How to know if my Power Supply is sufficient for my p.c or not???

[tango_cash]

hi ppl
i have a ColorsIT 400w power supply.

here is the table which is on the side of the psu.
Please take a look at the image.

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/5566/powersupplyxk3.th.jpg (http://img61.imageshack.us/my.php?image=powersupplyxk3.jpg)

it would be great if someone cud explain the above table.

and here is a list of components in my pc-

Processor-Intel P4 2.8 Gz with H.T(with a fan on top of it:D)

Motherboard-915GAV Intel original mobo

1.75 Gb of DDR1 ram(256Mb*3+1Gb*1) in 4 slots.

2 Hard Disks-
Segate 250 Gb SATA
Segate 320 Gb SATA

1 Sony DVD writer
1 LG CD writer

a LAN Card.

there are 2 fans in my cabinet one is at the back and one is on the side panel.


Now i am planning to buy a graphic card, a 8600gt or higher and 1Gb of ram.(will exchange it with one of the 256Mb stick)

so i am worried that my psu is not sufficient to run all these things.in fact i am already short of 2 power connectors.my LG cd writer and the fan on my cabinet's side panel are not connected because there is no free power connector.

i have read on net that it is very dangerous for the other components if u have a underpowered psu.

what do u ppl think??is it suficient??if i buy a new one will i be able to connect the cd writer and side panel?
and is there a way to check whether my psu is sufficient or not i mean any software or anything???

[Sooraj_digit]

Processor: 80-90 Watts(App.)
Motherboard: 30 Watts
RAM: 10 Watts each = 40 Watts
Hard drives: 25 Watts each = 50 Watts
Optical drives: 20+30 Watts = 50 Watts
LAN card: Dunno??
Fans: Hardly 10-20 Watts(Estimation)
Graphics card: Varies on your choice starting from 45 Watts(GeForce 7600 GT) up to 131 Watts(Geforce 8800 GTX)
Total: Min. 305 Watts – Max. 411 Watts
Checkout this page: www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

I guess u should upgrade look for brand like Corsair, CoolerMaster, VIP.

[KaranTh85]

for an online check....:D

http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

[tango_cash]

thanks for the reply frnds.
Processor: 80-90 Watts(App.)
Motherboard: 30 Watts
RAM: 10 Watts each = 40 Watts
Hard drives: 25 Watts each = 50 Watts
Optical drives: 20+30 Watts = 50 Watts
LAN card: Dunno??
Fans: Hardly 10-20 Watts(Estimation)
Graphics card: Varies on your choice starting from 45 Watts(GeForce 7600 GT) up to 131 Watts(Geforce 8800 GTX)
Total: Min. 305 Watts – Max. 411 Watts
Checkout this page: www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine (http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine)

I guess u should upgrade look for brand like Corsair, CoolerMaster, VIP.

i went to the above site.apart from my config mentioned above i added a 8600gt in the list coz i am planning to buy one. it calculated Recommended PSU Wattage: 320w.
so i already have a 400w smps.then??
but i guess in reality it may be less.can i check what power it is actually delivering??


for an online check....:D

http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

it has calculated my recommended PSU Wattage=497w.
that is way more than what the other site calculated i.e only 320w.

i am confused:confused:. which one to beleive.
one more thing i was searching the net and came across this article but i didn't understand it completely.have a look http://www.techjamaica.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52054

so what is with the +12v rail??? my +12v rail has only 10A. please look at the picture above.
and does the 8600gt or similar cards need extra power cable for them.

[shantanu]

go to ASUS.com and at support page click on power supply usage :) then check and with a 8600GT sure go for atleast a 500W true power :)

[nish_higher]

Shortage of power connectors means no proper supply to the card.u should upgrade to a generic 500w psu.colors is fine.
Or if u can spend 1900-Cooler master 460W is the best for any non sli rig.

[Pathik]

You should get a new PSU with adequate amperage on the +12V rail. Abt the GPU, get a 9600GSO

[topgear]

Get any of these psu's

CoolerMaster Extreme Power 500W Rs. 2650
CoolerMaster Extreme Power 600W Rs. 3150

[sagargv]

^^ +1 to the above suggestion . . 8600GT + p4 doesnt work on generic psu ( shut downs during gaming ) . .

if u're short on budget get CM 460W psu .. the generic psu wont be enough for you.

wattage and amperage on 12 volt rail are important in psu ( ofcourse efficiancy , noise come next ) . .

ur color sit psu has 10A on 12 volt rail .. most of the system components draw from the 12 volt rail . make sure u have atleast 22A on the 12 volt rail for ur rig.. CM 600W will be the best choice considering future upgrades too. .

[nish_higher]

^
most future motherboards will bear 8pin cpu power connectors so cm 600 watt is doomed anyway.coz it will cause freeze ups and bsods.
And all mid-high and high end boards already have that and their manuals clearly recommend 8pin cpu power.

[sagargv]

^^ thanks for the info. corsair vx450 ? i should check on that. .

