Originally posted by StormBringer
A 300W PSU does not mean that it always uses 300W, that just means that it is rated at being able to produce up to 300W of power. The actual power consumed by the system is calculated by multiplying the voltage used to power each device by the actual current(amperage) draw of each device.
Originally posted by eddy05
I'm using a 300watt PSU for my Athlon XP 2000+ (Heard it consumes 70.5watts) and it's running fine. It isn't branded though. But I'll take your advices and take note of them in the future.
I must admit those are something which I do not know and will overlook if I wasn't adviced.
Originally posted by young&wild
One more thing...you may notice that a 300W labelled PSU may not be exactly pumping out 300watts, it can be a real 275W PSU rounded off to the nearest hundred.
Originally posted by eddy05
I hope my sys isn't eating too much power.
I had a GF4 Ti4200 (Which I don't know how much power it consumes), 2 CD/DVD drives and 2 Hard Disks.
I had thought about whether I will need to change my PSU when I change it from p4 to athlon xp. I thought due to the xp, there may not be enough power. Surprisingly (At least to me), the sys ran stable, so I just stick to my 300w PSU...
Originally posted by young&wild
Unless you have 6 system fans like me, you definitely need a quality 350w PSU like Enermax or Antec with at least 25A on the 12V rail.
Originally posted by Vehementi
My last 400W PSU had only 15 and it screwed me over, I always got BSODs and restarts and such. Buying an Enermax or Antec is insurance against buying a crappy PSU. You can't go wrong with either.