monster PCs.  http://www.antec-inc.com/crn_ultimate_pc_award.html#  It's a long video, and he says it near the end, but it's quite interesting to watch.

Thank you,
Radomir Jordanovic