[realdan]

efficiency of power of the power supply is important...better brands and higher range will have better efficiency...
better not to go for generic one...
now deciding to buy for you will also depend on whether you expect to upgrade in the near future.
if you expect to upgrade in the near future say in 6 month or 1 year time..then you could buy a power supply which will be sufficient for those future components.
now it also depend on your budget, how much are you willing to spend on the power supply now?
you wanted to buy for your current system only and don't want to think about the future upgrades then you could look at the lower range of a branded power supply.
usually power supply is one of the most overlooked components of a PC, people didn't realized the other components require juice from this very component to run..i have system failed esp. motherboard, ram, and graphics card in that order failed as a result of overloading the power supply despite being from antec.
so it is better to have some breathing space and not to get exactly according to requirements despite the fact that not all computer components draw power continuously.
for current system only one can look at coolermaster as mentioned by @topgear
or to be a little more future proof as mentioned above, one can look at corsair HX620 which will be overkill for the current system.

[tango_cash]

thanks for the reply people.
i did some search on the 8600gt and found the power requirement as-A minimum recommended 350W system power supply (with 12V current rating of 20A) and a 8800gt needs 30A on the 12v rail so my current psu with it's 10A on th 12v rail is a lot underpowered.

i dont want to spend a lot on the psu now coz i will upgrade my system next year.right now i just need a psu which can run all my above mentioned peripherals and a 8600gt card and another 1Gb ram properly.

my budget is Rs1000. pls suggest me.

[shantanu]

oh man ! too low :( at least 1.8k for a Zeb 500Watt Platinum :)

[realdan]

1000 wouldnt get you anything decent

[sagargv]

i'm not recommending zeb 500 W. .even though i've never used it. but i've heard of issues with that psu.

try getting a 500W psu from VIP or power safe for now. it'll cost around 1.5k .1k is too low for a decent psu.

[shantanu]

there is no issues with Zeb i have used it for 2 years without a prob. and it rocks at 1.8k :)

[hellgate]

for 1k u wont get a decent enuf psu.wat u'll get will be the local ones.u can try the Zebronics 400W with 22A on the 12v rail (the normal Zebby 400W has 17A).if u dont get that try other brands.just see that it has 20A or above on the +12V rail.i'm suggesting this only cuz of ur low budget else nothing can beat a good psu like CM,Corsaair etc.

also i've run a oc'd 8600GT with a E4300 (oc'd to 3.4GHz) on P5B Dlx with a Zebby 400w psu and i didnt face any probs.

[tango_cash]

so these seem to be my options-
1900-Cooler master 460W

CoolerMaster Extreme Power 500W Rs. 2650
CoolerMaster Extreme Power 600W Rs. 3150
1.8k for a Zeb 500Watt Platinum
500W psu from VIP or power safe for now. it'll cost around 1.5k
seems like u cannot anything good in rs1000 these days.
i bought my intex cabinet and colorsit psu for rs1500.:rolleyes:

corsair vx450
a corsair psu!!! i thought it made only RAM.anyways any idea of price??

[hellgate]

the corsair psu is way out of ur budget.

[Choto Cheeta]

ColorSit 400 watts would do with the given config :) I dont think u would need to change it as for now !!!

[nish_higher]

^^ thanks for the info. corsair vx450 ? i should check on that. .
corsairs are one of the most efficient psu's :)
but its pretty costly

if u can buy it-dnt hesitate

[ancientrites]

zebronics 540watts diamond series
zebronics 500watts platinum --->this one rocks,i still own it and kept it as 2 option incase my current smps goes down
As topgear stated if you want to go with branded one then go for CoolerMaster Extreme Power 500W Rs. 2650
there is also powersafe 500watts

[shantanu]

there is a PRo series PSU from zebronics True Power 550 watts , i saw it today it has 3x 12v rails with total 56A :O oh man it was a sexiest PSU i have ever seen :) for 3.2 k( drawbacK)

[adithyagenius]

Dude!! Don't waste your money on PSUf or 8600gt!!
You are using 8600GT which doesn't require 6-pin power connector. I have used 8600GT on more power hungry machine than yours and all it draws is max 210W.
A few things to note:
1. Online PSU calculators are wrong because..
2. You need certain amperes of current at a certain voltage from certain rail to which the power connector is connnected and not specific watts of power.
3. 7600gt, 8600gt and other low end cards take power directly from PCI-E slot and dont require 6 pin PCI-E power connector (except in some cases and those cases you can use molex to pci-e 6pin connector).
4. If you really want to get a PSU, get a high end PSU with PCI-E 6+2 connectors for future proofing (corsair 650tx for 2 connectors and dual gpu/high end card and 750tx for 4 connectors for high end card SLI/xfire) and with high efficiency and MTBF. 3k PSUs are mostly useless because...
5. Mid range cards like 9600GT draw most of their power from PCI-E slot and the extra power can be provided from MOLEX to PCI-E 6pin connector. Buy a good sub 500rupees PSU for these cards.

[Choto Cheeta]

Just for Info,

I can run Q6600 + TRU 120 + 4 GB + 8800 GTS 320MB with a ColorSir 450 watts so i really dont think u need to invest for that 8600 GT :lol:

[adithyagenius]

^
Thanks for giving an example supporting my info. I keep telling my friends not to waste money on PSU costing as much as their gfx. They should give the money to me instead.;)

[toofan_nainital]

Aditya
Thanks for giving an example supporting my info. I keep telling my friends not to waste money on PSU costing as much as their gfx. They should give the money to me instead.:wink:

Currently i am having compaq SR1921Il which has 300W smps. I am planning to buy a graphic card may be HD4850. So which will be the cheapest and best performing PSU for me to buy and at what price?

With that machine i know I hve to upgrade many things like motherboard- HP Asterope 3(don't think it supports C2duo's), Processor (as it is Pentium D 2.8 Ghz). But these will come as Money comes to me.

[sagargv]

if u wanna buy psu which should suit ur new pc also. get corsair vx450W / hx620W . if u want it just for ur current pc , try with ur current psu. i dont think it will be enough. but no harm in trying. nothing bad will happen to ur components. just stress test ur pc and monitor the 12 volt rail . if its stable ,then ur current psu is sufficient. if its dropping too much / ur facing system shutdown , then get a new psu.

[adithyagenius]

Aditya


Currently i am having compaq SR1921Il which has 300W smps. I am planning to buy a graphic card may be HD4850. So which will be the cheapest and best performing PSU for me to buy and at what price?

With that machine i know I hve to upgrade many things like motherboard- HP Asterope 3(don't think it supports C2duo's), Processor (as it is Pentium D 2.8 Ghz). But these will come as Money comes to me.

I have used a similiar one called SR1931IL. It also had 2.8GHz Pentium D and Asterope3. I put a XFX7600GT and 2 * Kingston 1gb DDR2 667Mhz and put an external 120GB HDD and bought Creative t6060. It went from 194 to 3325 in 3D Mark06 with gfx OC to 625Mhz and VRAM to 760*2.
The processor will just half the performance of 4850. Your PSU won't support 4850. Changing mobo+prcoy+PSU = warranty void. Better to get a assembled PC. Throw away the machine like I did. It doesn't support Dual channel memory, hence reducing fps in many games like COD4. It didn't support more than 1GB RAM. I did a BIOS update to get 2GB support. That helped in fps in Bioshock. It also doesn't have USB device booting which results in wastage of a lot CDs and DVDs. You cabinet has a single fan. No way is it gaming grade for this gen.

[toofan_nainital]

It doesn't support Dual channel memory, hence reducing fps in many games like COD4. It didn't support more than 1GB RAM. I did a BIOS update to get 2GB support.
I supports 2 gb ram ( 1 Gb x 2). But doesn't supports dual channel. I was new at that time I buyed this machine. Its really not ment for upgrading. But Money Bhaiya Money, kahen se aayega. i had to do it in steps.

Second query can you provide me tutorial step by step how to update BIOS. I doesn't know any thing about bios updating. I just want to do this. And for the time being it will help me with games.

[shantanu]

you mobo company and model ?

[toofan_nainital]

Field Value
Motherboard Properties
Motherboard ID 63-0100-000001-00101111-062206-RS400$RC410-M_BIOS DATE: 06/22/2006 VER: 08.00.12


Motherboard manufacturer's name: ECS RC410-M
HP/Compaq name: Asterope3-GL8E


Chipset ATI Radeon Xpress 200 for Intel Processors

ATI RC410 Northbridge
ATI SB450 Southbridge


Front Side Bus Properties
Bus Type Intel GTL+
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 200 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 800 MHz
Bandwidth 6400 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties
Bus Type DDR2 SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 267 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 533 MHz
Bandwidth 4266 MB/s


BIOS Properties
BIOS Type AMI
BIOS Version 3.16
System BIOS Date 06/22/06
Video BIOS Date 05/09/08

BIOS Manufacturer
Company Name American Megatrends Inc.

[adithyagenius]

I supports 2 gb ram ( 1 Gb x 2). But doesn't supports dual channel. I was new at that time I buyed this machine. Its really not ment for upgrading. But Money Bhaiya Money, kahen se aayega. i had to do it in steps.

Second query can you provide me tutorial step by step how to update BIOS. I doesn't know any thing about bios updating. I just want to do this. And for the time being it will help me with games.

You have 2GB RAM. This support was added in the BIOS update. So you BIOS is up to date. If you were trying to save money you wouldn't have bought a branded PC in the first place.

[toofan_nainital]

Yaa I know that. Let do things step by step.
first i wil buy a Graphic Card+PSU so that my current hunger for new games may calm.
Second I will buy a motherboard.(Very tough choice to make really?)
Third I will go for a killing processor by then these will be a bit cheaper.

But Aditya suggest me a PSU, to fit with HD4850. with price.